Learning Disability (LD)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the federal special education law, defines learning disabilities as follows:
“Specific Learning Disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
Children who meet the following criteria are included in the definition of learning disabilities: 1) children who have average to above average intellectual abilities, yet 2) are failing, struggling with, or experiencing significant difficulties in learning one subject or a number of subjects despite exposure to a “normal” teaching environment, and (3) whose learning problems are not secondary to one or more of the exclusions listed in the federal law above (visual, hearing, motor handicaps, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.)
Learning disabilities are the most common developmental disability found in children and adults. Of the approximately five million children receiving special education services in the US, more than half have specific learning disabilities. “Learning disabilities” describes a group of chronic neurological deficits that affect the ability to master new learning commensurate with a person’s intelligence. Although a person with learning disabilities can benefit from early and accurate diagnosis, the impact of this disorder can persist throughout life.
Learning disabilities occur when the brain doesn’t perform correctly all that it is supposed to do with regard to learning. It is important to remember that learning disabilities are not behavioral disorders or problems with motivation (“He could do it if he tried.”) — although, left untreated, inappropriate behavior and problems with motivation may develop.
From What is a Learning Disability from the Learning Disabilities Association of Texas
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