Is this a Learning Difficulty or a Unique Learning Difference?
- Mable Green
- Aug 16
- 7 min read
Learning difficulties, Learning Disabilities and Intellectual disabilities are interchangeable terms depending on which country the research is from. A difficulty usually becomes a disability when it starts to have an adverse effect on a person's health and social well-being.
A disability is described in law (the Equality Act 2010) as 'a physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.'
There are four ways learning difficulties/ disabilities are represented
Mild learning difficulties
Moderate Learning difficulties
Severe or profound Learning difficulties
Specific Learning Difficulties
Mild Learning difficulties
Many of these children manage in school, where they can converse and communicate their needs. They may have speech or a Specific learning difficulty that requires support, but they will achieve overall.
Moderate Learning Difficulties
Some children may have speech difficulties and achieve significantly less than their peers. They may find it challenging to acquire literacy and math skills, have low concentration levels, and have underdeveloped social skills.
Severe or profound Learning Difficulties
Someone with Severe or Profound and Multiple disabilities (PMLD) has significant and complex social and health needs and is unable to live independently. Support with EHCP (Educational Health and Care Plan), an Individualised programme of learning support and basic living skills. Many agencies, such as community nurses, social workers, physiotherapists, medical teams, and charity support, are involved, as they cannot live independently.
Learning Disabilities, Learning Difficulty, Learning differences
Valuing People, the 2001 White Paper on the health and social care of people with learning disabilities, included the following definition of learning disabilities.
Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century
Learning disability includes the presence of:
a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence), with;
reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning)
started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development
Learning Disability replaced the term 'Mentally Handicapped'
Mainstream school and inclusion
Moderate, severe, and profound learning disabilities are usually apparent to those in education and health, so help is coordinated early on, as they will need support. This is packaged within an EHCP—Educational, Health, and Care Plan—so a child's needs can be defined and met within the Educational, Health, and Social Care system. This is when labels are essential; parents work hard to determine the issues their child is experiencing.
Special Educational Needs
With an educational system that is so structured, one size fits all, you can see why this is happening. The teachers don’t always have the experience to spot issues to see if it’s a learning difficulty, leaving the parents to wonder if their child has a problem. Getting a label means that the school needs to support their child under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code 2014. Children are individuals, and we are all on the neurodivergent spectrum, so it makes sense that only a slice of the school population can tune into the learning. Those who are gifted and talented aren't pushed to reach their potential, and those who are Dyslexic, Autistic, or who can't sit for long lose out.
Mild Learning Difficulties and Specific Learning Difficulties
The area I mainly talk about is those with mild learning difficulties that become invisible in mainstream schools. These children get lost in the educational system, fail, give up or end up with mental health issues.
The critical point here is that this does not affect their intelligence
Specific Learning Difficulties
In education, this is when children have Specific learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia.
You usually see a child who is doing well in all but one of their subjects. The Specific difficulty could be reading and writing, but being so knowledgeable about so much doesn't measure up.
Another could be good at English, reading and other subjects, but not be able to grasp Maths.
Once labelled 'The Clumsy Child,' they may, with coordination, catch a ball, walk in a straight line, and sometimes lean against a wall as they walk down a corridor. These children can pick up a pen slowly due to poor gross and fine motor skills and sensory processing issues. Underneath all that, given time and support, they are competent children and can achieve a good education.
Dysgraphia is a specific learning difficulty that affects a person's ability to write coherently and legibly, spell, and organise their thoughts. This neurological condition is a learning disability that can impact children and adults.
Autism is a neurological disorder that's on a spectrum, so some high-functioning children are clever, and there are low-functioning children who may have mild to profound disabilities. This is presented with restricted or repetitive behaviour, struggles with social communication and interaction and sensory overload from their environment. Many Autistic children may also have specific Learning difficulties such as Dyslexia or Dyspraxia, and also ADHD. There are around 700,000 autistic people in the UK, and they are as individual as everyone else.
While every autistic child is different, if an autistic person is supported emotionally and mentally, they have an independent life.
ADHD affects a person's behaviour as they are impulsive, hyperactive and lack concentration.
This disorder could be associated with a specific learning disorder affecting the person's learning. It doesn't affect a person's intelligence, but sometimes, in school, it is tricky to measure.
What is the difference between ADD and ADHD?
There is no difference between ADD and ADHD. ADD (attention-deficit disorder) is an outdated term for what is now called ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). Some kids with ADHD have hyperactive behaviours, and some don't, but the diagnosis is ADHD either way.
Executive Functioning and Self-regulation
Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and successfully juggle multiple tasks. Just as an air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritise tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses.
People with learning disabilities tend to struggle with executive functions, as we all do to a greater or lesser degree. This is an issue to varying degrees for people who have Specific learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism, ADHD and those with Syndromes such as Down's Syndrome, for example. Our brains are unique, but we have blank spots that could help us support our executive functioning.
Executive Functioning to accomplish Skills.,
Planning is the ability to figure out how to accomplish our goals
Time management is having an accurate understanding of how long tasks will take, and using time wisely and effectively to accomplish a task
Working Memory is the mental process that allows us to hold information in our minds while we work with it
Self-control is regulating yourself, your thoughts, actions and emotions.
Perseverance is the ability to stick to a task and not give up even when it becomes tough.
Organisation is the ability to develop skills to manage a system that keeps plans and materials in order.
Task initiation is the ability to independently start a task even when you don't want to.
Metacognition is knowing what you know and applying that information to learn.
Attention is the ability to focus on something or someone for some time and shift it when needed.
Flexibility is the ability to adapt to situations as they change and deal with the change.
Processing Information
When we learn, we receive information through our senses: our eyes, ears, smell, taste, and touch.
We use these organs to receive the information, but the brain interprets it and gives us the answers or results of our findings. Many learning difficulties have processing difficulties of varying degrees, which go unnoticed.
A child sitting in a classroom may struggle with how the teacher presents the learning. We all have our ways of learning through our senses or learning styles. I know my son is 90% visual and 10% auditory. A noisy classroom can mean he misses what is being said, so he appears not to understand.
Teachers are taught to use ‘multi-sensory' teaching methods, but that doesn't cater to those who aren’t quick enough to keep up with their weakest senses or get overstimulated visually. The whiteboard is the primary focus of learning. You don't have to have a learning difficulty or a statement to struggle with this ‘one size fits all education’.
Children with processing disorders can learn if given time and support from the teacher, such as lesson notes. Children who have issues with executive functioning skills can learn techniques to manage themselves in the classroom and on the playground.
Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
This is seen in Specific Learning Disorders, Autism and ADHD; children get stressed and anxious because they can't regulate their senses in the world they live in. They cannot block out or calm their response to noise or visual stimuli. All their senses, including touch and sense of where they are in time and place, are on high alert, so they struggle to cope and get overwhelmed or don't respond. Equally, their senses are under-stimulated, so they don't respond. My son is not deaf but doesn't process quiet noises efficiently; with touch, some children need to be hugged. Many children have a mismatch of Hypersensitivity and Hyposensitivity.
A child can seem a bit slow or not understand information. Their reaction to a stimulus is out of proportion. This is called Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)
Three patterns
Pattern 1 - Sensory modulation disorder. The person has difficulty responding to sensory stimuli - overresponsive and their senses are overwhelmed, under-responsive, and they don't register a reaction or crave the stimuli.
Pattern 2 - Sensory-based motor disorder. The person will have poor balance, coordination and motor skills. They will struggle to know where their body is and the world around them.
Pattern 3—Sensory discrimination disorder (SDD). This person would have trouble understanding the stimuli, how to use them, or which way to turn when walking.
An excellent book
Carol Stock Kranowitz's 'The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognising and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder' is an excellent book.
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