Understandably, one of the first questions parents ask when they learn their child has a learning disorder is “Why? What went wrong?”
Mental health professionals stress that since no one knows what causes learning disabilities, it doesn’t help parents to look backward to search for possible reasons. There are too many possibilities to pin down the cause of the disability with certainty. It could be due to errors in fetal brain development, side- effects of tobacco, alcohol or other drug use by the pregnant mother, problems during pregnancy or delivery, toxins in the child’s environment, genetic factors etc. It is far more important for the family to move forward in finding ways to get the fight help.
What is the hope for a cure?
Learning Disorders are caused by a difference in the brain that affects how information is received, processed, or communicated. Children and adults with learning disabilities have trouble processing sensory information because they see, hear, and understand things differently. LD is a lifelong disorder that affects people’s ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. As it is a “condition” and not a “disease”, an absolute “cure” cannot be promised, as we can say it is the individual’s style of learning.
But science has made great strides in understanding the inner workings of the brain, and one important discovery that brings new hope for learning disabilities and disorders is called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s natural, lifelong ability to change / to form new connections and generate new brain cells in response to experience and learning. This knowledge has led to groundbreaking new treatments for learning disabilities that harness the power of neuroplasticity to retrain the brain.
Early identification and intervention provide the child the comfort that it is not to be blamed. In addition, parents also recognize that the child’s problem is a neurological entity that is neither their fault, nor the child’s fault. It helps counter guilt and complaints that the child is being lazy or careless. It thereby reduces the stress faced by the family. Such identification and remediation have to be taken up by a team of trained professionals who will assess the extent of the child’s problem and accordingly devise a remediation strategy to be implemented to bring the child back to the mainstream.
Professionals who can help those with LD
- Clinical Psychologist.
- Psychiatrist (for dealing with co-morbid disorders).
- Educational Psychologist.
- Special Educators.
- Occupational Therapist (tests sensory disorders that can lead to learning problems).
- Speech and Language Therapist.
- Social Workers.
Sometimes several professionals coordinate services as a team to obtain an accurate diagnosis, including input from your child’s teachers. Recommendations can then be made for special education services or speech-language therapy as the need be.