Children are generally seen as a special gift of God to their families. They bring bundle of joy and happiness to every home. The birth of a child is an event that induces celebration, not just to the immediate family, but to the society at large. As days turn to weeks and weeks turn to months, there are age appropriate behaviours that are expected from the child, ranging from neck control, sitting, crawling, standing, walking, talking etc. The expectations peak when the child is enrolled in school, from kindergarten to nursery, primary, then to any level of choice. Most parents do not miss the opportunity to take a picture of their child’s first day at school, when the school and lunch bags are usually taller than the child. At this stage, parents and caregivers burst with excitement when their children return home and are able to replicate what was taught in school either by singing, reciting, counting, calculating, reading, or writing age appropriate materials. Unfortunately, some parents or caregivers have to wait so long for their children or wards to master some key learning skills, which comes so easily to their peers. This challenges are called learning disorders (LD), that is difficulty in one or more areas of learning, even when overall intelligence or motivation is not affected. It implies that the child may be intelligent or literally “smart” and has the desire and zeal to learn but finds it hard. It can also be seen as an information-processing problem that hinders a child from learning and using academic skills effectively, resulting in school underachievement.
Signs Of Learning Disorders
One can query learning disorders if:
1. The child has problem reading, or writing or solving math.
2. He/she finds it difficult to remember things or has poor memory.
3. He/she has challenges paying attention.
4. The child has difficulty understanding and following instructions.
5. The child has trouble understanding time.
6. He/she resists going to school or doing homework or any school activities.
7. He/she exhibits poor coordination in gross and fine motor activities like walking, sports, or skills like holding a pencil.
8. The child frequently misplaces school materials or homework.
9. The child acts out or exhibits excessive emotional reactions at school or while doing academic activities.
Common Types Of Learning Disorders.
Dyslexia: is present when a child has challenge with reading or figuring out relationships between letters and sounds, and with spelling and recognizing words. It can be present if:
• The child is very slow and spends a lot of energy in reading simple things.
• He/she loses interest in reading longer materials.
• The child has difficulty in reading aloud.
• He/she experiences trouble understanding and recalling what was read.
• The child finds it difficult to pronounce words.
Dysgraphia: this occurs when a child has trouble in writing or has very poor handwriting. It can make him/her to get nervous when writing. Itis present if:
• The child has poor grip of pen or pencil or feeling pain or sore hands after writing for a short while.
• He/she has slow and laborious handwriting.
• The child frequently erases words or sentences written.
• There is strong hatred or dislike for writing or drawing.
• The child has poor handwriting that is very difficult to read.
• He/she writes inconsistent letter and word spacing.
• The child makes serious errors in grammar, spelling, punctuations and can omit words or leave sentences unfinished while writing.
• He/she says words out loud while writing.
• The child has difficulty writing ideas down.
Dyscalculia: this has to do with challenges understanding basic arithmetic concepts and numbers. It is present if:
• The child has problem understanding how numbers work and relate to each other like value, quantity, positive or negative value, renaming otherwise termed as carrying or borrowing.
• He/she finds it difficult to understand word problems and use math symbols.
• The child has difficulty engaging in cash transactions and giving or collecting balance.
• There is difficulty understanding the time sequence of events
Dyspraxia: This is specific to fine and gross motor skills. This usually has to do with balance and coordination difficulties. It is present if:
• The child has poor balance as manifested in difficulty in riding a bicycle, going up and down hills
• He/she have difficulty in standing for a long time or may have flat feet
• The child has poor hand eye co-ordination like difficulty catching a ball or writing on a line, lacing of shoes.
• He/she does not dance to the tune of music.
• The child falls often while walking or running and changing direction.
• He/she has tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people
Causes Of Learning Disorders
There is no definite or single cause of learning disorder, just like most neuro-developmental or childhood disorders, but some factors have been found to influence its development.
Firstly, a child is at risk of developing learning disorder if there is any family member with similar disorder, a parent, sibling, uncle, aunty, grandparent, or cousins. This is because the disorder is genetically transmitted.
Secondly, occurrence of negative events during pregnancy and delivery like poor fetal growth, mother’s alcohol or substance use during pregnancy, premature birth and very low birth weight can predispose a child to develop learning disorder.
In addition, a child can be at risk if he/she is exposed to physical trauma like head injuries and nervous system infections or psychological trauma like emotional abuse and neglect early in life. Also, exposure to high levels of toxins like lead can increase the risk of developing learning disorder in a child.
Psychological Effects Of Learning Disorder
A lot of children have been physically beaten or deprived by their parents or teachers for not doing well in school. A great number of them have been given different names like “olodo”, “onukwu”, “block head” “Iberibe” etc by their significant others and peers. It is also a normal thing for parentsto deprive their child of a desire e.g. either birthday or Christmasgift for a child because he/ she did not pass exams. These unhealthy reactions fuel a lot of psychological distress in a child, like anxiety- fear of trying and getting it wrong again, depression-sad or unhappy feeling for not performing optimally, low self esteem- believe that one is not good enough or worthless, chronic fatigue or loss of motivation- resulting from unfruitful efforts or lack of improvement in their academic ability after putting in a lot of efforts. These distresses are not limited to children alone, but can extend to both the parents and teachers, who struggle and wait for the child’s improvement.
Management
Early intervention is necessary and pertinent in the treatment of learning disorder and other childhood disorders. If you observe that your child, ward or pupil/student is experiencing any of the above symptoms, then he/she will need professional assessment to diagnose the type of disorder and rule out other possible causes. Then, the child will need special attention from his/her teachers in school, as he will not be able to learn in the same capacity as his mates. Individualized education program that suits the need of the child can also be adopted in teaching him/her. For example, if the child has difficulty writing, then his curriculum should be more of speaking and little of writing. In addition, audio-visual materials are very helpful in enhancing their learning. There may be need to get a specialized teacher or enroll the child in a school that has provision for special education. In some cases, he/she may need to undergo occupational therapy to improve his/her motor and language skills. Finally, if the child has developed any psychological distress, then behavioral therapy can be done to manage such distress. In conclusion, learning disorders are challenges associated with academic activities and are not because the child has low intelligence, but due to either genetic or environmental factors beyond the child’s control. Thus, such children need special care and support from the parents, teachers, communities, and peers to navigate this challenge and achieve their goals.
• Okafor Uche is a Lagos based Clinical Psychologist (07031234615)
