مقالة باللغة الانكليزية عن صعوبات التعلم
What is a learning disability?
A
learning disability affects the way a person learns new things in any
area of life, not just at school. Find out how a learning disability can affect
someone, and where you can find support.
A learning disability affects the
way a person understands information and how they communicate.
Around 1.5m people in the UK have one. This means they can have
difficulty:
- understanding new or complex information
- learning new skills
- coping independently
It is thought that up
to 350,000 people have severe learning disabilities. This figure is increasing.
Mild, moderate or severe learning disability
A learning disability
can be mild, moderate or severe. Some people with a mild learning disability
can talk easily and look after themselves, but take a bit longer
than usual to learn new skills. Others may not be able to communicate at
all and have more than one disability (seeProfound and multiple
learning disability, below).
A learning disability
is not the same as a learning difficulty or mental illness. Consultant
paediatrician Dr Martin Ward Platt says: "It can be very confusing,"
he says, pointing out that the term "learning difficulties" is
used by some people to cover the whole range of learning disabilities.
"It is easy to
give the impression, by using a term like 'learning difficulties', that a child
has less of a disability than they really do," says Dr Ward
Platt.
Some children with
learning disabilities grow up to be quite independent, while others need help
with everyday tasks, such as washing or getting dressed, for their whole
lives. It depends on their abilities.
Sources of support for learning disabilities
Some learning
disabilities are diagnosed at birth, such as Down's syndrome. Others might not be discovered until the
child is old enough to talk or walk.
Once your child is
diagnosed with a learning disability, your GP can refer you for any specialist
support you may need. You'll begin to get to know the team of professionals who
will be involved in your child's care.
Support from
professionals – including GPs, paediatricians, speech and language
therapists, physiotherapists and educational and clinical psychologists –
is available to help individuals live as full and independent a life as
possible.
What causes learning disabilities?
A learning disability
happens when a person's brain development is affected,
either before they are born, during their birth or in early childhood.
Several factors
can affect brain development, including:
- the mother becoming ill in pregnancy
- problems during the birth that stop enough oxygen
getting to the brain
- the unborn baby developing certain genes
- the parents passing certain genes to the unborn
baby that make having a learning disability more likely (known as
inherited learning disability)
- illness,
such as meningitis, or injury in early childhood
Sometimes there is no
known cause for a learning disability.
Some conditions are
associated with having a learning disability, such as cerebral palsy. This is because people with these conditions
are more likely to have one.
Everyone with Down's
syndrome, for example, has some kind of learning disability, and so do many
people with cerebral palsy. People with autism may also have learning disabilities, and
around 30% of people with epilepsy have a learning disability.
Profound and
multiple learning disability (PMLD)
A diagnosis of a
profound and multiple learning disability (PMLD) is used when a child has
more than one disability, with the most significant being a learning
disability.
Many children
diagnosed with PMLD will also have a sensory or physical disability, complex
health needs, or mental health difficulties. People with PMLD need a carer or
carers to help them with most areas of everyday life, such as eating, washing and going to the toilet.
If you are looking
after a child or adult with PMLD, you can find help and support in Care and support.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق