Children who have just started primary school may often have difficulty writing or reading. However, we expect these difficulties to decrease towards the end of the first grade and to progress in proportion to the other children in the class. Unlike this normal situation, children with specific learning disabilities lag behind other students in their class in reading, writing or mathematics skills. In this case, some teachers and parents evaluate the child with expressions such as 'lazy', 'he has no interest in studying, his mind is in the game', and they do not address this problem. Specific learning disability should be considered in children who do not show a progress similar to the normal situation, who do not have a perception problem in their life outside of studying, who are just cold in lessons and make mistakes in their homework, and necessary steps should be taken in this direction.
Specific learning disability is any neurological disorder. It is a disorder characterized by an inability to read, write, or perform mathematical tasks without physical illness, autism, or mental retardation. Since there are difficulties in these areas, the problems are mostly noticed when the child starts school and are diagnosed during this period. Children with specific learning disabilities often experience spelling errors in homework, frequent mistakes in mathematical operations, and difficulties in reading. Examples of these are;
mixing letters that are similar in shape (such as p and b or d, m and n),
letter and syllable skipping,
dotted and non-dotted. mixing letters (such as o-ö, u-ü),
slow reading,
misreading the word,
skipping some words,
confusing numbers that are similar in shape (such as 5 and 2),
difficulty in counting and understanding the four operations,
difficulty in understanding the problem.
Specific learning disabilities are mostly It is noticed by the parent who helps them with their homework or at home. Specific learning disabilities are frequently accompanied by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. For this reason, life can become unbearable for the parent for the child whose child also has symptoms of this disease (such as hyperactivity, restlessness, inattention). Similarly, the child may experience depression, anxiety disorder or conduct disorder secondary to specific learning difficulties due to not wanting to go to school and feelings of inadequacy among his/her friends. For this reason, specific learning difficulties should be recognized early and treatment should be started as early as possible.
The aim of the treatment is to provide educational support to the child in the learning area (reading-writing-mathematics skills) in which he/she has difficulties. Children should be included in a special education program by instructors who have developed themselves in this field. Treatment should be started by evaluating whether there is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which we know is frequently accompanied. Because the child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder will not be able to make sufficient progress in the special education he/she has started because he/she cannot pay attention. In addition, treatment should be evaluated in terms of depressive disorder, anxiety disorder or conduct disorder that may be caused by specific learning disabilities, and treatment should be added if necessary.
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