Hitting developmental milestones is crucial for a child's educational success. Missing certain markers can indicate a learning disability, which has the power to significantly impede a person's reading, writing, speaking and math skills.
In the 2017-2018 school year, seven million American public school students received special education services, 34 percent of those students were identified as having a specific learning disability.
Distinguishing the signs and symptoms of learning difficulties is the first step, but official diagnosis of a learning disability can only happen after a full medical evaluation that includes a neurological exam.
Students with learning disabilities can struggle with reading comprehension, written expression and problem solving. Children who display learning deficits could have a disorder such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, auditory processing disorder, nonverbal learning, or visual perceptual/visual motor deficit.
What's being done to identify and accommodate students living with these kinds of disabilities? What do parents need to know to be a good advocate for their child?
What resources are available to educators? Are learning deficits harder to identify in biligual students?
What are the lifelong impacts of learning disabilities?
Guests:
- Louise O'Donnell, psychologist with training in child neuropsychology at UT Health San Antonio
- Beth McGraw, board president of the Learning Disabilities Association of America
- Kristin O'Donnell, Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP) at Our Lady of the Lake
"The Source" is a live call-in program airing Mondays through Thursdays from 12-1 p.m. Leave a message before the program at (210) 615-8982. During the live show, call 210-614-8980, email thesource@tpr.org or tweet at @TPRSource.
*This interview was recorded on Monday, August 5 .
