Common Myths around LDs

Learning and attention issues are not the result of where or how a child grows up. They’re also not just “kids being lazy.” Having these issues doesn’t mean a child isn’t intelligent. In fact, kids with learning and attention issues are just as smart as their peers and with proper accommodations and support students with learning disabilities can succeed in school.

Sometimes people mix up learning and attention issues with other conditions for e.g. you might hear people attribute learning and attention issues to poor vision or hearing. It’s true that some learning and attention issues may result from how the brain processes sights and sounds. But this isn’t the same as having poor eyesight or hearing.

It is a common myth that learning disabilities can be diagnosed only after a student is fully literate i.e. after a student has experienced years of academic underachievement. Instead a child starts showing signs of LD as early as age three. Identifying a learning challenge as early as possible is ideal, because early educational interventions are much more likely to yield long-term gains than those implemented at higher grades or in adulthood.

Another myth that is prevalent is that people with LD will outgrow them in adulthood.  Learning disabilities are not curable; instead some adults adopt coping mechanisms and strategies to reduce the impact of their learning disabilities while some continue to struggle through their adulthood.