5 Myths About Learning Disabilities
To help parents get up to speed on the truth about common learning disabilities including ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia (struggles with math), here are five myths—with clarifying facts—about the most common learning disabilities in the United States.
MYTH #1: Smart kids and teens can’t have a learning disability.
The truth: Learning disabilities affect the way people with average to above-average intelligence receive, process, or express information. IQ—which is simply a measurement of someone’s combined cognitive abilities—can be high despite one or more underperforming cognitive skills.
Need an example? Imagine a smart child who gets all of their test questions correct, but whose slower processing speed prevents them from finishing on time with the rest of the class. Or picture a teen who would complete their homework—if only their memory was strong enough to recall what the teacher assigned.
MYTH #2: Tutoring is the best approach for students with learning disabilities.
The truth: Tutoring has its place—for example, if the student needs to “catch up” on the academic material they missed due to a long-term illness or mid-school year move. It’s designed to re-teach information. This is the “WHAT” part of smart. The “HOW” part of smart is about the tools that help you learn, think, remember, and read, regardless of the subject.
These brain skills include processing speed, logic & reasoning, attention, long-term and working memory, and auditory and visual processing. In fact, 80% of learning disabilities are rooted in cognitive skills that simply aren’t strong enough for a student to perform up to their full potential. In most cases, re-teaching to acquire knowledge won’t work if the root cause of learning struggles isn’t first addressed through targeted cognitive skills training.
MYTH #3: Genetics pre-destines some people to be bad at math.
The truth: While genetics can play a small role in math struggles, it doesn’t pigeonhole someone to be bad at math for life. Dyscalculia—the broad term to describe a learning disorder that affects their ability to understand number-based information and math—simply translates to “badly calculating.”
Luckily, the cognitive skills needed to understand math—such as working memory, visual processing, and logic & reasoning—can be targeted and trained. Strengthening these fundamental brain skills can help children, teens, and adults better improve their understanding of math.
Read More: Do You Need a Math Tutor or a Brain Trainer? >>
MYTH #4: Dyslexia is about writing backwards or reversing individual letters.
The truth: Dyslexia is an issue with language and it’s not something we grow out of as adults. The reality is that 88% of learning-to-read difficulties are caused by an inability to blend, segment, and analyze sounds. Decoding, for example, is the ability to match letters to sounds. Likewise, phonemic awareness is about recognizing sounds in words.
People with dyslexia may have trouble with grammar, sentence structure, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing. The good news is that these skills can be strengthened with a comprehensive reading program.
MYTH #5: ADHD always manifests as hyperactivity.
The truth: ADHD is the umbrella term that includes three types of attention deficits. ADHD diagnoses can be broken down into the hyperactive/impulsive type, in the inattentive type, and the combined type. In boys, who are more likely to have the hyperactive/impulsive type, the signs of attention deficits are often more observable. They may get out of their seat, interrupt the teacher, or disrupt the class in ways that affect other students.
Girls’ attention deficits are more likely to fall under the inattentive type, with signs like struggling with organization or “spacing out” in class. These different manifestations of attention deficits are often the reason that boys are diagnosed with ADHD more than girls.
If your child or teen has been diagnosed with learning disability, or you’d simply like to have their cognitive skills checked to ensure they’re not holding your student back, consider scheduling a Brain Skills Assessment. It only takes about an hour and many families describe seeing the results as an “Aha!” moment. Armed with information about which brain skills are already strong and which could use some targeted training, you can make a decision about the best interventions to help maximize your child’s learning and thinking skills.
