Learning Difficulties

There are various difficulties which a very young child faces in his natural quest for learning about the world around him. Sometimes these difficulties are apparent, sometimes they are not.

There are four categories of learning disabilities which usually emerge when the child attends school which is when the actual learning process begins.

The input.ie. what the child is taking in mentally; integration: when the child is sorting out the things he’s learning; storage: when the child finally makes sense of his knowledge and organizes it in his mind; the output: when the child can express his ideas about the information he has learned.

WHAT CAN BE WRONG?
Learning to read, recognize shapes and symbols, size, position depends on a child’s visual perception. If there are signs a child is lacking in these areas, the issue should be addressed as soon as possible. To enjoy a normal life a child's ability to accomplish these skills is imperative.

Likewise, auditory perception, signs that a child cannot hear or distinguish sounds such as high, low, loud, soft pitch.This should also be subsequently addressed quickly, since much of life is dependent on the ability to hear.

The ability to memorize things is sequence such as the alphabet, days of the week, general comprehension of the sequence of events is also extremely important in everyday life, and it should be noted if a child is lacking in this area.

The memory plays a very important part when learning new material. A memory may short or long term. Individuals are constantly learning new things. If we do not grasp what we are learning from the beginning the difficulty arises when we try to understand the new material as a hole. If it is fragmented in the mind, it is incomprehensible.

Language difficulties can be detected in the way questions are answered. This uncovers the thought process, and is also very obvious in how an individual expresses ideas through the written word.

Motor co-ordination or skills are perceived through clumsiness, falling, bumping, climbing, handling things, tying shoe laces. This can hamper a child or even an adult to a large degree. His movements may be slow in the efforts to make his body do as he wants.

Reading difficulties, largely caused by eye defects, affects reading; the length of time taken to read, and the comprehension of what is being read. As reading involves the recognition of symbols, matching letters to form words, and the breaking up word components to understand a word can cause much difficulty and frustration to the reader.

Learning number concepts such as time, value, quantity, plus memorizing and organizing numbers, and solving numerical problems on a page can be a great problem for those who do not grasp how number is used.

Communication problems are apparent when a child has poor social skills. These people may have quite good vocabularies, may learn to read early, are able to spell, yet lack the ability to communicate with other people.

Whether observed by parents, or by teachers at school, all learning difficulties should be addressed at once.

As announced on the Australian national news, childrens’ reading ability is to be checked once a child starts school. Previously, it has been three years after a child starts school. This former is to be implemented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his government.