General Characteristics of Learners with Learning Disabilities

Learners may have trouble with:

Memory

• Remembering newly learned information because of either visual or auditory problems.

Organization

• Staying organized, thinking in a logical and orderly manner.
• Remembering and sticking to deadlines. They may have difficulty with awareness of time because they don’t have an internal sense of time and can’t predict how long a task may take or because they have difficulty telling time.

Understanding

• Understanding what they read.
• Following directions, creating mental images, dealing with size, physical geographic features and spatial dimensions.

Communicating

• Understanding jokes that are subtle or sarcastic.
• Making fitting remarks.
• Expressing thoughts orally or in writing.
• Getting along with peers or co-workers, usually stemming from a lack of skill in interpreting non-verbal cues such as body language, requirements for personal space, taking turns in the conversation or recognizing implicit messages in “tone of voice.”
• Using proper grammar in spoken or written communication.

Learning

• Learning basic skills such as reading, writing, spelling and mathematics.
• Skills are below expectations in some areas but not in others, for example, poor writing skills but excellent comprehension skills

Handling changes

• Generalizing skills from one situation to another.
• Changing their approach to a task even when the initial approach has proven unsuccessful.

Self-esteem

• Exhibiting strong self-esteem issues resulting from a poor sense of self from years of failure in academic, social and employment situations – they may give up easily and put themselves down.

Jobs

• Finding or keeping a job.

Learners may also have:

• Mastered other skills.
• An outgoing personality to mask learning problems.
• Developed skills to compensate for their learning disabilities.
• Empathy because they can relate to others going through periods of failure.
• Persistence because if they are coming for tutoring, it proves they don’t give up easily.

Adapted from Fowler, J. A. (2003). Learning disabilities training: A new approach. London, Ontario: Literacy Link South Central. Used with permission.

Handout 10.7