Walking briskly through the school corridor during break time, the teacher decides to take a short cut through a less frequented room, when she unexpectedly comes upon a student sitting there quietly. This is Faiq. Mohammad Faiq is 14 years old. He studies in class six in a local English medium school. He is a keen student and puts in a lot of effort in his work. He is mostly smiling and cheerful and interacts well with his classmates. Due to his mild articulation problems, he faces some difficulty answering oral questions during class, sometimes resulting in his becoming an object of derision by his class mates. He has difficulty in reading and comprehension at grade level. Although hard working, his pace of both oral and written work is very slow. He has a short attention span and has trouble sequencing words, time, and order of sentences, events and alphabets.

Faiq has some significant areas of strength. Some like his positive approach have already been mentioned. In addition he has dexterous hands and an imaginative mind, helping him to come up with beautiful creations. He particularly excels during nature walks, where he is able to bring to his classmates’ attention some facets of already familiar objects, which were hitherto hidden from them. His academic difficulties are a source of great concern for his parents and teachers. He is frequently reprimanded for his failures, which result in loss of confidence and good humor on Faiq’s part. It is on such occasions, Faiq is found to be sitting in unfrequented corners at school and home. Faiq has a learning disability (LD) and the degree of his problems is moderate.

The above description is very familiar to some teachers. Students like Faiq are found in the mainstream classrooms all over the country, but teachers have very little knowledge about their problems and also how to go about addressing them. Children with LD are variously described as slow learners, problem students, class clowns, backbenchers etc. In order to understand the problems being faced with these children it is important to gain more knowledge about Learning Disability.

According to the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, a learning disability is a “general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual, presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction and may occur across the life span. Problems in self-regulatory behaviours, social perception, and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities but do not by themselves constitute a learning disability. Although learning disabilities may occur concomitantly with other conditions (for example, sensory impairment, mental retardation, serious emotional disturbance) or with extrinsic influences (such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate instruction), they are not the result of these conditions or influences.”

Although many definitions are in use by different organizations and individuals, the definition given above is sometimes preferred because it acknowledges the fact that learning disability is not a childhood specific phenomenon, it ramifies into adult life also. This definition also recognizes the concomitant presence of other conditions and tries to spell out the differences therein.

Reflecting on the definition further it is clear that this is not a single disorder, rather a group with wide range of possible difficulties in learning for a specific individual. Therefore learning disability may manifest in different individuals differently and all people with LD may not exhibit all the features/characteristics associated with it. Learning disability is not like other medical disorders with known causes and predictable set of symptoms. It is a broad term that covers a pool of possible causes, presentations, symptoms, treatments, managements, outcomes and effects on life. The effects of Learning Disability on an individual’s life can be devastating and all encompassing.

Some of the more common features and life influencing effects are described below.

IQ Achievement Discrepancy:
A discrepancy between IQ of the child and their achievement is present in children with LD. Two years difference in them is taken to be significant and constitutes one of the criteria for LD. However the issues are far more complex and all focusing on it too much has the danger for other important considerations being ignored.

Hyperactivity and Disorders of Attention
Hyperactivity manifests itself as inability to sit still in the class. Unfortunately this is an ability most sought after in students by most teachers. “Sit still and pay attention” is the mantra for them. Without realizing the implications teachers discuss these children in staffrooms with the result the child soon gets a label and all teachers deal with the child as ‘hyper’ a word seldom understood; hence, misused. Children with LD face various problems like they cannot sit in one place for long periods mainly because they have a limited attention span and not for lack of trying. People with LD may also have difficulty following instructions and staying on task, completing work, controlling impulses, keeping their hands to themselves. All this contributes towards their troubles in keeping work materials organized, and finishing assignments on time. Short attention span and distractibility are the other compounding problems.

Impulsivity:
Children with LD are inclined to act on impulse rather than thought. They seem unable to curb their immediate reactions or think before they act. As a result, they may blurt out answers to questions or inappropriate comments, or run into the street without looking. Their impulsivity may make it hard for them to wait for things they want or to take their turn in games. They may grab a toy from another child or hit when they are upset.

The process of recognizing, processing and interpreting information through sensory channels- visual and auditory may present problems for children with LD. This proves to be especially limiting since the majority of information in the classrooms is presented through these two sensory channels. The problems in learning that arise due to these two features are many and all encompassing.

Visual discrimination is the ability to differentiate objects based on their individual characteristics. Visual discrimination is vital in the recognition of common objects and symbols because these are the attributes which children use to identify different objects including color, form, shape, pattern, size, and position. In Pakistani classroom visual problem is generally associated as not being able to read the blackboard or text, and the teacher’s solution is to make the child sit in the first row assuming all will get well and the child’s grades will improve once he/she can see. However, this is not the case as problems in visual discrimination can lead to difficulties in accurately identifying symbols- reading and gaining information from pictures, charts, or graphs. Educationally, this can interfere with the child's ability to consistently recognize letters, numbers, symbols, words, or pictures and lead to confusion of similarly shaped letters, such as b/d and p/q. This can obviously frustrate the teacher and parents as what is learned on one day may not be there, the next day.

Auditory perception is the ability to interpret the information gained through the ears. There are no problems in the ability to hear; only how what is heard is interpreted may have a problem. This can directly interfere with speech and language, reading and writing, spelling. Phonological awareness, auditory discrimination problems lead to problems in the ability to recognize differences in phonemes (sounds). This includes the ability to identify words and sounds that are similar and those which are different. Similar to the visual discrimination problems in letters for example b/d etc., auditory discrimination can present problems for children. For example they can always hear “day” when people say “bay”. This can cause tremendous confusion in the way instructions are followed or are expected to be followed. The child can be labeled disrespectful and mischievous. In addition, problems in auditory memory are also present. The child may not be able to recall accurately what he/she has heard leading to problems in the ability to follow instructions given verbally or may have trouble recalling information from a story read aloud. For example the teacher may say “ call your dad.” The child in his/her confused state of hearing may hear ‘mad’ or ‘bad’ and subsequently, tries to get something bad. The child is not only unable to identify the word but also has a lapse in memory of what the teacher has asked him to bring to school. Quickly, these children are punished and labeled as disobedient or trying to play smart. Auditory sequencing and auditory blending are other important skills, deficits of which may lead to many problems in classroom.

Spatial relationship refers to the position of objects in space. It also refers to the ability to accurately perceive objects in space with reference to other objects. This has implications not only for reading and writing but also how the children orient themselves in space, especially in relation to other people and objects and how they make movements. This leads to them bumping into things or other children, putting things on edges of tables etc leading them to fall off. A quick and sharp rejoinder comes from peers, ‘Are you blind?’, ‘Look where you are going.’ or teachers term children as ‘clumsy’ and ‘not paying attention’ to the task. This obviously also leads to social problems and fights among children, problems in play and virtually all areas of a child’s life. These children are often isolated, “nobody wants to be my friend.” Traditionally, cleverness, correctness in academic tasks, and winning at games are seen as essential traits for including children in educational process. Often these children are labeled as gauche, careless and awkward. As a result, a child with learning disability is usually the last one to be picked as playmate, ridiculed for being clumsy and an easy target for bantering by class fellows and playmates.