What Is a Learning Disability?
A learning disability may come in many different shapes and sizes depending on the child. It is not always easy to identify a learning disability in a child, but the time for concern would be if your child consistently struggles over and over again to master certain concepts. For instance, your child might see, hear and understand things a little differently than the rest of his or her peers.
Experts suggest that the brain of a child with a learning disability acquires and processes information differently, unlike neurotypical kids. This doesn’t mean that your child is not as smart as everyone else; it just means that they need to be taught with a more unique, individual and creative teaching style, more tailored to meet their unique learning style.
Some of the areas of your child’s learning disability might be:
- Reading (dyslexia)
- Math (dyscalculia)
- Writing (dysgraphia)
- Motor skills (dyspraxia/apraxia)
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Language (dysphasia/aphasia),
- Auditory processing disorder (difficulty hearing differences between sounds)
- Visual processing disorder (difficulty interpreting visual information)
- Non-verbal learning disorder
What scientists know now is that under the right learning conditions, the brain has the ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.
What Your Doctor May Tell You About a Learning Disability
Your child’s pediatrician may want a complete medical examination to rule out any underlying medical conditions such as fetal alcohol syndrome, dysmorphisms, and any genetic factors. They may also tell you that the known risk factors are:
- Prematurity
- Birth trauma
- Low birth weight
- Early malnutrition
- Poverty
- Understimulating environments
- Head injury
- Epilepsy
- Family history of learning disabilities
- Family history of attention deficit
- Family history of memory difficulties
- Family history of dropping out of school
The pediatrician may request on your behalf a Multifactorial Learning Disability Assessment to help formulate a 504 plan or an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) at your child’s school.
Additional independent testing may also be suggested by your pediatrician who will most likely refer you to neuropsychological resources.
Your pediatrician might tell you that every person’s brain works differently and parents should help children build upon their strengths and develop their talents in spite of their learning disability because your child is not lazy or stupid.
Another Way to Think About a Learning Disability
Today’s children are constantly bombarded with environmental toxins found in our food, water, air, and soil. The result is that children have developed chronic inflammatory responses from toxic exposures which are causing changes in their brain, immune, sensory and nervous systems.
It is no surprise that there are so many children experiencing some form of a learning disability given the amount of lead, mercury, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, formaldehyde and many other very toxic pathogens affecting their young brains and sensitive gastrointestinal systems.
Our digestive system is home to trillions of good bacteria found in our microbiome, but in the presence of toxic pathogens this bacteria can alter the functioning of your child’s brain and behaviors.
Children are much more sensitive to toxic exposures than adults and can very quickly develop toxic overload which ultimately affects neurological functioning. However, researchers now know that the brain has the ability to change (neuroplasticity) and create new connections and generate new brain cells.
Positive energy coupled by a multifaceted approach to healing a learning disability can help your child achieve greater outcomes; see our checklist below.
Learning Disability Healing Checklist
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Sources & References
Baker, S.M. A biochemical approach to the problem of dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1985 18(10): 581-584.
Darling, A.L., et al. Association between maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes in childhood: results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Br J Nutr. 2017 Jun;117(12):1682-1692.
Edwards, E.S., et al. Dyslexia on a continuum: A complex network approach. PLOS ONE, 2018; 13 (12): e0208923.
Hertz-Picciotto, I., et al. Organophosphate exposures during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment: Recommendations for essential policy reforms. PLoS Med. 2018 Oct 24;15(10):e1002671.
Morris, C.R., et al. Syndrome of allergy, apraxia, and malabsorption: characterization of a neurodevelopmental phenotype that responds to omega 3 and vitamin E supplementation. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Jul-Aug 2009;15(4):34-43.
Warner, B.B. The contribution of the gut microbiome to neurodevelopment and neuropsychiatric disorders. Pediatr Res. 2019 Jan;85(2):216-224.
Zaigham, M., et al. Prelabour caesarean section and neurodevelopmental outcome at 4 and 12 months of age: an observational study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2020 (20)564.
Resources
Books
College of Optometrists in Vision Development. Vision and Dyslexia. 2008
Johnson, Kathy. Dyslexia: Recognizing, Screening and Treating. Albany, NY. Pyramid of Potential, 2014.
Lambert, Beth, et al. Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis. Answers Publications, 2018.