Education Station

OCTOBER IS LEARNING DISABILITIES AWARENESS MONTH

Don’t let your teenager FALL through the learning cracks

The following is a checklist of characteristics that may point to a learning disability in adolescent students. Most parents may, from time to time, see one or more of these warning signs in their teenager. This is normal. These characteristics may have been noticed during the child’s younger years; however, grades were always good. It is the persistence of these characteristics that may signal a learning disability, particularly if your teenager is beginning to struggle in school for the first time and grades are dropping.

Bright high school students may be able to compensate for a learning disability in the earlier grades. Only as the volume of work increases during the high school may the learning difficulties become apparent. This checklist is available through the website www.ldonline.org which is a valuable resource for parents.

Check list for High School Students

• Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
• Avoids reading and writing tasks
• Trouble summarizing
• Trouble with open-ended questions on tests
• Weak memory skills
• Difficulty adjusting to new settings
• Works slowly
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much
• Misreads information

The persistence of three or more of these symptoms is a warning that learning may be difficult for your teenager. If you are concerned, an Educational Specialist at Child and Family Development

is available. Teenagers and adults can learn how to work with their learning strengths to overcome learning weaknesses.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO OVERCOME A LEARNING DISABILITY.