Understanding learning difficulties and how to get diagnosed.
Kyla was worried about her 12-year-old daughter, Rose. Rose never wanted to read at home and said she hated writing at school. Even with one-on-one tutoring, Rose didn’t seem to be making much progress. She was almost in high school and Rose was only falling further behind. Kyla started wondering if Rose had Dyslexia. She booked an assessment and Rose was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia.
The first step in helping our children who are struggling with learning is understanding what learning disabilities are.
What are Specific Learning Disabilities?
You’ve probably heard of Dyslexia. Most of us know someone who struggles with reading and spelling. Perhaps you’ve even suspected you have Dyslexia? Around 1 in 10 people do, although the exact numbers vary.
Dyslexia is one type of Specific Learning Disability (SLD).
A Specific Learning Disability is the term we use to talk about a range of learning challenges. The most common ones are Dyslexia (reading and spelling), Dysgraphia (written expression), and Dyscalculia (math).
People with a SLD have unexpected difficulties in learning, but it’s different for each person. Some difficulties are mild and some are severe. It’s also possible to have more than one SLD. A student can have both Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, for example.
What causes a SLD?
Research is still being done into what causes SLDs, but we know they are not caused by problems with hearing, eyesight, or schooling. Instead, SLDs have a neurobiological basis (they are brain-based).
It’s a type of Neurodiversity. Neuroscience research has shown SLD brains are wired a little differently, usually from birth. That can make school tough, but it may also mean you think out of the box and come up with creative ideas others might not. People with SLDs often have strengths in many areas.
SLDs run in families, too. Have you noticed several people in your family have difficulties with learning? Learning disabilities are often hereditary.
They are also life-long. You don’t just outgrow a learning disability. Saying that, learning doesn’t have to stay difficult!
Our brains are adaptable and the right kind of intervention can be very effective for students with a SLD. There are many successful adults with SLDs who have invented, created, studied, and led in amazing ways.
What is Dyslexia?
Difficulty with words - that’s the simple way to describe dyslexia.
Dys= difficulty with and lexia= words.
Dyslexia is a reading/spelling disability. Students with dyslexia find it hard to sound out or decode words and to spell, but that can make other parts of school difficult too.
Understanding what you read is tricky if you read slowly and inaccurately. As most subjects at school rely on reading, even mathematics, students with dyslexia might struggle in a few different areas of their learning.
Dyslexia in New Zealand
Until 2025, many students in New Zealand were taught to read using Balanced Literacy. This approach encouraged guessing using pictures or the context of the sentence, which isn’t very helpful for students with dyslexia. Readers with dyslexia need Structured Literacy taught in a very direct way, where they learn to break words apart, sound words out, and understand the rules of reading and spelling.
In New Zealand, Dyslexia was officially acknowledged by the Ministry of Education on the 19 April 2007, but it is not currently recognised as a disability in NZ.
What is Dysgraphia?
Messy handwriting or taking a long time to write in class can look like laziness. Sometimes, though, it’s actually dysgraphia.
Dysgraphia is a difficulty with writing. It can make a few areas of writing tough.
When you think about it, writing is a complex task. You have to plan an idea and how to organise your thoughts logically. You need to know how to spell the words you want to use and, if you’re writing by hand, how to form the letters. You also need to know how to use punctuation, what makes a good sentence, and when to use upper or lowercase letters.
There’s so much to it!
Dysgraphia can affect all of those areas: letter shape, size and spacing, spelling, expressing ideas, grammar, writing speed, and more.
How many people have Dysgraphia?
Dysgraphia isn’t as well researched as Dyslexia, and writing is complex, so we are still learning more about it and how many people have it. Researchers think Dysgraphia is common, with estimates between 5-20% of people, but often it goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
If you’ve noticed your child’s writing is untidy and slow compared to their classmates, or if they complain about writing in class and tend to avoid writing tasks, it is worth looking into an assessment.
What is Dyscalculia?
“I’m just bad at math” is a phrase you hear sometimes and people don’t think too much of it, like being bad at art or soccer. But having Dyscalculia can have a big impact on daily life and be very difficult to deal with.
People with Dyscalculia may have trouble with:
grasping simple number concepts,
memorising basic facts,
understanding mathematical rules and formulas
reading mathematical symbols
knowing the right strategy to use to solve a math problem (or using an inefficient one, like counting on their fingers).
Often people with Dyscalculia find it hard to understand practical mathematics skills that we need for our everyday lives, such as time and direction, money, or remembering schedules.
For some, even telling the difference between 6 and 60 or 1/2 and ¼ is tricky, which makes daily tasks like cooking or shopping difficult.
It is estimated that up to 40% of students with dyslexia also have some difficulty with mathematics.
Are Learning Disabilities the same as ADHD and ASD?
Specific Learning Disabilities are not the same as ADHD or as being on the Autistic Spectrum.
They are different but they are often related. Many people with ADHD and ASD also have a Specific Learning Disability.
Language delays and disorders, such as Developmental Language Disorder, can also occur alongside a SLD.
Anxiety and depression are also common in students with a SLD.
This can make it hard to guess what’s going on for an individual. People sometimes self-diagnose various conditions, but diagnosis isn’t as easy or straightforward as it looks. There can be a lot going on for someone and having a professional diagnosis can help you really understand what areas need targeting for intervention.
Knowing exactly what someone’s strengths and needs are is the first step to putting an effective intervention plan in place.
Getting a diagnosis
LDANZ registered assessors can diagnose Specific Learning Disabilities. There are LDANZ assessors working all over New Zealand. You can find your local assessor/s here.
Assessments give you a full cognitive and educational profile, highlighting strengths and weaknesses.
Your assessor can help you understand the nature and extent of any learning difficulties. They will also give you recommendations for how to move forward.
References:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10662270/
https://inclusive.tki.org.nz/guides/dyslexia-and-learning/understanding-dyslexia/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23294-dysgraphia
