According to data, about 2.5% of UK kids struggle with some form of learning disability. It might be impossible to conclude whether your child is dealing with subject comprehension or a developmental disorder without a clinical diagnosis. Thankfully, as a parent or an adult directly responsible for these kids, there are things you can look out for. This in no way means your findings are conclusive without expert professional help. Hopefully, any of these signs can help you make your child’s right and timely decision.
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Constantly struggles to do homework independently or with supervision.
Usually, children between two and five years require adult supervision to complete homework. In some cases, though, a child in this age bracket can sit still for a short period to complete any colouring project, as long as it captures their attention. However, when you have kids aged five and above who constantly require your presence to complete homework properly, it may be cause for concern.
They cannot sit for more than five minutes to concentrate on a single task in many cases. Instead, they may insist on you being around them while attempting to do the homework. Sometimes though, even with direct supervision, concentration levels are still low. Homework that looks simple enough to be completed by your eight-year-old may seem like an arduous task.
When you notice these signs, you will find it helpful to remain calm. Remember that your reactions can aggravate the child’s situation. If the findings turn out to be autism, you can enrol your child at SEN School, where the curriculum is tailor-made for specific needs.
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Excessive delays in learning new skills.
One of the telltale signs is when your child misses several developmental milestones or encounters excessive delays. Indeed, children hit milestones at different times, but there is always a cut-off point. Therefore, if there is no positive sign of improvement after five or six months of a missed milestone, your best bet is to seek help.
For example, by sixteen months, a child, regardless of gender, can make leg contact with a ball in an attempt to kick it. However, if nothing of the sort has happened by four years, it could be a sign of a learning disability. Indeed, this has nothing to do with academics. However, it is still classified as a learning disability.
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Confusion with numbers and alphabets.
When your young one has dyslexia, autism or any other learning disability, you will notice their consistent confusion of alphanumeric symbols. Some of these are reversals and inversions. The former refers to the confusion of the letters’ b’ and ‘d;’ while inversions primarily deal with the letters ‘m’ and ‘w.’ In the same way, some kids will replace upper case ‘B’ with the number ‘3.’ The observations are quite varied. Therefore, if you have a child with a learning disability, these may not be too surprising.
Managing a child with a clinically diagnosed learning disability is a whole experience. Thankfully, there is hope to overcome many of these challenges. It just takes time, continued support and persistence to achieve results.