Many children/adult are not sufficiently
prepared or healthy to handle the
challenges of education either physically
or mentally

Learning relies on the computation of a
prediction error, which corresponds to
the difference between an outcome and
some previously-established expectation

Some try and push themselves hard and
passed grades in all the classes, but their
health– both physical and mental– may
suffer as a result

Many children with LD appear bright, highly
intelligent, and articulate, but unable to:
read, write, or spell or/and show mathematics
achievement at grade level.

Often chronic state of failure or anxious
anticipation of failure deepens their behavioral
and/or cognitive deficiencies and triggers the
development of behavior problems (e.g. school
shootings, drug abuse, etc.).

LD Manifestation (DSM-IV):
• Reading Disorder
• Mathematics Disorder
• Disorder of Written Expression
• Learning Disorder NOS

LD Domains:
• Input (auditory, visual, sensory )
• Integration (thinking)
• Memory
• Output (executive)

Many students often have more than
one disorder:
Children with a reading disorder may
also show poor mathematics
achievement, attention deficits,
impulsivity and lack of self-monitoring.

LD often goes unrecognized/neglected
until the child begins schooling.

Behavior problems, secondary to LD:
• Social indifference
• Aggression
• Error checking and self-monitoring
Focus on the anterior cingulate cortex
and rule-breaking & substance use
associated with ineffective dorsally
mediated inhibitory control of this region.

Disorientation: False sensory perceptions
mistakes and emotional reactions may be
produced. Consequently emotional reactions
bring about condition of frustration.
Nervous system :
Medial temporal lobe (para-hippocampal gyrus),
crucial for specifically storing and/or retrieving
visual information (declarative memory
formation), necessary to achieve orientation in
the locomotor environment.

Attention Focus
Shifts of attention caused by disorientation can
reverse or alter the senses of motion, balance
and time. This person may be easily distracted,
impulsive (ADHD) or a daydreamer (ADD).
Nervous system :
Brainstem: incoming sensory information and
active attention
Reticular formation and locus coeruleus (arousal
and ignoring irrelevant stimuli).

Nervous system : Attention Focus (Cont.)
Limbic System: Emotional overtones and
motivation for attention.
Amygdala and Hippocampus: selection &
emotional classification of incoming information
for long-term memory storage and retrieval
Neocortex: Sensory lobes: (Sensory Information-
processing)
Frontal lobes: control (fixation & shifting
attention (foreground vs background & current
situation vs previous experience).

Nervous system : Math and Time Management
Processing disorders (understanding numerical
concepts and arithmetical information) can
influence potential and acquisition of several
academic/language skills.
Accurate sense of time (orientation) & sequence
order can compromise both Dyscalculia (and
Dyslexia).

Nervous system : Math and Time Management
(Continued)
Functions apparent and/or impaired:
• Parietal areas (number functions),
• Frontal regions (executive working memory
and attention)

Nervous system : Coordination/Handwriting
Deficient handwriting as result of under-
developed fine and gross motor skills may
result in:
• Taking longer completing writing tasks,
which can result in difficulty of schoolwork,
oppositional attitudes toward writing
assignments, problems both at school/home

Nervous system : Coordination/Handwriting
Functions: Expressive handwriting is influenced
by senso-motor development and neurological
organization (not necessarily associated to brain
damage).
• Right/left confusion: angular gyrus
• Balance and disorientation: Cerebellum
• Understanding, decoding, phonological
processing, and internal speech: Right and left
inferior frontal gyrus
Handwriting performance is also linked with other language-related
skills.

Nervous system: Self-Esteem
Maturation consists of achievement and failures.
Students with LD are often mislabeled as slow,
lazy/stupid.
This leads to feelings of failure, inferiority,
depression, problems in social interactions
and/or behavior (frustration, stuttering,
aggression, dropouts, drug abuse, etc.)

Nervous system : Self-Esteem (Continued)
Functions:
Cognitive and emotional aspects of self-
reflection of errors: Ventral limbic systems,
regions of the prefrontal cortex.
Risk of developing anxious/depressed
symptoms.
Interpretation of others' intentions and social
learning: anterior cingulate gyrus, dorso-medial
prefrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
regions.

Conclusion
Solving math problems, reading, writing, oral
speech and its understanding are complex
functional systems: Components each of which
is supported by a particular brain-area, with
very specific contributions to the functioning of
the system as a whole. The same component
can belong to several different functional
systems.

Conclusion (Continued)
Maladaptive self-regulation and brain
dysfunctions may lead to behavioral problems
beyond adulthood.
(Early)identification–with focus on brain-
behavior relationship- with targeted inter-
vention could prevent LD from derailing a
child’s education.

Conclusion (Continued)
Identification is crucial for implementation of
health-preserving learning techniques so to
break the cycle.
Once a person learn to utilize his/her special
talents to succeed in life (schoolwork,
relationships, etc.) a dramatic shift in self-
esteem is shown.

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