What is a Language-Based Learning Difference?

Reachers believe that up to 20% of the people in the United States have a language-based learning difference. Of the students with specific learning disabilities receiving special education services, 70–80% have deficits in reading.  LLDs are caused by a difference in brain structure that is present at birth and is often hereditary. There are many kinds of learning differences, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, and they can affect people in various ways. LLDs affect both genders equally as well as all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

Language-based learning differences (LLDs) affect the way the brain processes information and can impact how a child learns to read, write, hear, speak, or calculate. Children have different learning styles, but some students experience a greater disconnection between their academic aptitude and their ability to read or write. An LLD is not a reflection of low intelligence, but it can negatively impact your child's self-esteem and confidence.

Signs or symptoms of a language-based learning disability:

• Difficulty expressing ideas clearly, as if the words needed are on the tip of the tongue but won't come out. Or, what the child says may be vague and difficult to understand (using unspecific vocabulary, such as "thing" or "stuff" to replace words that cannot be remembered). Filler words like "um" may be used to take up time while the child tries to remember a word.
• Difficulty learning new vocabulary that the child hears (e.g., taught in lectures/lessons) and/or sees (e.g., in books)
• Difficulty understanding questions and following directions that are heard and/or read
• Difficulty recalling numbers in sequence (e.g., telephone numbers and addresses)
• Difficulty understanding and retaining the details of a story's plot or a classroom lecture
• Difficulty reading and comprehending material 
• Difficulty learning words to songs and rhymes
• Difficulty telling left from right, making it hard to read and write since both skills require this directionality
• Difficulty learning letters and numbers
• Difficulty identifying the sounds that correspond to letters, making learning to read difficult
• Mixes up the order of letters in words while writing
• Mixing up the order of numbers that are a part of math calculations
• Difficulty spelling
• Difficulty learning memorizing the times tables
• Difficulty learning telling time

Read more at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) website.