Specific Learning Disorder with Impairment in Reading: What It Is and What You Need to Know
For years, kids who struggle with reading have been accommodated, pushed through, put in lower reading groups, or diagnosed with dyslexia. However, there is a move towards a more general understanding of this struggle with reading: and that is specific learning disorder with impairment in reading.
So Is Dyslexia Not a Thing Any More?
Dyslexia is still very present and VERY much a struggle for a lot of people. Estimates show that 80% of kids with a learning disability have specific struggles in reading. This has just been commonly diagnosed as dyslexia for decades.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Specific learning disorder is a medical term used for diagnosis. It is often referred to as ‘learning disorder.’ ‘Learning disability’ is a term used by both the educational and legal systems.”
Ultimately what we are talking about is this: there is something neurologically or cognitively standing in your or your child’s way that is preventing fluent reading. Whether we call it dyslexia or specific learning disorder with impairment in reading, the reality is that your child is struggling with reading (and there is a reason).
What Do Kids with Specific Learning Disorder in Reading Struggle With?
It is common for kids with specific learning disorder with impairment in reading to also struggle with attention, memory, anxiety, ADHD, or other learning disabilities.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, here are some of the areas that these kids often struggle with:
- Inaccurate, slow, non-fluent reading
- Trouble with reading comprehension
- Poor spelling
- Having difficulty writing (i.e., organization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, etc.)
- Being behind grade level to a degree that they can’t participate fully
Each of these areas of struggle are frustrating. They can be hard to navigate as parents, but you are not alone.
Strengthen Reading Skills with Brain Training
Like all learning struggles, weak cognitive skills are often at the root of reading struggles. Whether it’s an inability to decode (segment and blend) new words, trouble remembering what they read, or thinking too slowly to keep up, there is a wide range of possibilities for what is specifically causing your child’s trouble with reading.
Understanding your child’s cognitive skills is an important first step to helping them become successful. Without this knowledge, you won’t know the WHY: why is reading hard for my child?
If you know it’s an auditory processing issue, it’s much easier to correct that than continue to accommodate their struggle…
If you know it’s a processing speed or working memory weakness, you’ll likely be able to see other areas of life that these skills impact as well.
This is just a couple quick examples. Every brain is unique and there is a wide range of reasons WHY reading could be hard for your child. Taking the first step by completing a cognitive skills assessment can give you these answers!
This short test, completed in-person at our center or online, uncovers each learner’s unique cognitive skills profile. This knowledge will help you identify problem areas so you can best support your child’s learning moving forward!
