Good news. An adult or child with learning disabilities can learn and be as successful as his or her peers. The most important thing is to recognize and evaluate the disorder and involve the person in the appropriate programs where they can develop the skills needed to live productively. Studies have shown that scientific treatments for retraining the brain are possible.

A learning disability is not a problem with a person’s intelligence, motivation, attention span or effort; in fact, people with learning disabilities tend to be average or above average in intelligence. It’s an issue with how the brain receives, processes and communicates information. Essentially, those who are characterized by having a learning disorder see, hear and understand things differently, and there seems to be a gap between their potential and actual achievement. This gap is determined by a professional, thorough learning disability evaluation or child development assessment.

The following symptoms might indicate that you or someone you know might require learning disabilities testing:

Motor skills

• Poor hand-eye coordination, such as required in cutting, buttoning or holding a pencil

Math

• Difficulty memorizing or organizing numbers, operation signs and number facts
• Difficulty with counting principles
• Difficulty telling time

Language/Reading/Writing

• Difficulty understanding the correlation between sounds, letters and words
• Difficulty grasping the meaning of words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs
• Difficulty with verbal language skills such as speech fluency or understanding directions
• Unusually poor handwriting
• Inability to accurately copy letters and words
• Poor spelling
• Poor organization in writing

The Carole and Ronald Krist Samaritan Center for Counseling and Education in Houston, Texas, can perform a learning disability assessment for both children and adults. These tests are used to check for a wide range of issues, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, auditory processing disorder and visual processing disorder.

Our MindWorks Testing, administered by our highly-trained staff of psychologists and counselors, will provide a full assessment so that you will know whether or not you or your child has an issue that needs addressing, and which services would be most suitable.