DEFINITION

 -A LIFELONG DISORDER

- “NORMAL” IQ

 - SIGNIFICANT IQ-ACHIEVEMENT DISCREPANCY:

One or More Academic Subjects

 - AFFECTS ONE OR MORE BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES:

 A) Learning & Using Written or Spoken Language

 B) Automatic Symbolization

 C) Perceptual-Motor Skills 

 D) Attention

HOW IT LOOKS

 - FUNCTIONAL ILLITERACY

- REDUCED LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:

Concrete, Literal, Dis-connected, Peripheral, Perseverative

 - BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS: Immaturity, Mood swings, Impulsivity, Inattention, Defiance, Low Self Esteem

 - POOR SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT / PUNCTUALITY  / TRUANCY

 - POOR MOTOR SKILLS: Clumsy Large &/or Fine Motor Skills, Poor Eye-Hand Coordination

 -MOSTLY BOYS

FILE HINTS

- SPECIAL ED CLASS OR LABEL:

LD, SLD, LDG, EH, BD, LAS 

- HAS AN IEP OR “504 PLAN”

 - FAMILY HISTORY - OTHERS AFFECTED

 - IQ ABOVE 70

 - LOW YEARLY ACHIEVEMENT SCORES

 - REPEATED ONE OR MORE GRADE LEVELS

 - “CONFIDENTIAL” GUIDANCE FILE

HOW  DIAGNOSED

- IQ TEST: Verbal, Nonverbal, Composite

 - ACADEMIC SKILLS BATTERY: Reading Decoding/Comprehension, Spelling/Written

Language, Math Computation/Application

 - FUNCTIONAL LITERACY: Document & Quantitative Measures

 - INFORMATION PROCESSING BATTERY: Auditory and Visual Modalities

- LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: Expressive & Receptive

 - SOCIAL/MORAL MATURITY  

- LEVEL OF BASIC INFORMATION