The following are two formal definitions of learning disabilities:

According to the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, "Learning Disabilities refers to a number of disorders, which may affect acquisition, organization, retention, understanding and use of verbal or nonverbal information. These disorders affect learning in individuals who otherwise demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and/or reasoning. As such, learning disabilities are distinct from global deficiency."²

"Learning disabilities refers to a variety of disorders that affect the acquisition, retention, understanding, organization or use of verbal and/or non-verbal information. These disorders result from impairments in one or more psychological processes related to learning, in combination with otherwise average abilities essential for thinking and reasoning. Learning disabilities are specific, not global impairments and as such are distinct from intellectual disabilities."³

Learning disabilities may range in severity and interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following important skills:

• oral language (eg. listening, speaking, understanding)
• reading (eg. decoding, comprehension)
• written language (eg. spelling, written expression)
• mathematics (eg. computation, problem solving)

In more informal terms, learning disabilities are lifelong and, depending upon their severity, can greatly impact individuals throughout their lives potentially including friendships, school, work, self-esteem and daily life.

Learning disabilities affect the way an individual takes in, understands and expresses information and impacts people with average to above average intelligence. This means that these individuals do not have global impairments like individuals with intellectual disability. Global impairments are those that impact an individual in every aspect of their life, specifically with cognitive functioning. Adults with learning disabilities have impairments that are very specific. An individual with a learning disability might struggle with spelling and reading but function well in a job that does not rely strongly on these skills for success.