Dealing with Learning Disabilities
Do you have a child who struggles to learn new words or form words correctly?
Do they find it difficult learning nursery rhymes or numbers and letters no matter how much they are thought over and over again?
Or maybe they have a hard time answering questions coherently?
This could be a sign of a learning disability.
What is a Learning Disability?
A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects a person’s capacity to understand and process information. Individuals with these challenges may have difficulty reading, remembering what they read or heard, challenges with listening, writing, spelling, thinking, expressing, or executing mathematical calculations. Learning disabilities affect people of all different abilities and are not the same as intellectual disabilities.
Learning disabilities can range from mild to severe and affect one specific skill or a combination of skills. They are not something you acquire but are present from birth or early childhood and can last throughout a person’s lifetime.
The five most common learning disabilities are dyslexia, ADHD, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia.
How do Learning Disabilities affect people?
Learning disabilities are common but often fly under the radar. Common symptoms in children include school refusal, behavioural outbursts at home or at school, defiance, resistance with school work, or other unexplained challenges in behaviour. Common symptoms in adults can include procrastination with tasks that require information processing or avoidance of daily or work related tasks.
Some people with learning disabilities will require accommodations while others compensate and find alternative approaches to succeed academically and professionally. Most often with learning disabilities, there is a sense that something isn’t working quite right, but it’s hard to put your finger on what is happening.
How to diagnose a Learning Disability?
Diagnosing a learning disability requires a psychoeducational assessment performed by a Registered Psychologist. Support for learning disabilities include school accommodations, family counselling, and child therapy. Family counselling can help family members develop understanding and utilize strategies in support of positive daily home life. Child therapy can help children understand their challenges, find their voice, and harness their strengths. In turn, therapy can help a child or adult to have compassion for their struggles and confidence in their abilities.
At Boomerang Counselling Centre, we have personal and professional understanding of learning disabilities and how they affect our sense of self and our experience in the world. We do not offer assessments, but we are here to help you or your child to feel strengthened in the challenges of living with a learning disability.
Learning Disabilities can be understood
Living with a learning disability can feel like you are trapped in a cage. If constant negative self-thoughts, anxiety, and lack of motivation contribute to challenges with a learning disability, therapy with Boomerang Counselling Center offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself and develop self-acceptance and a voice to self-advocate.
To get started, please book a free, 20-minute consultation or call us at (778) 836-4772 for more details.
