When parents discover that their child is consistently not doing well in school, it becomes necessary for them to find out the exact reason for the poor performance. It is possible that the child may be have a learning problem.

If an LD is discovered, the most important step that parents should take is to accept the fact that their child has a problem and work towards solving it.

There is no reason to fret and fume and try to avoid the truth. Having a learning disabled child is not a stigma.

Never make the child feel so. Being resentful about the truth creates a whole lot of other problems - both psychological and social. The school administration may ask the parents to get a psycho-educational evaluation done for the child by a clinical psychologist. This should not put the parents and child into a quandary.

The parents should take their child into confidence and explain to her/him that it is necessary to help her/him in the school programme.

This will not only be helpful to the child but will also be helpful to the teachers who teach the child. The recommendations of the psycho-analyst are very useful to determine the course of action that the school should take.

What exactly is Psycho-Educational Evaluation?

In the words of specialists like Dr Spodak (a psychologist who is an expert in the field and Dr Silver (a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in private practice in Washington), “Psycho-Educational Evaluation consists of a battery of tests that will provide information on the student’s overall abilities, particularly learning style, information processing abilities, and academic skills.

A significant part of this assessment is the IQ test which helps to clarify the student's strengths and weaknesses.
It provides information regarding the student's ability to process verbally and visually presented information as well as his/her overall intellectual potential. Considerable additional information is derived relating to sequencing abilities, short and long–term memory issues, language functioning, and processing speed.

The most widely recognised IQ test is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). There are corresponding versions for preschoolers (the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence) and for students over the age of 16 (the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale).

In addition to the IQ test, the examiner might do specific tests to evaluate the student's cognitive abilities, typically tests of memory and organisational skills.”

Teachers who are responsible for teaching students at their teenage level should not pay undue attention to the IQ test scores alone. Sometimes it can be misleading. What the teachers should know are the student’s overall academic skills.

The reading grade level may not match the student’s comprehension abilities. The test results will also describe the student's overall academic skills. We will learn whether the student's reading is at grade level and, if not, where the specific deficits lie.

For example, it could be that the child has trouble sounding out new words but uses intelligence to compensate, getting the gist of the information. Or, perhaps the child can read every word quickly and accurately, but struggles with comprehension due to underlying memory and/or language processing issues. Similar analyses should be presented for the student's skills in written language and in math.

The results of these studies might indicate other possible areas of difficulty. An LD child might have difficulty with underlying language skills. There might be problems with processing, sequencing, or remembering what is heard (a receptive language problem).

Or, the problems might relate to organising thoughts and finding the words to use in order to express these thoughts (an expressive language problem). If such language problems are noted, a speech–language assessment will elaborate and clarify the interventions needed.

Or, your child's written language might be affected by the inability to produce written language. He or she might have difficulty forming letters. The mechanics of writing might be done so slowly and with such difficulty that he becomes frustrated and produces little or gives up.

An assessment by an occupational therapist will clarify the best approaches for helping. If the test data suggest emotional problems or attention problems, a further mental health assessment will indicate how best to help.

It is always essential to clarify if the emotional, attention, or social problems are causing the academic difficulties or if these problems are secondary to the frustrations and failures experienced by the student with learning disabilities. If the test results suggest Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a health professional will help to finalise this diagnosis and to recommend interventions.

What is the next step?

In the present context there are a number of schools that offer some kind of remedial help to Learning Disabled children. If the child is in the Primary School stage they can be pulled out of class rooms and sent to the Remedial Centre for one to one help from special teachers.

They do all that they can to mainstream the child up to the age of 12 or 13.  Beyond that, if the teachers feel that the student is not making any progress and is not able to cope with the regular curriculum of the Secondary School, there is help.

Help is offered by the National Open School of the Government of India that functions under the auspices of the Human Resources Development. Students who cannot take the whole load of 6 to 7 subjects can do them two at a time under special guidance either through an institution or a private tutor. When teenagers face problems and become drop outs, it is not easy to coach them privately at home because they need a school atmosphere for socialisation.

They need their own peer group to develop their social skills. They cannot be isolated from their own age group and coached at home all through the year. It may have negative repercussions. It would be a wise decision to enroll them in schools that offer tutoring for the National Open School curriculum where they not only mingle with their own age group but also with their own kind of problems.

Sometimes the services available within your public school may be less than you desire for your child or adolescent. You might want to seek a private consultant and supplement what the school is providing with private occupational therapy, special education, or speech–language services.

Students who are enrolled through the National Open School can choose the subjects that they are comfortable with and continue their studies at their own pace. They have the option of doing two subjects at a time or even one. They need to pass in five subjects at the end of 5 years of their enrolment in the National Open School stream.

This surely gives them a breather and many students do well for themselves and are able to get into good Universities or pursue vocational courses if they are interested in. It is the duty of every parent and educator to ease the burden of students who face Learning Problems. There is no point in pushing them over the precipice and asking them to manage.