Fourth, for many children, the manifestations of their learning disorders change over time. Although this can aid the clinician in diagnosis if he or she follows the child for several years, it makes initial diagnosis more difficult. The most common learning disorders are described below, with hallmark characteristics, types of evaluations, and most appropriate intervention approaches discussed. Language disorders may affect comprehension and expression of individual words or sentences. As children become older, their language disorder may affect more abstract verbal reasoning skills, which often is one source of their school difficulty.
Many children have only a speech disorder, such as impaired pronunciation or stuttering.
They are less likely to experience significant learning problems than children with broader language impairment. A history of significant language comprehension disorder in the preschool years is a strong predictor of school learning difficulties and of placement in special education programs. Physicians therefore should assess what a young child understands, as well as what he or she says. Specific deficits in language and reasoning skills also may be considered a learning disability. 2 Tremendous progress has been made in understanding and treating the most common learning disability, dyslexia.