If you have a child with a learning disorder, attention deficit, or any other neurological issues, you may have already discovered that the diagnosis rarely stands alone. There are typically overlapping problems. New interdisciplinary research from Western University, Ontario, has uncovered fundamental connections among three major learning difficulties in school-age children. Although many children have specific problems with dyslexia, specific language impairment and dyscalculia, this study is the first to show a significant portion of these children have overlapping deficits. (Dyslexia is a deficit in the development of reading while specific language impairment is a disorder related to poor development of spoken language skills. Dyscalculia is a severe difficulty in making mathematical calculations.) Importantly, the research team also devised a 10-minute screening test that could be administered broadly in primary schools to identify children at risk for the different disorders.

Researchers tested learning profiles of a large sample of school children aged 4 to 10-years old in the region of London, Ontario. Although some of the children showed specific deficits in reading, spoken language, or math, “a significant number of children exhibited a mixed profile of a reading plus a math deficit, or an even wider-ranging weakness spanning math, reading, and spoken language.”

Children who showed weaknesses across the three types of abilities also scored very low on a working memory assessment. “According to the findings, such children may require a more targeted approach to remediation, due to the complex nature of their difficulties.”

Teachers and educational personnel face many challenges in identifying learning problems in children, time being one of them. With additional testing, Western University anticipates that a new tool developed as a part of this study will someday provide educators with a quick and effective method for identifying which children need extra help. In the meantime…Campacademia.com knows!

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