Enhancement of Cognitive Abilities among Learning Disabled

Learning Disability was considered as a retardation during 1980's, Learning Disabled children experience development delay in speaking skill, writing skill, reading skill, and mathematical problems because of dysfunction in the cerebrum, they also experience disturbances emotionally and behaviorally.

In the ICD-10, the category of "Specific Developmental Disorders of Scholastic Skills" includes Specific Reading Disorder. Specific Spelling Disorder, Specific Disorder of Arithmetical Skills, Mixed Disorder of Scholastic Skills, other Developmental Disorders of Scholastic Skills, unspecified. According to ICD-10, "Specific Developmental Disorders of Scholastic Skills refers to disorders in which the normal patterns of skill acquisition are disturbed from the early stages of development. This is not simply a consequence of a lack of opportunity to learn, it is not solely a result of mental retardation, and it is not due to any form of acquired brain trauma or disease"

The true prevalence rate of various learning disorders is difficult to determine. Various researches have been taken place in order to satisfy the education needs of the children. Six percentage of the children experience specific learning difficulties are in need of special educators. Prevalence rate of children who have issues involving arithmetic and writing is lacking of evidence.

Incidence and Prevalence of learning disability in India is very scanty. In India, 21% of elementary school children are affected by Dyslexia, whereas dysgraphia affects 14% and dyscalculia affects 5.5 percent. In various states of India, the board of National Education which administer the (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education- ICSE) and (Central Board of Secondary Education- CBSE) have formally granted the children with learning difficulties to access the needed requirements from Class One to Class Twelve. In urban and rural areas, the prevalence rate was 12 percent for 4 to 6 year old children.

A discrepancy between Intelligence and Achievement means that the child is

not achieving as much as other children of his chronological age, as measured by a standardized intelligence test. Unfortunately, IQ tests do not answer the question of how to evaluate the severity of the discrepancy. Johnson and Myklebust (1967) suggested that one or two years below the expected level of achievement has been the most common criterion for evaluating the discrepancy. At the same time, they warn that when the discrepancy occurs at the age three or four it is more serious than when it occurs at sixteen years of age.