Free Health Dissertations - Lo. 1 - Explain What Is Meant By "learning Disabilities", And Outline Their
LO. 1 - Explain what is meant by "learning disabilities", and outline their possible causes and manifestations.
The term and definition of learning disability has its controversies and ambiguousness and the term means different things to different people having various cultural and medical connotations. Individuals identified as having learning difficulties are recognized and understood by the communities in which they live, the personal services they need, and the kind of support they expect. Yet, generally Learning Disability can be defined as
a cognitive disorder that adversely affects people's ability to interpret visual and auditory information or to link different pieces of information from different parts of the brain to integrate them in a coherent manner. There is thus an apparent lack of integration and coordination of information (see Emerson et al., 2001). These limitations as revealed through learning disabilities can be manifested as specific difficulties with coordination, attention, spoken and written language, or even self-control. Difficulties in learning also affect schoolwork and can lead to impediments in learning to read and write.
According to the Department of Health, Learning Disability can be defined as
‘A significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence), with, a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning) and which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.’ (DOH, 2001 p14)
Specifically in Scotland the term learning disability is used to describe:
‘ those with a significant, lifelong condition that started before adulthood, that affects their development and which means they need help to understand information, learn skills and cope independently.’ (Scottish Executive, 2000)
According to the British Institute of Learning Disabilities, (BILD), Learning Disability is just a label. BILD points out that the term learning disability is being increasingly replaced by the term learning difficulties and as given by the Warnock Committee ‘learning difficulties’ is a term used ‘to cover specific problems with learning in children that might arise as a result of a number of different factors, eg medical problems, emotional problems, language impairments etc’ (BILD, 2005).
There can be different types of learning disabilities that can be categorized into three broad groups:
Learning Disabilities related to developmental speech and language disorders.
Learning Disabilities associated with academic skills disorders
Learning Disabilities associated with coordination disorders, learning handicaps and problems in integration of information
For deciding that someone has learning disabilities, three diagnostic criteria are used:
Intellectual Ability
Legislative definitions of learning disability
Social competence.
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