Special Education Services

Reading difficulties occur on a continuum, meaning that there is a wide range of students who experience reading difficulties. There are those students who are diagnosed with a reading-related disability but there is an even larger group of students (without diagnoses) who still require targeted reading assistance. Be aware of how each child is doing. A preschool student should be checked, for example, if he or she has a much more difficult time than other students in pronouncing or rhyming words or in learning numbers, the alphabet, the days of the week, colors, or shapes.

Writing difficulties are common among children and can stem from a variety of learning and attention issues. By learning what to watch for, you can be proactive about getting help for your child. There’s no cure or easy fix for dysgraphia. But there are strategies and therapies that can help a child improve his writing. This will help him thrive in school and anywhere else expressing himself in writing is important. Different professionals may use different terms to describe your child’s struggle with written expression. Whatever definition is used, it’s important to understand that slow or sloppy writing isn’t necessarily a sign that your child isn’t trying hard enough. Writing requires a complex set of fine motor and language processing skills.

Academic concerns, which might include issues such as learning difficulties or disabilities, underachievement, lack of attention from teachers, and bullying, affect a number of students throughout their academic careers, from elementary school to college. A student who experiences some type of academic concern may benefit from speaking to a mental health professional. Academic concerns may influence a student’s performance in the classroom negatively, but they are also likely to have a significant effect on other areas of life, often placing undue stress on a child and interfering with home, work, and play dimensions.

Spelling is a complex activity that involves many skills. Spellers have to quickly and accurately think about how words sound and then translate those sounds into print. Spelling also requires knowing the different meanings of words that sound the same and choosing when to use which spelling. Examples include sent, cent, scent and there, they’re, their. Sometimes things happen before a child is born to cause intellectual disability. And sometimes intellectual disability is caused in early childhood. Spelling can be hard for children with dyslexia and other kinds of learning and attention issues.

Learning to write, and then how to write fluently, is a key skill that your child needs to master at primary school. But writing is a complex process that’s not always straightforward. Because handwriting is such a complex skill, there are many children who have difficulty mastering it. This may cause frustration and distress and affect a child's desire to write. It may also cause anxiety for the parents and teachers who watch the child struggle to put his or her ideas on paper.

Math disabilities can arise at nearly any stage of a child's scholastic development. While very little is known about the neurobiological or environmental causes of these problems, many experts attribute them to deficits in one or more of five different skill types. These deficits can exist independently of one another or can occur in combination. All can impact a child's ability to progress in mathematics. Mathematics is a complex subject including different domains such as arithmetic, arithmetic problem solving, geometry, algebra, probability, statistics, calculus, that implies mobilizing a variety of basic abilities associated with the sense of quantity, symbols decoding, memory, visuospatial capacity, logics, to name a few.

Computational problems are one of the main objects of study in theoretical computer science. The field of algorithms studies methods of solving computational problems efficiently. The complementary field of computational complexity attempts to explain why certain computational problems are intractable for computers. A computational problem can be viewed as an infinite collection of instances together with a solution for every instance. For example, in the factoring problem, the instances are the integers n, and solutions are prime numbers p that describe nontrivial prime factors of n. It is conventional to represent both instances and solutions by binary strings, namely elements of {0, 1}*. For example, numbers can be represented as binary strings using the binary encoding.

Concepts help a child to understand about direction, location, position, number, quantity, sequence, attributes, dimension, size and similarities and differences. It is important for children to have a good understanding of different concepts as it assists in their ability to follow instructions and be specific in what they are talking about. In order for a child to use concepts in their spoken language, they first need to have a good understanding about what these concepts are and what they mean. By developing this understanding they are then better able to follow instructions at home, at preschool and in the school environment.

Since difficulties with reading, writing and/or math are recognizable problems during the school years, the signs and symptoms of learning disabilities are most often diagnosed during that time. However, some individuals do not receive an evaluation until they are in post-secondary education or adults in the workforce. Other individuals with learning disabilities may never receive an evaluation and go through life, never knowing why they have difficulties with academics and why they may be having problems in their jobs or in relationships with family and friends.

Children act out for different reasons. The first step to dealing with tantrums, meltdowns and defiance is to understand what’s bothering a child. We’ve put together the information and articles below to help you explore the best way to handle behavior problems in children. You’ll find information on potential causes of disruptive behavior, including anxiety, learning issues and trauma. And experts share advice on how to help kids learn to manage powerful emotions, and how to recognize behavior problems that may need professional attention.

Expressive language disorder is a communication disorder in which there are difficulties with verbal and written expression. It is a specific language impairment characterized by an ability to use expressive spoken language that is markedly below the appropriate level for the mental age, but with a language comprehension that is within normal limits. Expressive language disorder affects work and schooling in many ways. It is usually treated by specific speech therapy, and usually cannot be expected to go away on its own. Expressive language disorder can be further classified into two groups: developmental expressive language disorder and acquired expressive language disorder.

When children have intellectual disability, they have a reduced ability to think. They might take longer and need extra support to learn new skills. Children with intellectual disability often learn at a slower rate than others. They can have problems with memory, thinking and learning. Sometimes things happen before a child is born to cause intellectual disability. And sometimes intellectual disability is caused in early childhood. Intellectual disability can be caused by drug and alcohol use by a child’s mother during pregnancy. It can also be caused by exposure to poisons such as lead during pregnancy. Children with intellectual disability feel a full range of emotions and keep learning, just like other children. And like all children, they get a lot out of being part of the community and doing activities that.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences. Autism’s most-obvious signs tend to appear between 2 and 3 years of age. In some cases, it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months. Some developmental delays associated with autism can be identified and addressed even earlier. Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life; autism is not an illness or disease and cannot be 'cured'. Often people feel being autistic is a fundamental aspect of their identity.

Most slow learners enjoy making friends but have difficulty in maintaining social interaction and lack social skills. These children like talking to people; but are not able to take the initiative – their low self-esteem makes them shy. They sometimes appear immature in interpersonal relationships. They may find it difficult to keep friends, as they do not understand some simple skills like taking turns. There may be very few children who are willing to play with them.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders. ADHD is a broad term, and the condition can vary from person to person. There are an estimated 6.4 million diagnosed children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This condition is sometimes called attention deficit disorder (ADD), but this is an outdated term. The term was once used to refer to someone who had trouble focusing but was not hyperactive. The American Psychiatric Association released the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) in May 2013. The DSM-5 changed the criteria to diagnose someone with ADHD.

In practical terms, muscle strength is how strong the child is and muscular endurance is how long the child’s muscles can work. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert force repeatedly. Muscular endurance is similar to muscular strength in that strength is required to initiate movements, but it is the muscles endurance capacity that enables it to continue for multiple efforts. Improving strength and endurance contributes to a higher metabolism, which increases caloric use both while at work and rest, which in turn reduces the risk of obesity.