What to Do if You Think Your Child Has a Learning Disability

Suspecting your child might have a learning disability can be overwhelming, but early action can make all the difference. Learning challenges take a toll on a child’s confidence and resilience over time. When they continue to struggle year after year, it can become even harder to bounce back and gain ground. As soon as you suspect there might be a learning disability at play, here are important steps to take:

Recognizing the Signs of a Learning Disability: 

Understanding potential learning disabilities begins with identifying common signs, which can include difficulties in reading, writing, math, focus, and memory. These challenges are unique to each child. While everyone develops at their own pace, significant challenges—or even just hints at struggles early on—in these areas may signal a learning disability: 

• Struggles with core academic skills like reading, writing, or math.
• Inability to grasp the basics of core subjects like reading and math (and struggling to progress with peers).
• Inconsistent performance between what you believe your child is capable of and how they actually perform in school.
• Difficulty following multi-step instructions.
• Poor organizational habits, frequently missing assignments, inability to keep track of time, or other executive functioning challenges.
• Short attention span, leading to incomplete tasks, constant distraction, or careless mistakes.

What to Do Next:

If you suspect a learning disability, you can pursue different types of diagnostic tests. While these tests might confirm a diagnosis, they don’t always provide guidance on how to best support your child. A couple common options are:

• Neuropsychological Testing: This test assesses cognitive and behavioral factors impacting your child’s learning, considering aspects like mood, personality, and comprehension.
• Psychoeducational Testing: This test identifies learning disabilities and neurodevelopmental or mood disorders, focusing on a student’s strengths to guide accommodations.

Why Cognitive Skills Matter: 

While these tests may label your child’s struggles, they may not explain WHY they occur. If you’re looking for a deeper understanding of your child’s difficulties, cognitive skills testing could be the answer.

At LearningRx, we don’t diagnose or treat learning disabilities. Instead, we assess your child’s unique cognitive skills to understand the underlying reasons for their learning challenges. This approach helps us target and improve specific skills to optimize performance in areas like reading, comprehension, focus, and math.

Cognitive skills are essential for all learning. By understanding your child’s specific strengths and weaknesses, we can provide them with the tools they need to learn more effectively.