A Parents\u27 Guide to Learning Disabilities

The purpose of this essay is to acquaint the parents of learning disabled children with the historical development of the field, various definitions, the prevalence, characteristic signs noticed, and various types of learning disabilities. In addition, the screening, diagnosis, and remediation in an educational setting will be briefly viewed. For the sake of brevity, the specific remediation procedures for each particular learning disability will not be discussed. Teachers of learning disabled children can better give the parent an idea of what can be done specifically for each child\u27s individual and unique problem. However, the presentation of basic programs for the learning disabled has been briefly discussed so parents will have an idea of available programs depending on the school system their child attends. The clinical teaching cycle has been presented so the parent can understand how material is presented to the learning disabled child. Whatever is done academically for the learning disabled child, programs have objectives and goals to help each child reach his potential. Education specialists, teachers, and parents strive to assist each and every child to achieve his optimum potential. This objective requires that, as teachers and parents, patience and understanding be given to each of these children to help them grow and develop to become healthy, happy, and contributing members of society. It is appropriate to note that various unfootnoted examples will be used in the context of the paper. These are actual cases taken from the experiences of the writer; however, names have been changed in order to guarantee the anonymity of the clients involved