Unlike children, most of whom couldn’t understand this article in its entirety, adults really just need to be shown why the problem exists and how to solve it. The rest they can do themselves – even if that means putting themselves in a tutoring situation to help overcome the problem.

Dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia are all different types of learning disabilities that affect adults as well as children. An adult learning disability isn’t something to be scared of, it’s not permanently debilitating and it can be overcome with sheer will and patience.

The bottom line is this, a person with an adult learning disability has  SUCCESSFULLY learned whatever it takes to make it to adulthood. That means one thing. . . the problem doesn’t prevent you from learning. The problem just makes it hard to learn the way others want you to. The first step, of course, is to figure out how your brain wants to learn – and then have someone show you how to do that.

Learning disabilities are primarily a communication system that flows from information to your brain. They’re called a disability because some flows of communication don’t match the way teachers are taught to teach. But it’s not the teacher’s fault either. Since everyone learns slightly differently, the system is designed for them to learn the approach that suits most people. The rest of us have to work around it or figure it out on our own. Fair or not, it’s the way life is sometimes.

What we do is help adults identify that pattern of information flow that their brain enjoys the best. Then we figure out how to adapt that adult’s life to the new way of thinking. And when we say adapt, we really mean it. We help you to figure what situations really need the attention of the new way of thinking. What are the constraints of those systems and how can we devise a good plan together. Just like kids, a good plan goes a long way.

Call us so we can help you get past the frustrating part. There’s nothing wrong with your brain, the problem lays in how we feed it information that needs to be recalled later.

We’ve spent some time recently creating some great “fun in learning packs” for our students and visitors of this blog to download and enjoy.   What better tutor can you have but one who also shows you ways to help yourself so you can constantly be improving?

BUT. . . it’s got to be fun.

We created all the activities over the years to be fun! We use all of them and the kids love them. Without telling them that they’re learning basic skills, they are because they’re having fun.

We read EVERYDAY – but sometimes when we ask them if we did reading today, and they say, “No.”  It’s because they’re learning by playing. That was the intent of all three packs.

There’s enough medicinal programs out there…Wilson, PAF, Linda Moodbell, etc. Kids with these disorders get these in school and they don’t want to do them. Our focus has been…learn through play and it works. By the way, there’s a lot of research to back this.

You can find our fun in learning packs (toolkits) in the right side margin of each page here on http://drlindasblog.com. They’re free to download and have. Consider them a “portable learning disabilities tutor you can use at home.”

When I tell a parent of an elementary school child that when we’re tutoring the child,  they’ll also be having fun, our new parents are surprised and thrilled. It makes it much easier for them and they feel good.

What’s really important is to make sure the child is excited to come and learn. If the child isn’t excited, then the tutor needs to be changed. How can you learn against your will?

Our homework for our students is to play these games. The parents tell me that they play all week. I once had a little second grade girl ask me if she could have her birthday party here. (How good would that make you feel?)

The key to success as a learning disabilities tutor is to make sure that your time spent with the child is efficient and productive – but also fun and energetic. These kids need lots of practice – if they can practice and not know it – that’s even better.

Look for our “Fun in Learning Packs” all over this site. Download yours today.

Learning disability schools aren’t the only option though. Since learning disabilities are merely “brain blocks” when it comes to traditional instruction methods, kids can be taught how they learn. We help children all the time learn how to help themselves. All it takes is knowledge that if you want to do well on the test, you’re going to have study the way your brain learns.

But if you’re truly looking for a school for learning disabled children, there are some great ones across the country. If you live in the Midwest, Town & Country School in Tulsa, Oklahoma is one of the best. They’ve been around since 1961 and have done wonderfully for all the children we’ve known who go there.

North of that in Carbondale, Illinois is the Brehm school for learning disabilities. They cater to grades 6 through 12 and recently were awarded the Blue Ribbon School of Excellence from the U.S. Department of Education.

And even further north still, in Ann Arbor, Michigan is the Ann Arbor Academy. Their school specializes in children with learning disabilities – but they also accept students who just want a superior education.

The northeast is chock full of learning disability schools from the Woodhall and Forman Schools in CT,  to the Gow School here in New York and all the way up to The Greenwood School and Linden Hill School in New England.

If you’re looking for recommendations and reviews of these schools, call us (845-628-7910) and we’ll be able to point you to a few others, as well.

More on Learning Disability Schools

What you’re really trying to accomplish in diagnosing a learning disability is determining what conditions the brain favors for learning. People with learning disabilities can function as normal as anyone else. The question isn’t “what’s wrong?” The questions is “which avenue does the brain prefer in processing information”?

Who conducts the learning disabilities assessment? That’s one of our specialties, but in many cases your school will do the evaluation. Evaluation teams at schools typically involve psychologists, school counselors, educational diagnosticians, speech therapists and often others.

These assessments will often involve a variety of tests, interviews, behavioral observations and analysis. Language based and visual reasoning intelligence tests give the team an idea of how the student learns. Parents will also be asked to fill out surveys about the student’s history and development (which is often the most important part). Achievement testing, records review and educator led exercises are also part of the assessment.

The difficult part of diagnosing a learning disability is separating the symptoms from the issues. Many of the symptoms overlap between one type of learning disability and another. A good diagnostician will ignore what’s not working and determine what works.

When you can figure out which method of teaching works with the brain, you’ll not only have a foundation for determining the learning disability name – but also a formula for success.

If you’re wondering whether your child has a learning disability or a behavior problem or a discipline problem or just isn’t motivated to learn – call us and we’ll help you sort out the details.

To find out more about Learning Disabilities Assessments, continue to see some of our archives using the links below and right.

We are members of and therapists for the International Dyslexia Association and belong to the American Counseling Association and American Supervision and Curriculum Development Association. Furthermore, we’ve  been helping students from kindergarten through college since 1966 and provide a full range of educational services.

Our tutors are certified, experienced teachers who know how to communicate well and relate to their students. And we make every effort to match our students with our tutors. We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so we can be sure that your experience in our learning disability program will be beneficial.

We focus on three key areas: the IEP, Reading Improvement, Math Skills and How To Study Effectively.  Our IEP Program takes you through all aspects of the IEP. Specifically, we’ll help you understand the who, what, where, when and why of the IEP. We’ll also review what’s expected of you, your child and what you should expect from the schools.

Using games and fun activities—along with carefully selected books and workbooks—your child will learn to read and do math as quickly as possible because each lesson is designed specifically around your child’s needs and learning style.

Finally, our learning disability programs tackle the subjects that can be key to a child’s success. Often it is lack of organization or poor study skills that holds students back. Using our STRONG Methods to improve study skills and organizational skills removes a major impediment to school success.

Our programs require no contract and are as convenient as it needs to be for you.  Please call us today at 845-628-7910 for an appointment or private consultation. We’re getting busy this time of the year, so don’t delay.

You can find out more by visiting our learning disability program archives.

When speaking to young people about famous people with learning disabilities, make sure to remind them of the hurdles they’ve overcome. Albert Einstein for example is a famous person with dyslexia who spent his life buried in books, doing math, writing letters. His efforts changed the world forever.

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson, the founder and head of Virgin airlines, couldn’t read at all before 8 years of age. Since then he’s traveled the world and built rockets that take passengers to outer space.

Actors like Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Tom Cruise and Danny Glover have overcome their learning disabilities and have managed to memorize pages and pages of lines for their movies. Sylvester Stallone has actually written, directed, acted and produced in 7 movies.

The list of famous people with dyslexia and other learning disabilities is long, and their accomplishments longer. Take a look at this short list just for starters:

• Nelson Rockefeller,John F. Kennedy, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill,
• Thomas Edison, Galileo, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell,
• Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Agatha Christie, Hans Christen Andersen, Auguste Rodin, Tommy Hilfiger,
• General George Patton, Werner von Braun,
• Bruce Jenner, Billy Blanks, Terry Bradsaw, Greg Louganis, Michael Phelps

. . . and many, many more. What’s important about this list is that it proves learning disabilities are not life ending. They do not have to slow you down, spoil the fun or eliminate success. In fact, people who’ve overcome their learning disabilities have gone on to do great things.

They went on to describe a classic pattern of a math disorder most typically referred to as dyscalculia. Since math gets a bit harder in third grade, the symptoms typically begin there or in the fourth grade. To help understand how dyscalculia is diagnosed, it’s important that you identify with some of its symptoms. Those include:

Math Disability Symptoms
Those who are diagnosed with dyscalculia have issues like:

• writing numbers
• counting or putting numbers in order
• troubles grasping math formulas
• lining up the numbers when doing calculations so the ones are on top of the ones, and the tens are on top of the tens,  etc. . .
• Simple math like adding and subtracting
• Adding when you’re supposed to subtract and getting the symbols mixed up.
• learning names that include numbers
• remembering or reading a sequence of numbers
• understanding the information contained in graphs
• borrowing (or carrying) numbers when doing subtraction
• and memorizing the times tables – while still understanding the logic behind them.

Math learning disabilities aren’t hard to diagnose. Once you learn that it’s not a matter of more studying, it’s time to think about how to tackle the problem.

Math problems aren’t permanent, they just require an understanding, fun tools to prove to yourself that you can learn and some motivation from a friend. We’ve worked with hundreds of kids teaching them how to understand their way of thinking. If you’d like help understanding how to overcome math learning disabilities, please call us. We would really enjoy helping. Call anytime: 845-628-7910
More on: Math Learning Disabilities

• Dyslexia
• Dysgraphia
• Dyscalculia
• Dyspraxia (Sensory Integration Disorder)
• Nonverbal Learning Disability
• CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder)
• Visual Processing Disorder
• ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
• Autism

While this is a pretty complete list of learning disabilities, knowing the names doesn’t necessary help diagnose the problem. In fact, if you’re trying to figure out which one of these your child may have, it is probably better to break them down by type first.

To be truly helpful, breaking them down by types of learning disabilities will really narrow down the specific problem.

To start there are motor skills difficulties. These are the associated with actions your brain is asking your body to do. Holding a pencil, writing, running and jumping are all examples of that. The true problem is the brain’s ability to communicate effectively with the muscles.

Audio and visual difficulties involve the brain’s ability to process information that comes in via the eyes and ears. The inability to distinguish subtle sounds or hearing sounds at the wrong speed makes it difficult to read, write and spell.  Similarly, visual processing problems like missing subtle differences in shapes, reversing letters, skipping words or misperceiving distances affect motor skills, reading comprehension and math.

Language and communication disabilities involve the brain’s ability to match words with their meaning, organize thoughts and find words to explain things. Signs of language based issues may come as difficulty retelling a story, understanding the meaning of words or fluency.

Finally, the most common in the list of learning disabilities are math, reading and writing problems.  These are cognitive problems that involve difficulties processing information. Whether that be letter recognition, accurately copying words or counting, they all revolve around processing information.

As you can probably tell, diagnosing learning problems isn’t black and white. Symptoms cross lines so you may find it necessary to seek a professional’s help to determine which (if any) your child may have. Please call us if you’re experiencing that feeling. We’d love to help you understand what specific problem is occurring and the path to solve that problem.

Call us anytime! 845-628-7910

More about : list of learning disabilities

Because nonverbal learning disabilities can only be accurately diagnosed in late elementary school, the early symptoms often point to other problems. Until a pattern emerges that shows a distinct difference between analytical strengths and abstract weaknesses, the problem is difficult to diagnose. It is only in the latter grades of elementary school that geometry, reading problems and analysis of novels even enter the curriculum.

Students with NVLD, as it is sometimes called, are usually great at reading, have large vocabularies and typically excel in math in the early years. And with attention paid to individual growth, troubles in social situations and group projects don’t arise. NVLD students seem perfectly normal to the outside world, however most parents usually detect something amiss. Many times parents will say, “I thought he just lacked some street smarts”.

Instead of diving into new problems, NVLD students are normally quick to ask an adult about a new object. That is a mechanism developed in non verbal learning disability kids to help them overcome an abstract problem (analyzing something new) into an analytical problem (listening to an explanation).  Tasks that cause anxiety and haven’t been overcome this way will stress NVLD students and will often reveal that a problem exists.

The causes are unknown but scientists know that failures in the right brain are related to the problem. The left brain controls the step-by-step logic and statistical problems, while the right brain handles situational analysis, deduction and abstract thinking. Problems like “what comes next in this sequence, what’s this object look like rotated and how are these objects related cause problems for left-brain thinkers. With a clear road map to the solution, NVLD sufferers must learn to buckle down and teach themselves how to think through the question.
If your child seems to have some issue that you just can’t put your finger on, contact us and let us help you determine what the real problem is. Until we completely understand the root issue, solving symptoms will last forever. When was the last time you successfully rid yourself of the mole in your yard by . . . filling in the holes with dirt?

Information first flows in – input. There are two ways information typically flows in an education environment. It’s either by the eyes or the ears.  Problems with processing these input methods are referred to as auditory and visual perception problems. An example of an auditory problem would be the brains inability to distinguish between individual sounds, and visually might be difficult seeing letters.

The second learning disability type would be the organization of that information once it enters the brain. This is referred to as an integration problem. To fully understand something the brain first has to put the information in order, then it must seek out the literal, abstract, and contextual meaning. And finally the brain must organize the information into complete thoughts. The brain may have problems at any step in this process.

The third type of learning disability deals with memory. Often times the brain has troubles storing information like reading the words in a sentence individually and at the same time understanding the full sentence. Besides that working memory, the brain should be able to retain short term information, long term information and on-going information. Brains really have to be smart, don’t they?

Finally, that information that was input, organized and remembered must at some point be communicated back out – output. This is the type you’ve most likely heard about as it involves writing, drawing, gesturing, and speaking. This is really the only learning disability that specifically involves muscles in the body. Not only does the brain have to remember what an E looks like, but also how to hold the pencil and how to move the hand in the shape of an E.

People with LD may have problems with just one or several of them at once. It is critical that you get tested to determine which of these types is yours. They are extremely specific strategies for overcoming all of them. Feel free to call us to talk about these tests. Let us get you going in the right direction.
More on: Types of learning Disabilities