Learning Disability

Learning disability affects the way children learn new things, this does not just refer to their ability to learn new things academically but in every aspect of life. It can also affect children’s understanding and functioning of day to day activities.

Learning disability can affect a child’s ability to learn language, speech and communication skills. Children’s speech, language and communication skills may develop at a slower rate than expected developmentally.

Our speech and language therapists can work with a child who has a learning disability to increase their speech, language and communication skills to the best of their ability in order to increase their daily functioning.

Children with learning disability experience difficulties or delay in one or more areas of development such as cognitive, play, physical, emotional and speech and language development.

The severity of learning disability can range from mild, moderate, severe or profound. Functioning and difficulties experienced by the child can vary according to the severity of the disability. Some children who have mild learning disability can grow up to live independent lives with the right support. A child with a profound or multiple learning disability may need help with day to day activities such as eating or getting dressed throughout life.

Learning disability is caused when the brain is affected while is developing this can be before during or after birth while the child is still young.

It is estimated that that there are 286,000 children aged 0-17 living in the UK with a learning disability.

The difficulties a child may experience with learning disability is individual to each child. It depends upon how severe their learning disability is, how it affects their functioning and development. Difficulties may not be apparent to parents or professionals until the child is older.

During childhood some early signs to look for are:

Developmental delay in one or more of these areas:

• Gross motor skills.
• Fine motor skills.
• Speech, language and communication.
• Cognitive ability.
• Social and emotional skills.
• Play.

Some speech, language and communication symptoms a child with learning disability may demonstrate are:

• Receptive language problems - Difficulty understanding what has been said or written.
• Expressive language problems - Difficulty expressing their thoughts.
• Speech difficulty - Difficulty producing sounds needed for speech.
• Attention and listening difficulties - Difficulty paying attention to one task for a prolonged period or listening to someone speaking.
• Social communication difficulties - Difficulty with understanding and expressing nonverbal communication such as, emotions, body language, tone and volume of voice, choosing appropriate language for the situation and conversational skills.
• Difficulty with eating drinking and swallowing.

The impact learning disability has on a child’s daily life varies according to each child. Some children may find some aspects of day to day living easier than other children who have learning disability. Some difficulties a child may experience include:

• Being able to make friends.
• Accessing the curriculum.
• Expressing their thoughts and emotions in an appropriate way.
• Understanding others around them.
• Communicating with friends family and peers.
• Difficulty understanding certain concepts such as time and money.
• Difficulty with reading and writing.
• Difficulty with memory.
• Difficulty with fine motor skills needed in school and around home, such as cutting.

Many of these difficulties can affect the child’s quality of life. Our speech and language therapists can help reduce the levels of difficulties and increase quality of life by assessing the child's needs and producing individualised therapy programmes.

Our speech and language therapists will work on assessing your child’s speech, language and communication skills to see how it affects your child on a day to day basis. Assessments would vary according to your child’s needs and abilities. Our speech and language therapists can use both formal and informal assessments to assess your child’s needs these would be chosen upon suitability to your child’s abilities.

Assessments available include:

• Receptive language assessment
• Expressive language assessment
• Speech assessment
• Social communication assessment
• Dysphagia assessment

Children with a learning disability can benefit from speech and language therapy as it can help to increase their function in day to day life. The type of therapy would vary between each child as it is tailored to the child’s needs, abilities, goals and motivators. Our speech and language therapists will work with you, your child, and the school to develop a programme unique to your child’s priorities.

Speech and language therapy available for children with a learning disability includes:

• Receptive language programmes.
• Expressive language programmes.
• Speech sound programmes.
• Social communication programmes.
• Eating, drinking and swallowing advice.
• Group therapy.
• Individual therapy.
• Support, training and advice for parents, carers, schools and other professionals.

Speech and language therapy can help to increase activity and participation in day to day activities at home, school and in the community for a child with a learning disability. Our speech and language therapists will work with you and your child to create a programme to suit you based on the child’s goals.