Parent Resources

 LEARNING DISABILITIES

A learning disability affects the way children of average to above average intelligence receive, process, or express information and lasts throughout life. It impacts the ability to learn the basic skills of reading, writing, or math.

 For those of you who have sought outside evaluation for possible learning disabilities you may wonder why the private assessment results say that your child has a LD, but the public school disagreed.  Different professionals come to different conclusions about whether or not your child has a learning disability.  This is because a different set of criteria may be used when diagnosing outside the school setting. Assessments conducted by school professionals are bound by federal regulations stemming from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA).  IDEIA is a federal law that requires school districts to provide a “free appropriate public education” (in English, referred to as FAPE) to eligible children with disabilities.

 What a Learning Disability is Not:

• • Attention disorders, such as Attention-Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities often occur at the same time, but they're not the same.

  • Learning disabilities are not the same as mental retardation, autism, hearing or   visual impairment, physical disabilities, emotional disorders, or the normal process of learning a second language.

  • Learning disabilities aren't caused by lack of educational opportunities, such as frequent changes of schools; poor school attendance; lack of instruction in basic skills; environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage; limited English proficiency; motivational factors; and/or situational traumas