“Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
-Albert Einstein
It sure can be quite exhausting for parents and teachers of students with one or more forms of a learning challenge, particularly in the absence of a proper diagnosis and professional guide. However, the exhaustion is often felt a lot more by the individuals themselves. As if they are not going through enough already, they have to deal with being labelled, being compared to others and often times being stigmatized. You absolutely have no idea how much they struggle just to be as good as their peers.
Simply put;
A Learning Difficulty is a brain related disorder which affects how an individual learns.
This means that it basically has to do with how the brain is wired and how it processes information.
It typically interferes with basic skills in learning such as reading, mathematics, comprehension, writing, reasoning e.t.c. An individual with learning difficulty may experience challenges with one specific aspect of learning or more. For instance, he/she may struggle with learning to decode words but may possess impressive numeracy skills. On the other hand, some other individual may struggle with more than one aspect of learning such as: reading, mathematics, writing or more.
When getting to know about learning difficulties, it is important to note that firstly, it has nothing to do with being lazy, laid back or unmotivated! as a matter of fact, individuals with learning difficulties often work really hard and aspire to be better. However, it is easy for others to form an opinion about them when they seem to shy away from cognitive tasks such as reading out loud in class, spelling, solving numeracy problems, or performing other cognitive tasks in the classroom.
Secondly, it has nothing to do with gender as it affects both males and females which is contrary to some strongly held beliefs about learning difficulties.
Thirdly, it has nothing to do with race or tribe as it can affect just anyone.
Fourthly, it has nothing to do with being stupid as most individuals with learning difficulties are intelligent! Finally, it is mostly hereditary as it runs in families, therefore, the chances of being diagnosed with a learning difficulty is higher when there is a history of learning difficulty within the family.
Parents, guardians and teachers can provide support and seek early interventions to improve their child/student’s cognitive functioning. kindly visit www.mobilehealthconsult for more information about learning difficulties and how to make an appointment for a Psycho-educational assessment.
Also, remember to follow me on twitter @DrMorayoJimoh for more informative updates on
#LearningDifficulties
