| Learning disability syndrome | Clinical features* | May share some features or co-occur with: |
| Reading disability (dyslexia) | - Difficulty identifying which letter/letter combination correlates with a particular sound (phonics and decoding)
- Difficulty reading printed text smoothly and efficiently (reading fluency)
- Difficulty understanding what was read (reading comprehension)
- May have associated attention problems
- May dislike or avoid reading
| |
| Writing disability | - Difficulty with handwriting (eg, copying efficiently from the chalkboard)
- Difficulty with spelling (phonics, encoding)
- Difficulty composing sentences and text (eg, excessive grammar and punctuation errors)
- Overly simple written text
- Written text that is difficult to follow because it is not properly organized
| - Reading disability
- Nonverbal LD
- Autism spectrum disorder
|
| Math LD | - Difficulty with mental representation of quantity (number sense)
- Difficulty performing math calculations (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing)
- Difficulty with automatic retrieval of basic calculations (eg, addition, subtraction) (math fluency)
- Difficulty correctly reading and understanding math symbols
- Difficulty understanding word problems
- Difficulty with visual-spatial and organization skills
| - Language impairment
- Organizational weaknesses/executive dysfunctions
- Nonverbal LD
|
| Nonverbal LD (nonlanguage-based LD, right hemisphere developmental LD)¶ | - Weakness in visual spatial organization
- Weakness in nonverbal problem solving (including social reasoning)
- Weaknesses in higher-order reading comprehension and written expression
- Weaknesses in attention and executive function
- Well-developed basic language skills
- Strong rote skills (eg, single-word reading or spelling)
| - Math LD
- Writing disability
|
| Language-based LD | - Difficulty discriminating and producing the sounds of spoken language
- Difficulty with vocabulary and/or word retrieval
- Difficulty understanding and correctly using grammar and syntax (word order)
- Difficulty with narrative discourse and conversation (pragmatics)
- Difficulty following instructions (poor verbal working memory)
- Difficulty with reading comprehension
- Difficulty writing at the sentence or text level, resulting in grammatical errors, short sentences, or poorly structured paragraphs and text
| - Reading disability
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Nonverbal LD
|
