1. LEARNIG DISABILITY
 ETIOLOGY (CAUSES) OF LEARNING
DISABILITY AND
 ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE WITH REFERENCE
TO THE STUDENTS WITH LEARNING
DISABILITIES

2. DEFINITION
A learning disability is a neurological disorder.
 In simple terms, a learning disability results from a
difference in the way a person's brain is "wired.“
 Children with learning disabilities are as smart as or
smarter than their peers. But
 They may have difficulty in reading, writing, spelling,
and reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information.
 (Fletcher et al, 2001)

3. FIVE COMMON LDs INCLUDE
 Dyslexia
 Dyscalculia
 Dysgraphia
 Visual processing Disorder &
 Non verbal Learning Disorder.

4. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES.
 There are likely to be different causes but in most cases, the
cause (Etiology) of a child’s learning disability is unknown.
 Four suspected causal factors are
 Brain damage
 Heredity
 Biochemical imbalance
 Environmental causes
(Myers & Hammill, 1990)

5. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
 Brain Damage or Dysfunction
 Some professionals believe that all children with learning
disabilities suffer from some type of brain injury or
dysfunction of the central nervous system
 Learning disorders are presumed to be due to central
nervous system dysfunction.

6. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
 The actual structure of the brain of some children with
reading disabilities is slightly different from that of children
without disabilities.
 Heredity:
 Individuals with certain genetic syndromes may have an
increased risk of manifesting a particular type of learning
disability

7. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
Research into these syndromes has revealed that girls with
Turner syndrome and fragile X syndrome and boys with
Klinefelter syndrome tend to have visual-perceptual
learning disabilities
 There is growing evidence that genetics may account for at
least some family links with dyslexia

8. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
 Biochemical Imbalance:
 Biochemical disturbances within a child’s body may also be
a cause of learning disabilities.
 It is also suggested that learning disabilities can be caused
by the inability of a child’s bloodstream to synthesize a
normal amount of vitamins.

9. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
Today, most professionals in learning disabilities give
little credence to biochemical imbalance as a
significant cause of children’s learning problems
 Environmental factors:
 Impoverished living conditions early in a child’s life can
contribute to LDs (Malnutrition).

10. ETIOLOGY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
 Another environmental variable that is likely to contribute
to children’s learning problems is the quality of instruction
they receive.
 Infants and toddlers who received infrequent
communication exchanges with their parents were more
likely to show deficits in vocabulary, language use, and
intellectual development before entering school

11.  Students with learning disabilities may suffer from
Emotional problems/Depression, and/or low Self-esteem.
 This may cause students to withdraw
social interaction.
 These same students may turn to drugs or alcohol for
relief from feelings of low self-worth.
(Leonard, 2001)
COMMON ISSUES RELATED TO IDs

12. COMMON ISSUES RELATED TO IDs
 As many as 35% of students with learning disorders,
drop out of High School (Girod, 2001).
 “Teenagers with dyslexia …[are] more likely to…think
about and to attempt suicide than other young people their
age” (Landau, 2004).

13. ISSUES RELATED TO PARENTS/TEACHERS &
PUBLIC IN GENERAL
 Parents do not pay proper attention to this malady in their
childern
 They are snubbed/ignore by their teachers and
concequently they bunk and eventually they leave school.
 In general these students with learning disabilities are
considered as dunces.

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THANKS