Classic Classroom Issues Of Children with Learning Difficulties

Teachers being the most crucial asset in any school, are the front-runners when it comes to identifying any concerns with students. A learning disability or difficulty usually is identified by signs and symptoms observed by a teacher.

Often these signs are not very clear and the child may be labelled as naughty or poorly behaved. Here, we look at some classic concerns that may arise in a classroom with children having learning difficulties.

Avoiding attention

Children with a learning difficulty often try to hide themselves from the teacher in so as to avoid being called upon in the classroom. This may be because they didn’t understand the concept taught in class, were unable to do their homework, or unable to convey their understanding clearly etc. While this typically gets labelled as lazy or a back-bencher student, it may also be because of a learning disability.

Time computation troubles

Children with learning difficulties often have difficulty in judging time and managing time effectively like other students of their age group. These may show up as taking too long for daily things that should be automated actions. In some students a simple act like tying a shoelace can take a long time while for some doing a regular amount of classwork could require several hours. In addition, they may not be able to judge the time taken to get from one class to another and thus be late or harried often.

Poor concentration

This is one of the most common classroom concerns of a child with learning difficulties that are often labelled lack of effort. However, for such a child, there could be several signs of poor concentration. These are often due to problems with the working memory brain area. This is the part of the brain that helps process and store information. Children with a learning difficulty may find it difficult to remember multiple instructions, follow directions, remember new information, pay attention in class – they are often lost in a daydream, etc.

By recognising this issue timely, teachers can help provide the child several learning disability or difficulty strategies to help the child adjust in a better manner.