Early identifiers of learning disabilities in preschool children

The study identified learning disability (ID) characteristics from the diagnostic reports of 46 preschool age children. 21 children re-evaluated once at school age, and 6 children evaluated twice. The children were identified as learning disabled three to seven years later. The symptoms characteristics of preschool students and school age learning disabled students were identified as characteristic of learning disabled if the symptoms appeared in 50 percent or more of the student records. In the preschool age group, expressive and receptive language, in addition to fine and gross-motor deficits were the most frequent symptoms of learning disability. Also, attention span and activity deficits were observed to increase at students remained in progress, while motor and language symptoms were observed to diminish. Symptoms that persisted over time were behavior, attention span, and activity, in addition to preacademic/academic activity. Children may exhibit different learning disability symptoms, depending upon their age and number of years of participation in learning disability programming. The frequency of behavior problems including attention span and activity deficits indicate that learning disability programs should contain a strong behavior management component