High functioning adults with focal problems such as the inability to learn foreign languages, severe problems with organization, trouble following non-verbal cues, slow reading or even clumsiness can also be helped. Much adult illiteracy is the product of unrecognized learning disorders. Timing is important. Neuroplasticity is at its maximum in children up to 11 years old, though fortunately teenagers and adults can still benefit after that age. Also to be considered is the unfolding emotional devastation caused by learning disorders, as they lead to a bottleneck in overall development.
Children often become depressed, troubled teenagers as they fall behind.
Some withdraw, others explode with frustration. Some who make it to university crash and burn when their workload increases and career options dwindle. Indeed, many depressed adolescents and young adults, or people not responding to psychotherapy, have unrecognized learning disabilities. Individuals can have the 19 key brain areas tested at Arrowsmith School. Dr. Norman Doidge is a research psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.