Know your child’s specific learning difficulty (SLD) – courtesy Times of India – recent issue – Chennai Edition- awareness by Dr. Bala of www.visionunlimited.in

-          Dyslexia – difficulty in reading

-          Dyscalculia – difficulty with maths

-          Dysgraphia – difficulty with writing

-          Visual processing disorder – difficulty interpreting visual information

-          Dysphasia/Aphasia – difficulty with language

-          Auditory processing disorder – difficulty hearing differences between sounds

-          Dyspraxia – difficulty with fine motor skills

What to do:

-          Learn the specifics – about your child’s learning disability

-          Research treatments – services and new theories

-          Pursue treatment and services at home

-          Nurture your child’s strengths

-          Tailor academics to suit their unique learning styles

Signs to watch for:

-          Trouble learning connection between letters and sounds

-          Unable to blend sounds to make words

-          Confuses basic words when reading

-          Consistently misspells words and makes frequent reading errors

-          Trouble learning basis math concepts

-          Difficulty telling time and remembering sequences

There have been only estimates on the percentage of children with SLD from 13 to 15 % - popularly known as dyslexia in the country.  The disease is common among boy and girl child. In our culture people are more hesitant to bring a girl child to be tested for SLD because of how it could impact her future.  Therefore please take care of your children and empower them.