My friends son has been an average student. He is 9 years old. This year he failed in all the subjects except for math. The teachers got concerned and had a parent meeting. They think it could be a learning disability. My friends son said that he was unable to understand what the teacher is teaching or goes blank but when his tutor at home teaches he can follow. The parents are concerned too and want to consult him to a psychologist and the school is arranging counselling. My concerns are could it really be LD? Can it be developed in a later age since my friends kid is 9yrs old now? I was talking to to another friend n she was thinking it could be Attention Deficiet Disorder? Can anyone please comment and share their knowledge and experiences with me. I will really appreciate it.
THANX
Re: could it really be ld
When I first started private tutoring two decades ago, one of my first students was also one of the most outstanding. He was also age 9, starting Grade 4.
He was clearly verbally gifted, a very interesting and amusing young person, and he had passed Grades to 3 with B’s and C’s — not up to his giftedness, but acceptable for an active boy.
Well, a very little (like ten minutes) investigation turned up the fact that he had a PRE-PRIMER (five-year-old) reading level. Turns out that his school system never never ever had anyone read aloud, which they thought was horribly old-fashioned and somehow cruel; and that the primary lessons consisted of silent “reading” followed by questions, eighty percent of which concerned the picture or personal interpretation or something the teacher had said — easy to get a B without reading a word, which is exactly what this boy did. He was also very good at reading non-verbal clues and talking his way around things.
A little nitty-gritty investigation of your boy’s actual skills is called for, by somebody strong-minded enough NOT to give counterproductive “help” (which poassibly might be what his present tutor is doing, giving too many guides and hints.) He may or may not be in this situation of being essentially a non-reader but it is the first thing to look at.
This problem exists from Day 1, but it shows up in Grade 4 because this is when kids are expected to do truly independent book work.
maths
Thank you guys for your replies. it really means a lot to me. I was talking to someone the other day and he was telling me that failing in al subjects and not maths seemed to him a little strange. He was saying that kids with ld would find maths the most hard and would not pass and said that the boy migth be just having a attention n concentration problem. Would do you guys think???? Any suggestions or experiences shared would be aprreciated thanx
Re: could it really be ld
A lot depends on what kind of math program.
If it is a highly verbal program like Everyday Math or Connected Math, then yes it would be weird to fail reading and pass math.
But if it is a drill-based program, especially if it is marked by machine where all you have to do is fill the right box, then a nearly total non-reader can do quite well.As in the case I described above, a very bright kid can sometimes be a non-reader.
Re: could it really be ld
Or it could be he’s got a good teacher in maths (or one he likes)… is this the first year he had trouble? Was his “average” performance because of hard work and now an LD is showing… or hard work, and for some reason he’s only working in math class now? There could be something totally unrelated to LDs going on, too, in his social or personal life — but there could also be an LD issue happening.
It’s interesting that somebody would think that math woudl be the first subject to be a problem with LDs. The “classic” prototype of the “bright dyslexic” is the kiddo who is a whiz at math and science, but can’t read. That’s why, if he’s got a decent teacher in math, he could excel there and struggle in more language intensive areas if he’s got dyslexia.
But really, this is a “not enough information” situation.
It generally doesn’t *develop* later - but it can take a while for it to show up. He could be able to do things in the elementary grades, but when they get harder, an LD can be like a hurdle at that point in his academic journey. IT is definitely worth finding out what’s going on.