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Learning the Hard Way

For children and adults alike, a learning disability presents a serious challenge—and regardless of whether you realize it, someone in your family could be coping with one right now, no matter how smart, strong, stable or supported he or she might be.

“Learning disabilities are more common than many people think,” says Dr. Charlene Messenger,

a school psychologist since 1978 and head of Orlando’s Brighter Pathways, which integrates the fields of education, counseling and psychology to help struggling students. She also reports that an estimated 5 to 10 percent of school-aged children are learning disabled, and that boys are three times more likely to be affected than girls.

Messenger further notes that approximately half of learning-disabled children will require some form of special education to help them succeed, which begs a series of questions. What are the warning signs? How can you be sure? And most importantly for area residents, what are some of the best options for identifying and overcoming a learning disability in Greater Orlando?

After all, if your child is learning disabled, he or she will need your help. As Cindy Einhorn and Mark Halpert, co-presidents of the Learning Disabilities Association of Florida, put it, “An informed, proactive and empowered parent can often make the difference for a child with a learning disability.”

Warning Signs

Unfortunately, challenges to learning aren’t always noticeable during early development. “Learning disorders may not become obvious the moment a child starts to learn or starts to go to school,” says Dr. H. Leveta Horne of Orlando’s The Psychology and Counseling Group.

Not only can the signs appear late, but they can also be hard to spot—especially in children. According to Messenger, reasons for the difficulty stem from kids’ variable development rates and the ability of bright-but-struggling children to keep their heads above water. “Also,” she says, “learning-disabled children often feel bad about themselves and their frustration in school, so that their learning problems are sometimes mistaken for behavior problems.”

Matthew Wiggins, a licensed school psychologist and head of Wiggins Educational Evaluations (offices in Orlando, Clermont and St. Petersburg), agrees that indications of a learning disability might not be immediately recognizable.

“While people often think of flipping letters or numbers as the primary sign of a learning disability,” he says, “there are actually many other signs that can let us know that there may be a significant problem.”

With that being said, local experts largely share similar views when it comes to telltale signs that should alert concerned parents.

Don’t Wait—Evaluate

You might suspect your child has a learning disability, but there’s no way to know without an evaluation. What’s more, ascertaining a learning disability’s presence is one of the most important roles you can play as a parent, even if it’s just to find out there isn’t one.

“Getting an evaluation if everything is OK won’t hurt anything,” says Patty Myers, assistant principal at Orlando’s First Hope at The First Academy, “but missing something and delaying the intervention’s help will hurt.”

Accordingly, speed is also of the essence. “The earlier the cause of a learning disability is discovered, the earlier it can be treated,” says Wiggins.

“Think about it this way,” says Horne. “If you find a lump in your breast, would you just wait and see, or would you have a biopsy? If it’s nothing, OK, but if it’s something, the sooner you find it and treat it, the better your prognosis. It’s the same thing with any kind of cognitive disorder.”

If your child needs an evaluation, Messenger strongly recommends a licensed school or clinical psychologist. As to finding an assessor, she says, “My experience has been that one of the best referral sources is other parents. What better topic to talk about than your children?”

Your next best bet is likely your child’s pediatrician. “Most often, this person has watched the child grow and develop, and has a basis of comparison as to what is within the range of normal and what should be further explored,” says Messenger.

Regardless of where you seek a referral, be sure to ask questions. What’s the examiner’s expertise? Is he or she licensed? What’s the depth and cost of the testing? What sort of results will you receive? These are all important factors to consider before committing.

Facing the Challenge

Once a child’s learning disability has been confirmed, he or she will need help and resources. Fortunately, between schools and service providers, Greater Orlando has a wealth of options—but be mindful that what works for one child might not for another.

“You know your child better than anyone else,” says Lindsay Graham, an Orlando resident and mother of an autistic son, “so even if someone swears by a certain therapy, or food, or medication, that doesn’t mean it will be right for your child.” (Graham also points to BrightFeats.com, which was started by two Central Florida moms with special-needs children, as a good resource for finding local help for a learning-disabled child.)

Carlos and Linda Mancilla, who have taken advantage of numerous local services for a learning-disabled son and a second son with cerebral palsy, agree with that outlook. “Trust your gut,” says Linda.

Helen Leonard, director of Orlando’s The Paragon School, has a similar stance. “Keep your expectations high and seek out the help of professionals with a history of success in treating children with the same learning disability,” she says.

Local experts stress the importance of tailored solutions, too. Key ingredients for success can involve an individualized education plan (IEP), which Horne strongly recommends over the Americans with Disabilities Act’s 504 Plan. The biggest difference is that IEPs are tailored to the individual and tracked while 504s are not.

Beyond fine-tuning your child’s assistance, one-on-one help from a tutor or mentor can also work wonders. “One of the things that the tutor can help with is not so much the going over and over information,” says Horne, “but helping the child through a lot of the anxiety around the learning environment and learning differently to approach the test—we all don’t learn the same way.” Horne acknowledges that such assistance can be cost-prohibitive, but undergrad and graduate students at the University of Central Florida, Rollins College and other local institutions are often willing to take on the challenge at low or no cost to gain real-world experience.

Don’t be afraid to think out of the box, either. For example, Orlando’s Freedom Ride is a nonprofit organization that aids Greater Orlando residents with learning and physical disabilities via therapeutic horseback rides. “Activities and games played while in a lesson offer a unique method in which to improve the riders’ attention span, reasoning skills, memory, hand-eye coordination and sequencing skills,” says Freedom Ride’s Linda Chapman.

At the end of the day, though, there’s no better resource for a learning-disabled child than the love, support and confidence of a parent or parents.

“Accept them for who they are, where they are at and who God made them to be,” says Myers. “Talk with other mothers/fathers of children who have learning disabilities. Find out what they have done. Encourage your child every step of the way. They are trying, and it is really hard for them. The hard work will pay off—don’t quit.”

SIDEBAR: Signs of Struggle

According to local experts, here are some of the most common signs that a child might have a learning disability. If you’re concerned, seek out an evaluation from a licensed school psychologist before taking additional steps.

Pre-School

  • Delays in speech/language development
  • Trouble learning the alphabet/numbers/days of the week
  • Short attention span
  • Feeding/sleeping problems
  • Fine motor-skill issues
  • Risk factors (prematurity/prenatal stress/critical diseases/head injuries)

School-Aged

  • Difficulty with reading/spelling/math
  • Misunderstands information
  • Transposes, reverses or inverts letters/numbers/arithmetic signs
  • Inconsistent performance
  • Impulsiveness/lack of planning
  • Poor memory/slow to learn skills