Specific

Learning
Disorders
MEP
Diagnostic Criteria
Diagnostic Criteria
On a fine, sunny day in the small town of Woodage, you see the people
gather in the town square. There is not a notice to meet, nor an event to
gather for. Rather the people come out to visit with each other on fine,
sunny days in the small town of Woodage.

Whereas every other day, the people are accountants, bakers, engineers,
clerks and regular working folk. On fine, sunny days in the small town
of Woodage, the people are different when they gather in the town
square. They are fiddlers, acrobats, clowns, jesters, peddlers,
zookeepers, dancers and cavorters. They play, they laugh, they sing on
fine, sunny days in the small town of Woodage. And when the sun goes
down, the people go home to prepare for the next day when they are
once again regular working folk.

And that is what happens on fine, sunny days in the small town of
Woodage.
MISUNDERSTOOD
CHILDREN
WHAT ARE LEARNING
DISorders ?

IT IS A NEURODEVELOPMENTAL
DISORDER

Encompasses a wide range of

learning and/or social difficulties.
LEARNING DISORDERS are
not
Physical disabilities (e.g., hearing, motor,
visual)
Intellectual disabilities

Emotional disabilities

Environmental disadvantages
May include difficulties in
processing information

language skills (e.g. speaking, writing, reading,

listening, spelling)

motor co-ordination

mathematics

organization of things, time and/or space

Types **

**DSM 5 does not promote these words… but

calls all of them as learning disorders

• With impairments in reading/ writing and

mathematics
Definition of Dyslexia The definition characterizes the disability
manifested in difficulties with accurate
and/or fluent word recognition and by
poor spelling and decoding abilities as a
result of deficits in phonological
awareness.

Dyslexia is the most common form of

SLD. It is estimated that between 5% and
17% of the population meet criteria for the
disorder (Ferrer et al., 2010)
DYSLEXIA

LETTER EXPRESSING
REVERSALS VERBAL
LANGUAGE

DIFFICULTY IN

DIRECTIONS
READING
COMPREHENSION

SPELLING
DYSGRAPHIA

Difficulty in
producing legible
handwriting in
an appropriate
length of time.
writing
planning,

organizing,

revising,

transcribing,

and translating ideas into written content

Characteristics

exhibit problems attempting

inability to correctly recall
to copy notes from the
letter sequences
board or another source.

letter transpositions (frist

Produce errors due to letter
gril, instead of first girl), or
reversals (b/d),
letter inversions (u/n).

global deficits and

experience problems with
grammatical structure and
organization of their ideas
punctuation.
and then transcribing these
into written form.
I THE INDIVIDUAL MUST HEAR THE
N SOUNDS / SEE THE WORDS
F
O
R
M Auditory processing
A (phonemic awareness)
T
I
O
N Visual processing
(word recognition)
P
R
O
C
E Motor coordination
S (holding of pencil
S and writing)
I
N
G TRANSFER THE SOUNDS TO WRITTEN
TEXT
I THE INDIVIDUAL MUST HEAR THE
N SOUNDS / SEE THE WORDS
F
O
R A condition that makes it
M Auditory processing hard for the brain to
process what the ear
A disorder hears, such as recognizing
T subtle differences in the
I sounds that make up
words.
O
N Visual processing Ex 1 :
(word recognition) samalander
P for
R Salamander
O
Ex 2 :
C seventy
Motor coordination
E or
(holding of pencil
S Seventeen
and writing)
S
I
N
G TRANSFER THE SOUNDS TO WRITTEN
TEXT
I THE INDIVIDUAL MUST HEAR THE
N SOUNDS / SEE THE WORDS
F
O
R
M Auditory processing
A (phonemic awareness)
T Brain-based issues that
I make it hard to perceive or
“make sense” of what the
O
eye sees.
N Visual processing di
sorder Ex 1 :
P confusing d and b,
R or p and q.
O
Ex 2 :
C Difficulty in copying from a
Motor coordination
E book/ blackboard
(holding of pencil
S
and writing)
S
I
N
G TRANSFER THE SOUNDS TO WRITTEN
TEXT
I THE INDIVIDUAL MUST HEAR THE
N SOUNDS / SEE THE WORDS
F
O
R
M Auditory processing
A (phonemic awareness)
T
I
O
N Visual processing
(word recognition)
P
Inappropriate coordination
R
of messages from brain to
O hand and finger muscles
C
E Motor coordination Ex 1 :
problems Strange ways of holding
S
pen.
S
I Ex 2 :
N Illegible handwriting
G TRANSFER THE SOUNDS TO WRITTEN
TEXT
IMPACT
DYSCALCULIA

Difficulty
understandi
ng or using
mathematic
al concepts
and
symbols.
Definition
A mathematics learning disability (MLD) refers to limitations in mathematical
understanding that can best be described as a deficit in understanding number sense,
which impedes an ability to perform activities that involve problem solving or
retrieving mathematical information (number facts).

It is estimated that 5% to 10% of children enrolled in school would meet criteria for
MLD.
IMPAIRMENT IN
READING
DYSLEXIA

IMPAIRMENT IN
WRITING

DYSGRAPHIA

IMPAIRMENT IN
MATHEMATICS

DYSCALCULIA
NONVERBAL LEARNING DISABILITIES (NLD)

significant strengths in the verbal areas and

significant weaknesses in the performance (visuospatial) areas.

NLD is attributed to right-hemisphere dysfunction (Mattson, Sheer, & Fletcher)

significant primary deficits in some dimensions of tactile perception, visual perception, complex
psychomotor skills and in dealing with novel circumstances” (Rourke).
In the literature, the disability has also been referred to as developmental right-hemisphere syndrome
(Gross-Tsur, Shalev, Manor, & Amir), and visuospatial learning disability.
Thank you