Learning Disabilities
The amount of information that we are asked to process minute-to-minute, day-to-day is astounding. There are many pathways of perception that we understand: vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, and some that are less well understood like social awareness or energy awareness. Furthermore, there are many more pathways concerned with the integration of these perceptions that are at times even less well understood. We are constantly enlarging our concepts of how information is perceived, stored, transferred, reintegrated, retrieved, and expressed. When a child has a difficulty with any of these functions it is particularly distressing. This web page is our attempt to help focus parental attention on the specifics of their child's problem and to help them gain a fuller understanding of the current definitions and therapies available for children with learning and communication disorders.
The life of a child with learning disabilities frequently looks like our planet from a different perspective. They and we are looking at the same thing; we see it differently than they do. The varieties of differences in perception, in integration, or in application are numerous and trying to understand the particular pathways that they use to understand their perception is extremely difficult. There are many separate diagnostic categories that we have detailed in this site.
The Learning Disabilities Association is a national organization. Their web site discusses ADD/ADHD, Asperger's syndrome, Central Auditory Processing, Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities in general, and Speech and Language Disorders. This is an excellent starting point.
The National Institute of Mental Health has an extensive discussion of the basics of learning disorders, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Gerstmann's syndrome, and language based learning disabilities. After visiting this page, please any of the more specific pages regarding: ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, Central Auditory Processing, Nonverbal Learning Disability, Sensory Integration, and Tactile Defensiveness.
