Learning difficulties and communication

Developmental learning difficulties (or disorders or disabilities) include a variety of problems affecting the education and adopting of reading, writing and maths skills (but also arts, music, or motor skills) by pupils with at least average intellectual abilities (IQ could be even above average, but never below!).

The causes are often hereditary, but developmental learning disabilities are also connected with ADHD syndrome (they are often accompanied by attention disorders and hyperactivity).

Typical developmental learning disabilities are well-known among the public today as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyskalkulia, etc.

Some children with developmental learning disabilities become discouraged as soon as they start school because their teachers or parents fail to treat them appropriately. Learning becomes a burden and lack of success discourages them from further education. They keep struggling later in life with understanding texts, and with slow reading and writing, often making too many mistakes. They can also make many mistakes in calculations, etc. They tend to be considered less intelligent or capable, especially when people are unaware of their disability.

For a person with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), it is extremely difficult to keep focus for a prolonged period of time. For ADHD patients, it is too taxing to pay attention to a single activity, especially if he or she is required to sit quietly. To watch a movie for 90 minutes or listen to a sermon for an hour is an exertion. Children with ADHD are often preoccupied, impulsive, in a constant state of flu; they react without thinking, even though during adulthood these characteristics are subdued by self-control. In spite of that, adults with ADHD are often clearly restless; they cannot stay focused for too long; they are disorderly and exhibit other typical characteristics. In some extreme cases, their impulsive behaviour could provoke uncontrolled reactions resulting in conflicts with others or even with the law. ADHD is also often accompanied by speech disorders, specifically compulsive talking. People with ADHD more often encounter neurotic problems in adulthood, and they have suicidal tendencies more often than those who do not suffer with this problem.