I had just finished going over the neuropsychologist’s
diagnostic testing report with the father of one of my patients. I thought
I had explained his son’s learning disability carefully, but this father
was telling me I hadn’t done a very good job. And he was right. The report
was full of professional jargon and code words that shut him out. I needed
to start over, using words, images and analogies that fit his needs
instead of mine.
What
IS a Learning Disability?
A learning disability is a difficulty learning certain
specific
kinds of information even though the ability to learn in general remains
intact. A learning disability affects how language is processed in the
brain, both the words we hear and the ones we say. And it affects how pictures
are handled, both the ones we read and the ones we write.
A disability can create difficulty for kids in school.
Reading, writing, spelling, math, and any number of other subjects can
be arduous with a learning disability. Out of school, they interfere with
learning on the job and with oral and written communication.
