Early warning signs of learning disabilities

Early warning signs of learning disabilities


From preschool through fourth grade, parents can watch for the following signs their child may have a learning disability:

- Slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
- Difficulty "sounding out" unknown words
- Repeatedly misidentifying known words
- Makes consistent reading and spelling errors including letter reversals (b/d), inversions (m/w), transpositions (felt/left), and substitutions (house/home)
- Transposes number sequences and confuses arithmetic signs (+, -, x, /, =)
- Difficulty understanding or remembering what is read because so much time and effort is spent figuring each word


If a child regularly displays one or more of these behaviors, he or she may have a learning disability and parents should seek appropriate testing and intervention from their child's school.
With diagnostic tests, it can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy which students in kindergarten and first grade will have difficulty learning to read. Identifying reading difficulties early means children have more time to learn to be successful readers. Since reading is learned more easily and effectively during the early years, identifying language-based learning disabilities and providing appropriate interventions give children more time to learn to read well.
http://www.ldonline.org/article/6253