My child is struggling 
Now that my child has 
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What makes LD a "disability" rather than a difference or preference is this:
- LD is the result of some "intrinsic" – internal – condition: we have a growing body of neuroscience that can point to how the brains of individuals with LD have structural, neurochemical, and functional features that are unique from others who perform the same sets of tasks.
- LD is not transient: the characteristics of LD may (and do) change over time, but the underlying problem does not come and go; for example, a person with dyslexia, with good instruction and lots of practice, may learn to be a more efficient reader, better able at reading maps, or a more confident and accomplished speller, but the underlying nature of their LD does not disappear.
- LD is not the result of lack of exposure or practice: if a student believed to have LD makes sudden and almost magical progress at the beginning of a school year because of a new teacher, it is likely that LD was not a problem to begin with.
Feelings of worry and sadness
Would you feel sad or worried if you were able to fulfill a life-long dream and become the mayor of a major city, even though you needed "text-to-speech" software to help you work around your struggles with reading printed text? Would you feel sad or worried if you were the head of a multi-million dollar corporation and needed to dictate every memo because of poor spelling and illegible handwriting? Having LD in no way diminishes your ability to be successful, and there are individuals with LD who are accomplished in every profession. LD does, however, create obstacles in very specific areas that interfere with how you demonstrate your intelligence and creativity. LD can (and almost always does) mean that you will need to work harder (and smarter) to get certain things done, and not just in school. LD is an "equal opportunity disability" that does not discriminate by gender, and doesn’t care if you’re in a classroom or living room, on a sports field or a fishing boat, in the supermarket or at the movies. The most important thing to keep in mind is that "LD is what you have, not who you are" – and the more you understand about how your specific learning disabilities impact your life, the more successful you will be at overcoming it’s challenges.A final word about "disability"
Right or wrong, individuals with disabilities (not differences, not preferences) are entitled to protections under federal law. Whether its education law or civil rights law, individuals with disabilities have rights and entitlements that those with "differences" or "preferences" do not. Ask a child, parent, or adult who has been on the LD journey about the ways that they have benefited from the LD classification: extended time for testing, note takers, assistive technologies that capture text and convert it into speech or that capture speech and convert it into written narrative, talking calculators, and much more.Advances in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are beginning to provide us with exciting new platforms for leveling the playing (or should I say, learning) field for all students. UDL holds great promise for those who want the "d" word to go away. It is based on a model that presumes that students struggle because of faulty curricula (and how content is presented) and that given the multiple ways that UDL engages students in learning and offers options for gathering feedback and assessing and monitoring progress, a "disability" label would be less important (at least for the purpose of providing effective instruction).
Other "D" words to remember?
- Don’t delay (earlier recognition of a learning disability is key to getting the right kinds of help)
- Don’t despair (the more you know about LD the sooner you can become a confident advocate)
- Don’t deny (LD is real, not a cause for shame, and there are resources available – but you need to ask!
Sheldon H. Horowitz, Ed.D. is the Director of LD Resources & Essential Information at the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
