by Dr. Blanche Podhajski
October is Learning Disabilities Month. For me, it is a time to
celebrate all we have learned from brain
science over almost half a
century. It is also a time to honor all of the successes of students
with learning disabilities and their teachers.
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a brain based difference in learning that makes some academic skills harder to acquire than others. A recent report, Don’t “Dys” Our Kids: Dyslexia and the Quest for Grade-Level Reading Proficiency,
commissioned by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading and the Emily Hall
Tremaine Foundation, indicates that about 2.4 million children and
youth in this country have been diagnosed with learning disabilities.
Most people are familiar with the term dyslexia, a neurobiological
condition that is not the result of poverty, culture or developmental
delays (Fiester, 2012). Other learning disabilities are dysgraphia,
difficulty writing and expressing ideas through written language, and
dyscalculia, difficulty with math.
by Dr. Blanche Podhajski 