Can it be Dyslexia: Dyslexia vs. SLD

Schools routinely "diagnose" children with Specific Learning Disabilities. This designation is not a medical diagnosis, but a category of learning disability that administratively entitles a child to receive special educational services.

Since it is not a medical diagnosis, a child's SLD designation can be removed once a child performs well enough. This does not mean that a child is performing at grade level, but, in most cases, it means that they no longer are testing below the 25 percentile, based on "standardized scores". This means that a child in 5th grade that is now reading at grade level 3.5 may no longer qualify to receive special educational services even though they are still struggling to read!

In addition, by losing their special education designation, struggling children often lose the accommodations that they need to succeed in class.

The term Specific Learning Disability comes from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and is defined as follows:

(A) IN GENERAL - The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.

(B) DISORDERS INCLUDED - Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

(C) DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED - Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Based on this definition, approximately 80% of children "diagnosed" with a Specific Learning Disability in by ARE
DYSLEXIC!

Dyslexia Institutes of America		1-877-DIA-READ
		Answers, Solutions, Results