Development and Preliminary Validation of an Indigenous Scale for Assessment of Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities is a broad term that refers to a varied group of disabilities manifested by important difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, reasoning or mathematical abilities, processing and organizing information, which affects a person's academic performance (Hammill, Leigh, McNutt, & Larsen, 1988). Learning disabilities develop at a very young age and children from all racial, economic and cultural backgrounds are affected. Kamran (2011) asserted that 10 to 18 percent children in Pakistan's private schools are suffering from learning disabilities while in government schools, where attention towards children is already negligible, the situation is even worse (cf Siddique, 2011). Health Grades (2011) concerning the occurrence rate for learning disabilities in the populations of various countries and regions show that Pakistan has an extrapolated occurrence of learning disabilities. According to this study, 16.91 % of children suffer from learning disabilities in Pakistan. Moreover, learning disabilities are one of the major causes of dropout in schools in addition to poor parental economic conditions, parental carelessness, grade retention, children's health issues and student-parents literacy (Farooq, 2013). Learning disability includes a wide range of functions in which an individual faces difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors. Learning disabilities are diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR (2000) when a person's achievement on individually administered, standardized tests in reading, mathematics, or written expression are considerably below that expected for age, schooling, and level of intelligence and the learning problems significantly interfere with academic achievement or activities of daily living that require reading, mathematical, or writing skills (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). Whereas learning disabilities are diagnosed differently in DSM-V (2013); with a significant consolidation of separate learning disabilities that had appeared in DSM-IV-TR (2000) reading disorder, mathematics disorder, and disorder of written expression into one diagnosis called 'specific learning disorder'. This new criteria of DSM-V (2013) for learning disabilities describe difficulties in learning and academic achievement (DSM-5, 2013). Specific learning disorder' is now a single, overall diagnosis, incorporating disabilities that influence academic achievement. Rather than limiting learning disorders to diagnoses particular to reading, mathematics, and written expression, the criteria describe inadequacies in general academic skills and provide detailed specifications for the areas of reading, mathematics, and written expression (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). According to DSM-V (2013), 'Specific learning disorder' is diagnosed when there are specific insufficiencies in an individual's ability to recognize information precisely. This neurodevelopmental disorder manifests during the years of early schooling and is characterized by persistent and impairing difficulties with learning foundational academic skills in reading, writing, and/or math. Specific learning disorder may occur in individuals identified as intellectually gifted and become obvious only when the learning demands or assessment procedures (e.g., timed tests) pose barriers that cannot be overcome by their innate intelligence and compensatory strategies. For all individuals, specific learning disorder can produce lifelong damages in activities dependent on the skills, including occupational performances (DSM-V, 2013). Waber (2005) has differentiated between learning disabilities and disorders by stating that; a learning disorder is a diagnostic and medical term, therefore, a learning disability can be considered as more of an official term employed by education departments that identify the line past which a school is required to make special measures to help a child learn. …