Exceptional Children and Disability Information

Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities Topic Categories

 

 

Introduction to NAPCSE's Learning Disabilities Page

Learning disability is a general term that describes specific kinds of learning problems. A learning disability can cause a person to have trouble learning and using certain skills. The skills most often affected are: reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, and doing math.

Learning disabilities (LD) vary from person to person. One person with LD may not have the same kind of learning problems as another person with LD.

Researchers think that learning disabilities are caused by differences in how a person's brain works and how it processes information. Children with learning disabilities are not "dumb" or "lazy." In fact, they usually have average or above average intelligence. Their brains just process information differently.

The definition of "learning disability" just below comes from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA is the federal law that guides how schools provide special education and related services to children with disabilities. The special help that Sara is receiving is an example of special education.

There is no "cure" for learning disabilities. They are life-long. However, children with LD can be high achievers and can be taught ways to get around the learning disability. With the right help, children with LD can and do learn successfully.

The topics listed are individual websites on learning disabilities that can be accessed only by members of The National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education (NAPCSE).  If you are not a member of NAPCSE, and would like to join, click here to register. Members of NAPCSE, please log in above (member login and password) to activate these, and all other websites, in our database. 

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Accommodations/Modifications

  • Good overview of classroom accommodations
  • Adjusting the classroom experience
  • Characteristics and classroom accommodations

 

Adults with Learning Disabilities

  • Characteristics of Adults with Specific Learning Disabilities
  • This fact sheet is a response to requests by adult literacy providers for effective teaching approaches for adults with learning disabilities.
  • Parenting Issues for Adults with Learning Disabilities
  • Self-Advocacy in the Workplace
  • This informational Guide was developed for and about adolescents in transition and adults with learning disabilities and attention disorders
  • National Resources for Adults with Learning Disabilities
  • This digest looks at current definitions of learning disabilities, the experiences of adults with LD, factors influencing their successful adjustment to adult life, and strategies for adult educators and counselors.
  • Web site discussing a general overview of adults with LD
  • Offers personal essays on first-hand experiences with the challenges of learning disabilities. Essays authored by teachers, parents and students offer advice and insight to living with learning disabilities.
  • Adults with Learning Disabilities and Assessment

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Advocacy Information

  • Parent advocacy for the pre-school child
  • Parent advocacy for the school age child
  • Self advocacy for teens and adults
  • Parents, advocates, educators, and attorneys come to Wrightslaw for accurate, up-to-date information about special education law and advocacy for children with disabilities.
  • Special education advocacy services
  • The Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center assists the families of children with disabilities through education, information and training.
  • This PACER Center project provides a central source for families of children and young adults with disabilities to obtain support, advocacy, and information about the health care system.
  • An advocacy checklist written for parents of children with learning disabilities

 

Assessment

  • Assessment of students with learning difficulties or learning disabilities
  • Identification and Assessment of Learning Disabilities
  • Assessing Your Child's Learning Difficulty or Learning Disability
  • Suggested Questions to Ask about assessment
  • Assessment of Learning Disabilities
  • Intelligence Tests Used in Assessment for Learning Disabilities
  • Assessment for Adults with LD
  • Issues in Learning Disabilities: Assessment and Diagnosis
  • Diagnosis of LD
  • Adults with Learning Disabilities and Assessment
  • The Assessment Process
  • How Are Learning Disabilities First Identified?
  • How Are Learning Disabilities Formally Diagnosed?

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Assistive Technology

  • New developments in technology and practical insights into the promise and realities of making technology work for people with learning disabilities.
  • What Happens When Assistive Technology Doesn’t Work? The Need For An Integrated Approach.
  • Technology: Some common questions answered
  • Tools for living with Learning Disabilities
  • Considering Your Child's Need for Assistive Technology
  • Assistive Technology Assessment:More Than the Device
  • Assistive Tech and Inclusion and Transition
  • Setting the Stage For Success:Building Success through Effective Selection and Use of Assistive Technology Systems
  • Tech Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities: Infusion into Inclusive Classrooms

Audio/Video Tapes

  • General Information on various audio tapes-1
  • General Information on various audio tapes-2
  • General Information on various audio tapes-3
  • General Information on various audio tapes-4
  • General Information on various audio tapes-5
  • General Information on various audio tapes-6
  • Diagnosis and Treatment of Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and Other Related Disorders
  • Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
  • General Information on various audio tapes
  • General Information on various audio tapes
  • How Difficult Can This Be?
  • Learning Disabilities and Social Skills with Richard Lavoie
  • Transition videos

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Books and PublicationsResources for Parents

  • Sources of Information and Support?
  • About the Journal on Learning Disabilities
  • Ordering the Journal of Learning Disabilities
  • The National Institute of Mental Health’s publication on learning disabilities
  • Bibliography of print resources for learning disabilities by NICHCY
  • Learning Disabilities Research and Practice Journal

 

Causes

  • Reviewed medical journal articles which have shown environmental and chemical exposure factors can cause damage to the delicate brain growth processes in the unborn child during pregnancy, thereby demonstrating potential to cause Learning Disabilities
  • Cigarette smoking during pregnancy and LD
  • causes of LD
  • FAQ causes of LD
  • causes of LD
  • What Causes Learning Disabilities?
  • Causes of Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia - Genetic and Biological
  • What are the causes of learning disabilities?
  • General Information-1
  • General Information-2
  • General Information-3
  • General Information-4
  • General Information-5

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Characteristics

  • General Information-1
  • General Information-2
  • Characteristics of Young Learning Disabled Students
  • Characteristics of Adults with Specific Learning Disabilities
  • Memory Deficits
  • Common characteristics
  • Behavioral characteristics
  • General Information

 

Classifications Types of Learning Disabilities

 

A. General Information

  • General Information-1
  • General Information-2
  • General Information-3
  • flow chart of various types of learning disabilities
  • General Information-4
  • General Information-5

B. Auditory Processing

  • Auditory processing disorders in detail
  • Living and working with CAPD
  • Central Auditory Processing Disorders CAPD's
  • What are Central Auditory Processing Problems in Children?
  • Journal of Learning Disabilities : Central Auditory Processing Ability in Children with ADHD With and Without Learning Disabilities : Rapson Gomez and Margaret Condon
  • Learners with Central Auditory Processing Disorder
  • Signs and symptoms of apraxia
  • What are Central Auditory Processing Problems in Children?
  • Implication of Auditory Processing Problems In the Home, School and Workplace
  • Simulation of Auditory Processing Problems
  • Auditory Processing Disorder in Children: What Does It Mean?
  • Auditory & Visual Processing

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C. Dyslexia

  • Dyslexia: Learning Disabilities in Reading
  • Dyslexia: A quick look
  • Dyslexia Information Sheet
  • Dyslexia Magazine Online
  • Dyslexia Research Institute
  • Symptoms and signs
  • International Dyslexia Association IDA
  • This cite contains a A Conversation with Sally Shaywitz, M.D., author of Overcoming Dyslexia
  • This cite contains the article “Should My Child Be Evaluated for Dyslexia?” — An Excerpt from Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D
  • Defining dyslexia
  • An overview of dyslexia
  • What is dyslexia? 
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 
  • Common Signs of Dyslexia 
  • Information about dyslexia and resources for helping Dyslexic pupils and students 
  • Explainations from Science 
  • Brain studies 
  • Learning Disabilities CheckList 
  • Dyslexia:  Compliance and Technology with federal laws 
  • What is Dyslexia 
  • Dyslexia- Compliance and technology with Federal laws
  • Overview  Videos on dyslexia 
  • About Dyslexia & Reading Problems 

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D. Dyscalculia

  • Dyscalculia: Learning disabilities in mathematics
  • Dyscalculia: A quick look
  • What is dyscalculia?
  • Overview 
  • Symptoms of dyscalculia 
  • Diagnosis
  • What is dyscalculia? 
  • Signs of dyscalculia 
  • Dyscalculia (or dyscalcula)-What it is and what it isn't
  • Effective and Responsible Teaching 
  • Memorizing facts: A Multi-Sensory Solution 
  • Dyscalculia Resources: Books & Manipulatives
  • Dyscalculia: Instructional Design & Classroom Techniques
  • Underlying causes of math difficulties  Strategies for students with math difficulties 
  • Dyscalculia Checklist 
  • Math skills 
  • Dyscalculia-Explanation from the British Dyslexia Association 
  • Fact sheet on Dyscalculia 

 

E. Dyspraxia

  • Learning disabilities and motor skills
  • Dyspraxia: A quick look

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F. Dysgraphia

  • Dysgraphia: Learning disabilities in writing
  • Dysgraphia: A quick look
  • Dysgraphia information page
  • Dysgraphia — Learning Disabilities in Writing
  • Dysgraphia: Causes and Treatment 
  • What is Dysgraphia? 
  • Dysgraphia-What it is and what it isn't
  • Underlying causes of dysgraphia 
  • Writing strategies for "dysgraphic" students  Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Handwriting Problems and/or Dysgraphia 
  • Strategies for Dealing with Dysgraphia 
  • Explanation
  • Dysgraphia -- Writing Disorders 
  • Diagnosis and Intervention Strategies for Disorders of Written Language 
  • The 90 Minute Dysgraphia Evaluation 

 

G. Dysorthographia

  • Five Guidelines for Learning to Spell and Six Ways to Practice Spelling 
  • Working with the Mainstream Teacher 
  • The Strategic Spelling Skills of Students with Learning Disabilities: The Results of Two Studies. 

H. Nonverbal learning disabilities

  • An introduction to nonverbal learning disabilities

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I. Visual Processing Disorders

  • Visual processing disorders: Challenges and strategies by age group
  • Visual processing disorders in detail

 

Classroom Management

  • General Information
  • Making Modifications in the Classroom
  • Adjustments in Classroom Management
  • Research on Classroom Ecologies: Implications for Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities
  • Learning Disabilities Check List
  • Checklist for Learning Disabilities – Dyslexia –
  • Making Modifications in the Classroom: A Collection of Checklist
  • What Are the "Early Warning Signs"of Learning Disabilities?
  • Learning Disability Checklist
  • Making Modifications in the Classroom: A Collection of Checklists
  • Vision and Learning Disabilities Checklist
  • Comprehension checklist
  • Oral Langauge checklist
  • Reading checklist
  • Behavioral checklist
  • Learning Disabilities and Psychological Problems — An Overview
  • Use of mnemonic devices with LD
  • Social Competence and the Child with Learning Disabilities
  • The Teacher's Role in Developing Social Skills
  • "Do's & Don'ts" for Fostering Social Competence
  • The use of strategy cards
  • Memory strategies
  • Personal essays on first-hand experiences with the challenges of learning disabilities.
  • Differentiating instruction
  • Schema based word problem solving instruction
  • Modification checklists
  • Flexible grouping
  • Homework issues
  • Adapting instruction
  • Inclusion and LD: a teacher’s guide
  • Improving instruction
  • What is good homework
  • l watering up the curriculum for adolescents with LD
  • Extensive list of intervenetions
  • Tips for written communication
  • Homework strategies
  • Teaching note taking
  • Features of good learning strategies
  • ABC’s of co-teaching
  • Observing children with LD
  • Use of books on tape

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Definition

  • Child Development Institute
  • LD Online
  • KidSource Online
  • Helpguide
  • Schwab Learning
  • National Mental Health Association

Diagnosis

  • General Information on diagnosis
  • Identifying learning disabilities early
  • How Are Learning Disabilities First Identified?
  • How Are Learning Disabilities Formally Diagnosed?
  • How are children with learning disabilities identified?
  • How are children with learning disabilities diagnosed?

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Assessment of students with learning difficulties or learning disabilities
  • overview of learning disabilities
  • Frequently Asked Questions about dyslexia

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History of the Field

  • Historical perspectives-very thorough
  • Historical overview

 

Medical Issues/Medications

  • Is Medication Available?
  • How are children with learning disabilities treated?
  • What You Can Do About Learning Disabilities
  • Is there any treatment?
  • Researchers Identify Potential Treatment for Learning Disability in Neurofibromatosis
  • The treatment of LD

 

OrganizationsAgencies involved with learning disabilities

  • National learning disabilities organizations
  • Council for Learning Disabilities
  • Division for Learning Disabilities
  • Learning Disabilities Association of America
  • National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center
  • Orton Dyslexia Society
  • CLD serves professionals who work with individuals with learning disabilities.
  • IDA is an international organization concerned with the issues of dyslexia, and provides effective teaching approaches and related clinical educational intervention strategies and support.
  • This website focuses on the issues related to learning disabilities and serves professionals, students, children, and adults. The site also includes articles written by the leading experts, research findings reported by top researchers, and the latest news in the field of learning disabilities.
  • LDA is a national information and referral service that provides free information on learning disabilities
  • NCLD’s services include raising public awareness and understanding, national information and referral, educational programs, and legislative advocacy.

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Overview and General Information

  • LD Online
  • National Center for Learning Disabilities
  • What you need to know about special education
  • General Information-1
  • General Information-2
  • General Information-3

 

Parent Information

  • Tips for Parents
  • A parent’s guide for understanding LD
  • Parenting Issues for Adults
  • Lessons Learned
  • A Mother's Tale of Middle School Transitions
  • Ten Tenets for Parents
  • A Place in the Family: An Historical Interpretation of Research on Parental Reactions to Having a Child with a Disability
  • Mealtimes
  • The Process of Discovery: Finding Out Why Your Child is Struggling
  • The parent to Parent Handbook
  • What parents say on how-to-cope
  • Ten Tips for Negotiating the Best Education for Your Child
  • A Learning Disability Is Only One Part of a Child
  • Understanding Learning Disabilities: A Parent Guide and Workbook
  • Helping Young Children with Learning Disabilities at Home
  • Helping Your Child with Organization and Study Skills
  • Tips for Developing Organizational Skills in Children
  • Tips for choosing a tutor
  • Helping your child at home

 

Prevalence

  • General Information-1
  • General Information-2
  • incidence and adults-3

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