Navigating your child’s educational journey can be challenging, especially when you notice they are struggling in ways that do not seem to match their effort. “Learning differences” is a broad term, but understanding the specific profiles can help you advocate for the right support.
Based on recent clinical insights, here is an overview of the most common learning disorders and how they may show up in the classroom.
ADHD, Executive Functioning, and the “Management System” of the Brain
We often think of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, as difficulty paying attention, but it is more accurately described as a broader challenge with executive functioning. Executive functioning is regulated by the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that does not fully mature until the mid-20s.
- The core regulation challenges: ADHD impacts a child’s ability to regulate attention, impulses, and emotions. It can also affect cognitive flexibility, time management, planning, organization, task initiation, and task completion.
- How it looks in the classroom: You might see a child who forgets to turn in finished assignments, loses materials, struggles to get started, becomes stuck during transitions, or turns in rushed or incomplete work. Some students have strong ideas but struggle to organize them clearly on paper.
- The learning gap: Because of weak planning skills and working memory challenges, students with ADHD may show inconsistent performance, excelling one day and struggling the next.
The Spectrum of Reading Disorders
Reading is not a natural process for the human brain. It requires multiple systems to work together. When one system is struggling, different types of reading disorders can emerge.
- Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a specific learning disability characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition. It often involves challenges with phonemic awareness, decoding, visual fluency, whole-word recognition, and orthographic memory.
- Reading fluency disorder: Some children can decode and recognize words accurately but cannot do so with speed. Their reading may be slow, effortful, and filled with frequent pauses, which can make comprehension more difficult.
- Reading comprehension disorder: This can be harder to notice. A child may sound like a strong reader when reading aloud but struggle to understand the bigger picture, make inferences, summarize, or visualize what they have read.
Math Disorder, or Dyscalculia
Math disorders are often misunderstood as a simple dislike of the subject. In reality, dyscalculia can involve several distinct patterns of difficulty.
- Number sense: Difficulty understanding quantities or how numbers relate to one another.
- Procedural challenges: Difficulty remembering the steps needed to solve long division problems, multi-step equations, or other math procedures.
- Memory and retrieval: A child may understand the concept of multiplication but struggle to quickly retrieve math facts from memory.
- Visuospatial issues: Some children struggle to interpret graphs and charts, align numbers in columns, or visualize how numbers relate to one another in space.
Writing Disorder, or Dysgraphia
Writing is often one of the most demanding academic tasks because it brings together language, organization, memory, fine motor skills, and executive functioning. Dysgraphia can stem from several different challenges.
- Visual-spatial organization: Difficulty keeping margins straight, spacing words correctly, or organizing work on the page.
- Graphomotor coordination and spelling: Fine motor challenges can make pencil grip, letter formation, and the physical act of writing difficult. For some students, spelling may break down once they begin writing because so much mental energy is being used for motor planning and letter formation.
- The “brain-to-paper” gap: A child may have strong ideas verbally but struggle to organize and express those thoughts in writing.
- Dyslexia-linked writing: Students with dyslexia may also struggle with spelling and written expression because of challenges with phonemic encoding and orthographic memory.
Nonverbal Learning Disorder, or NVLD
NVLD, also known as Developmental Visual-Spatial Disorder, is characterized by a significant discrepancy in a child’s cognitive profile. Their verbal abilities may be strong, while their visual-spatial reasoning is much weaker. Because these children often express themselves clearly, their struggles with visual, spatial, and motor tasks can be overlooked.
- Core deficits: Children with NVLD may struggle with visual reasoning, visual memory, spatial estimation, interpreting visual information, motor coordination, and proprioception.
- Social and contextual impact: Some children may have difficulty reading body language, facial expressions, or other visual social cues. These challenges can be subtle.
- The academic toll: NVLD can affect math and reading comprehension because both often require visual-spatial reasoning and visualization.
Note: While NVLD is a widely recognized clinical profile and can be useful for guiding interventions, it is not currently listed as a formal diagnosis in the DSM-5.
Moving Toward Intervention: What Parents Can Do
Understanding the diagnosis is only the beginning. The goal is to move from frustration to targeted intervention. The intervention should be matched to the vulnerability. While general reading or math drills may help, they are not likely to be sufficient on their own to remediate a learning disorder.
A comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation can help identify patterns of learning challenges and clarify a student’s specific vulnerabilities. This information allows families and schools to choose more targeted supports. For example, sight-word training may help with surface dyslexia, while phonemic-based instruction, such as Wilson or Orton-Gillingham, is often needed for dysphonetic dyslexia. Executive function coaching can help students with ADHD or other executive functioning challenges build skills in studying, note-taking, time management, organization, and task completion.
Parents can also set up a meeting with their child’s academic team to discuss whether accommodations or special education services may be appropriate. In-school intervention can be very helpful when available and is usually provided at no cost. Families may also consider private or external services when a child needs more specialized, frequent, or intensive support.
Ultimately, the more you understand your child’s learning differences, the more empowered you will be to make informed decisions and support your child’s educational journey.
About the Author
Daniel J. Glass, PhD, ABPP is Director of Clinical Training at Sasco River Center and a board-certified clinical psychologist with expertise in ADHD, learning differences, executive functioning, emotional well-being, and psychoeducational assessment. He works closely with children, adolescents, and families to identify strengths, understand challenges, and develop effective supports for success in school and everyday life.