Child Assessment Diagnostics

In this article, we will try to inform you about a misdiagnosis that we have encountered and/or may encounter regarding special learning disabilities and other diagnoses, without adequate anamnesis, through a sample case that was previously diagnosed with special learning disability.

Example case: T. D. A 9-year-old, 4th grade female student applied to us by the child psychiatry polyclinic of a state hospital in our city, after a later date was given for the intelligence test.

In the "special learning disability test", it was seen that the test results of the student did not coincide with the diagnosis of special learning disability. Thereupon, a detailed anamnesis (gathering detailed information about the case) interview was held with the student and her mother. started in the 1960s. Although different scientists on the subject make different definitions, the first common definition of "Special learning disability" was made by the scientific committee chaired by Samuel KIRK as follows.

They exhibit one or more disturbances in the basic psychological processes involving understanding. This discomfort may manifest itself in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or arithmetic. It includes perceptual disabilities, brain damage, minimally malfunctioning of the brain, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, and similar conditions. This does not include children's learning problems, audiovisual and motor disabilities, mental retardation, affective disorders or environmental disadvantages”(Kirk, 1988)

There are various types of special learning disabilities. These; The specific type of learning disability is dyslexia. They appear as difficulties encountered in language and reading. Those with dyslexia have trouble reading and understanding words, sentences or paragraphs. Another specific learning disability It is dyscalculia, which manifests itself in the field of mathematics. Children and adolescents with dyscalculia have difficulty in solving arithmetic problems and comprehending mathematical concepts. Another specific learning disability manifests itself in the field of writing. Children and adolescents with dysgraphia have difficulty in writing letters and fitting their writings into certain areas. Auditory and visual processing difficulties. It is the difficulty of processing information. Children and adolescents with visual or auditory processing difficulties have difficulty understanding language even though they can hear and see normally. or mistakes that can be made and difficulties encountered. We would like to explain this subject through a case study, whose identity information has been hidden by us.

The student cannot notice some letters, skips some syllables, especially in long and foreign words while reading,

Student does not do enough reading at home, is reluctant to study,

The student has an elder brother who is the first in the school and he is exposed to comparison with this elder brother in many environments by many people (teachers, family, other students),

In addition, in the first grade, During the transition to reading stage, he was frequently and effectively compared with the other children in the class by his teacher,

In the time period corresponding to the first and second grade, the mother reacted harshly to the student due to her being overly anxious and nervous due to family situations,

At this time, the father went to prison and is still here,

Our student was diagnosed with a "special learning disability-dyslexia subtype" by a health institution due to academic problems in his first year,

Mother's being the only daughter of the house, being brought up under pressure, being a girl by her parents. Restriction of education opportunities,

Verbal violence is applied to the student by his/her parents during the transition to reading in the first grade, (revealed by the painting tests applied to the student)

The student changes school in the 2nd grade and in the new school he/she attends, Important information was obtained, such as that the classroom teacher criticizes and scolds the student effectively in the presence of other students while they are reading in the classroom, and that school phobia started after this incident.

As can be seen from the information obtained from our interviews, our student, There are reasons that may indicate a special learning disability. However, the effect of the environmental and affective factors, which are clearly mentioned in the above definition and described with the sentence “does not include affective disorders or environmental disadvantages”, in the diagnosis of this case with “special learning disability” is quite obvious. Because, it is seen that our students are frequently exposed to traumatic events such as labeling, comparison, criticism, verbal violence, which can seriously affect their emotions and thoughts during their school life. As a result, it is evaluated that emotional states such as negative emotional approaches, learned helplessness and social anxiety against certain course and course subjects develop that will distract the student from the desire to read and study. It is obvious that it can have a confusing effect in the diagnosis of "attention deficit". In order to prevent such mistakes, it may be in the best interest of you and your child to get help from experienced specialists who work in coordination with a child psychiatrist, who can examine the child's childhood, family and school life in detail.

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