Today, the association trains and employs caregivers and experts in diagnosing learning disabilities. The voluntary body also counsels families, runs special enrichment classes, clubs and summer camps, and trains teachers in the regular school system to identify learning problems. The reasons for these problems are not always certain, but they may include trauma during pregnancy, disturbances during delivery, serious disease, accidents during infancy, and sometimes even inherited genetic causes. Others suffer from attention, memory, motor and coordination problems. All have at least average intelligence.
Early diagnosis is vital.
Experts say that about 15 percent of the population suffer from some type of learning disability, while only three percent of them need schooling in special education classes. Many with learning disabilities can improve with occupational therapy, special teaching and psychological treatment. Nitzan and Center Party MK Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff are now involved in promoting a private member's bill to ensure the rights of pupils with learning disabilities to education in regular schools if they want it. Nitzan, with 34 branches around the country, helps over 2,000 pupils and trains 450 teachers a year. They also help 200 affected adults live in protected housing.