How to identify learning disorders early?

Posted on August 8, 2018

According to Dr Maggie Wright from The Wright Psychology and Learning Centre, it is important to identify children who struggle with school work early to improve their prognosis. She mentioned that there are mainly 3 learning disorders present in children, with dyslexia being the most common one.

1. Dyslexia
Having trouble with processing words, reading and spelling are possible signs of dyslexia. Children with dyslexia are usually diagnosed at around 9 to 10 years old, and the preferred treatment is "Orton-Gillingham".

2, Dyscalculia
This disorder involves children who struggle with math and have poor visual and spatial skills. They don't understand how do numbers work, and this disorder is more commonly known as the math disorder.

3. Dysgraphia
The symptoms include having difficulties with performing motor skills and transferring thoughts from the mind to paper. This disorder is more commonly described as the inability to write coherently.

Most children with learning disorders were also found to have ADHD, thus, they are highly predictive of ADHD. ADHD is a genetic disorder and can be hard to diagnose as learning difficulties may or may not be due to learning disorders. It might be the education system that is too difficult for children to score in. However, it is still important to seek help early when you realise these learning difficulties in your child as early detection often leads to a better prognosis.


Category(s):Adult ADHD, Learning Difficulties

Source material from WDRB