What are Learning disabilities?

Learning Disabilities are real! A learning disability (LD) is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, store, process and communicate information.  the term learning disability is used to describe the unexplained gap a person of at least average intelligence shows between the level of achievement that is expected and what is actually achieved in acquiring academic skills.  These skills are essential for success at school, work and for coping with life.  With support, individuals with learning disabilities can become successful.

Learning Disabilities may include:

• Difficulty with reading, fluency, phonics, phonemes’, reading comprehension, spelling and vocabulary
• Difficulty with handwriting, forming letters and numbers, spelling, organizing ideas and fine motor skills
• Difficulty with numbers, counting, math, computation, remembering math facts, fractions and concepts of money and time
• Difficulty with memorization and recall of facts
• Difficulty interpreting and expressing oral information and hearing similar sounds
• Difficulty interpreting visual information and performing skills that use eye hand coordination
• Difficulty with organization and time
• Difficulty with communication and social skills
• Difficulty with fatigue, focus and behavior

Learning Disabilities Facts

• In Utah, approximately 29,000 students (about 50%) with Specific Learning disabilities receive special education services.
• In Utah, 50% of students with specific learning disabilities were employed after graduation.
• In Utah, only 16% of students with learning disabilities will enroll in a post-secondary school within two years of graduation

Source for the above statistics: Utah State Office of Education, Special Education Services, State Performance Report, 2009-2010.

• Nationally, students with learning disabilities spend more than 80% of their instructional time in the general education classroom.

Source: 24th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2002.

• More than 38.7% of children with learning disabilities drop out of high school compared to 11% of the general student population.

Source: 25th Annual Report to Congress, U.S. Department of Education.

• The majority of all individuals with learning disabilities have difficulties in the area of reading.

Source: President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education, 2002.