Dysgraphia is a writing disability in which the individual’s writing is incorrect or distorted. It can show itself as difficulties with poor handwriting, spelling, that is, wrong spelling and difficulties in putting their thoughts on paper. These individuals generally have a higher than average IQ.

Dysgraphia is a neurological disorder. It is either non-specific or specific. Non-specific Dysgraphia may be owing to the individual being mentally retarded, poor attendance in school or psychosocially being deprived. Specific Dysgraphia arises from motor coordination problems, and in spelling and language disabilities.

Dysgraphia can be categorized into three subtypes:

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Dyscalculia is a lesser known but a specific learning disability associated with difficulties in Mathematics. These difficulties normally vary from individual to individual. Reading problems associated with Dyslexia correspond to mathematical problems associated with Dyscalculia. Individuals who suffer from Dyscalculia are of normal intelligence.

In Dyscalculia, Dys in Greek means “badly” and Calculia in Latin means “to count” which adds up to “counting badly”.

Recent studies show that Dyscalculia is genetically linked and not as originally thought to occur only in individuals who had arithmetic disabilities owing to specific regions of the brain being damaged. Today, some educational specialists label individuals with any sort of mathematical difficulty as having Dyscalculia, as this learning disability cannot be assessed reliably and has no clear-cut criteria.

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Attention Deficit Disorder, in itself, is not a learning disability. The term “learning disability” typically refers to a perceptual disability, such as an auditory or visual processing disorder, like autism or dyslexia. A person with ADD, however, has no problems perceiving or interpreting information. Therefore, it does not qualify as a learning disability.

Although it is often jumbled in with the mass of “disabilities”, ADD actually does not hinder the process of learning. A child with ADD can intake information, process it accordingly, and preserve it in memory, just like any other person. The problem comes with getting them to pay attention long enough to hear the information in the first place!

A child with Attention Deficit Disorder may have difficulties in school and with learning in general, but it is not due to a learning disability. Often, when a child is treated for ADD, their academic performance improves by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, an individual with ADD may not have any difficulty in learning at all; this will vary by person.

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