Assessment of learning disabilities

Specific learning disorder with impaiment in reading (dyslexia)

First of all, it's important to dispel a myth! Let's be very clear: dyslexia is not about inverting b's and d' s! Although some dyslexics invert and confuse these letters, many other young people with this learning disability are perfectly able to differentiate between b-d and p-q.

It's also worth noting that, at the start of their apprenticeship, many young people reverse these similar letters, and that this confusion can be part of a perfectly normal learning process.

Dyslexia affects one or more of the following three abilities: 

1. The ability to read words accurately, known as decoding accuracy. A child with a reading decoding disorder has difficulty reading words because he or she omits letters, reverses letter sequences, regularizes irregularities, and is unable to read words accurately or confuses peculiarities of written language.
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2. Rhythm and fluidity. At first, children learn to break words down into letters, then into syllables, approaching text in a way that can seem slow, choppy and mechanical.
   
   Over time, this approach evolves: he or she ceases to segment words into syllables and grasps them in their entirety. Words can then be read photographically and holistically, at a glance.
   
   This is known as lexical reading. This process, once automated, requires less effort and facilitates fluency and rapid comprehension.
   
   Nevertheless, some children struggle to develop this automatic fluency in their approach to word recognition.

3. Reading comprehension. A specific learning disability with a reading deficit can also affect reading comprehension. 

Specific learning disorder with impaiment in writing (dysorthographia)

As with learning disabilities in reading, learning disabilities in writing are much broader than simply inverting the letters b-d and p-q in writing. It's a difficulty in acquiring the ability to express oneself in writing, and can affect one or more of the following three areas. 

1. Accuracy in spelling. The French language is full of peculiarities and exceptions that often have no logic, and that the child simply has to learn and get to know.
   
   The French language has 36 different sounds, but there are 130 ways of writing them! There are some 1,200 homophones in French, which have the same sound, but are written differently depending on meaning and context.
   
   What's more, phoneme-grapheme correspondences only allow us to write 50% of the words in the French language "by sound".
   
   So you can see how complex it is to learn how to spell words. Some children struggle to acquire written spelling, which may correspond to a learning disability (dysorthographia). 

2. Accuracy in punctuation and grammar. Learning disabilities with handwriting deficits can also be characterized by a significant delay in the acquisition of grammar rules (such as gender and number agreement of nouns, verbs and adjectives) or punctuation rules (periods, commas, exclamation marks, capitalization, etc.).

3. Clarity or organization of written expression. Finally, learning disabilities with handwriting deficits can affect the ability to organize sentences in order to convey a clear, comprehensible idea to the reader.
   
   Text organization involves coherent sentence structure, as well as the ability to divide ideas into paragraphs, for example. 

Specific learning disorder with impaiment in mathematics (dyscalculia)

Less well known than dyslexia and dysorthographia, dyscalculia affects the acquisition of math skills. Once again, three major areas of learning are affected: 

1. Understanding the concept of number. The first foundation to acquire is an understanding of the concept of number. The child must associate the fact that a digit or number represents a quantity. They must learn to represent orders of magnitude.
   
   Which number is larger than the other?
   What's a lot and what's a little, depending on the context?
   Why is 1000 cars in a mall parking lot a lot, while 1000 grains of salt in a salt shaker is "not that much"?
   
   The concept of number will then enable the child to develop an essential skill: estimating. Estimate how much 3 items will cost without having to calculate, estimate how many friends to invite to a party, etc.

2. The acquisition of calculation procedures and the automation of calculation tables. The child must then learn to perform operations on digits and numbers. He or she must learn to add with a carry, subtract with a borrow, and so on.
   
   They also need to automate multiplication and division tables, so they can stop counting on their fingers.
   
   A major difficulty in acquiring these procedures and automatisms is dyscalculia. 

3. Mathematical reasoning and numerical problem-solving. Finally, the child must learn to use numbers, and the calculation procedures he or she has learned, to solve concrete problems.
   
   He or she must select the operations to be performed, and in what order. A child with a specific learning disability with numeracy or mathematical deficits will have difficulty understanding the logical link between the problem and the operations required to solve it. 

How are learning disorders assessed?

At CERC, learning disabilities are assessed by a neuropsychologist, as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Using age-specific tests, the neuropsychologist can assess the child's level of achievement in reading, writing and/or mathematics, and decide whether or not there is a sufficiently pronounced delay to conclude that a specific learning disorder exists. In the course of this assessment, the neuropsychologist will also evaluate the child's intellectual potential, memory and attention span, to see whether difficulties at school could be attributable to factors other than a learning disability. 

What interventions work for a child with a learning disorder?

Orthopedagogical follow-up is certainly the most effective and proven intervention to help children overcome their learning difficulties and progress academically despite their limitations. Consult our remedial teaching services here.

Following the assessment, the neuropsychologist may make a list of recommendations to the school community, so that accommodations can be put in place to help the child succeed despite his or her disability. 

He/she could, for example, be allowed to use a computer and writing software, or be given extra time to complete exams. However, the implementation of these recommendations remains at the discretion of the schools.