Learning Disabilities with Characteristics

Dyslexia:  

A learning disability affecting primarily reading

• Difficulty in learning to read, write, spell and do arithmetic

• Difficulty with learning letters and their sounds

• Difficulty in following oral and written instructions

• Cramped or illegible handwriting

• Difficulty reading quickly enough to comprehend and persisting with longer texts

• Easily distracted, difficulty in retaining information

• Confusion in sequence of letters and symbols

• Delayed spoken language

• Confusion about directions in space and time, right and left, north and south, yesterday and tomorrow

• More than average test taking anxiety

Dysgraphia:  

A learning disability affecting primarily writing

• Variably shaped and poorly formed letters, excessive erasures and cross-outs in writing

• Poor spacing between letters and words

• Letter and number reversals beyond early stages of writing

• Awkward, inconsistent pencil grip

• Heavy pressure and hand fatigue

• Slow to write and copy with legible or illegible handwriting

Dyscalculia:   

A learning disability affecting primarily mathematics

•Difficulty counting backwards
• Extreme difficulty in performing simple calculations,  difficulty with mental arithmetic skills

• A poor sense of numbers and estimation

• Difficulty in understanding place value

• Addition is often the default operation

• High levels of mathematical anxiety

Developmental Aphasia:  

A learning disability affecting primarily language and communication

• Poor comprehension skills

• Difficulty in forming words and sentences,

speaking and word recall

• Trouble understanding speech

• Difficulty in reading and writing

• Leaving out words like ‘the,’ ‘of’ and ‘was’ from speech

• Speaking only in short phrases that are produced with great effort

• Putting words together in the wrong order