Running head: THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE 1

The Importance of Understanding the Difference Between a Learning

Disability and an Intellectual Disability

Heather Cooper

College of Western Idaho

Spring 2018
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The Importance of Understanding the Difference Between a Learning

Disability and an Intellectual Disability

Our medical and psychological advances have helped us come a long way in identifying

specific disabilities that children may have. Previously, mental disabilities tended to be lumped

into other psychological disorders; this issue caused a lot of children and adults to not receive the

care and attention they needed. Our society has come a long way in narrowing down a disability

a child might have, allowing for them to receive the proper medical and psychological treatment.

More and more students are being diagnosed with a learning disability or an intellectual

disability, when previously they might not have been diagnosed with either. It’s important for us,

as a society, to be able to understand the differences in disabilities so that we can avoid the

mistakes of the past. Those interested in pursuing a career working with children, whether as a

teacher or counselor, need to recognize and understand the basic differences between a learning

disability and an intellectual disability so that their students have their best chance of success.

According to Daniel Hallahan in his textbook Exceptional Learners, a learner with an

intellectual disability can display "deficits in attention, memory, language, self-regulation,

motivation, and social development" (Hallahan, 2015, p. 96). Though these are the normal

characteristics they can display, an intellectually disabled student may not exhibit all of them.

They may have difficulties paying attention to the appropriate things, and their working memory

(the ability to hold information in your mind as you are completing a task) is affected. Most

intellectually disabled individuals have issues with language, but the exact language deficit

varies and depends on the type of disability. Probably one of the most notable characteristics is

their lowered ability to self-regulate: a lot of learners with intellectual disabilities are unable to

control their behavior, especially in social settings. As far as motivation, a lot of individuals have
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experienced failures throughout their lives, making it difficult for them to muster up motivation

to complete new tasks. And lastly, individuals with intellectual disabilities have a tough time

making friends; they exhibit inappropriate behavior in social settings, and oftentimes can't

properly respond in social situations.

Individuals with learning disabilities, however, showcase their deficits usually in specific

areas. Common characteristics/specific areas students with learning disabilities have issues with

could be in reading, written language, spoken language, and math. On the behavior and

psychological side, students with learning disabilities exhibit problems in perceptual and

coordination areas, in attention and hyperactivity. Similar to a learner with an intellectual

disability, those with learning disabilities display problems with motivation, memory, and social

development (Hallahan, 2015, p. 125). Dyslexia is a common occurrence in those individuals

with problems in reading comprehension, and those with spoken and written language issues

have a difficult time with grammar and word meanings. Dyscalculia, a math learning disability,

is almost as prevalent as reading disabilities (Lighthouse, Cole & Cole, 2014, p. 446). While. A

common disorder found with those with learning disabilities is attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD), and often displays itself in students who are unable to focus on one task, who

blurt things out, and who are disorganized.

The best way to distinguish the difference between the two disabilities, as summed up by

Bob Cunningham, advisor-in-residence on learning and attention issues for Understood, is to

think of intellectually disabled students as those having a "below average IQ and a lack of skills

needed for daily living," and of learning disabled students as those with "weaknesses in certain

academic skills" (Cunningham).

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Working in the middle school with ESL students has allowed me the opportunity to be

around kids with different intellectual capabilities. It’s easy to observe a student who is

struggling and automatically assume they have either an intellectual or learning disability; it’s

important to be able to recognize which one they have because the instructional approach for

either disability can be completely different. Students with one of these disabilities needs to be

properly diagnosed so that they can receive the care and attention that is most beneficial to their

academic success.
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References

Cunningham, B. (n.d.). "What's the Difference Between Learning Disabilities and Intellectual

Disabilities?" Understood, www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/getting-

started/what-you-need-to-know/whats-the-difference-between-learning-disabilities-and-

intellectual-disabilities.

Hallahan, D. (2015). Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education. 13th ed.,

Pearson.

Lightfoot, C.; Cole, M.; Cole, S.R. (2014). The Development of Children (7th ed.). MacMillan.