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Written by Len McCulloch Guest Columnist http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20130817/LIFE03/308170012/Be-aware-learning-disabilities-new-school-year According to the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan some 91,000 students in the state’s special education programs have a learning disability. By definition, the term “specific learning disability” applies when a student whose achievement in one or more of the basic learning areas of reading, writing or arithmetic is substantially below that which is expected, given the child’s chronological age, intellectual level and grade placement. This also assumes that the learning disorder is not due to other reasons such as cognitive impairment (low IQ), emotional impairment or other physical health impairments (ADHD, seizure disorder, traumatic brain Injury, etc.). A psychologist gives standardized reading, writing and arithmetic achievement tests and a standardized intelligence test to diagnose a learning disability. Approximately, 5 percent of students in the public schools in the United States are now identified as having specific learning disabilities. Some causes of learning disabilities may be genetic, neurological, the result of birthing problems or perinatal exposure to alcohol, other drugs, nicotine or some medicines. Some may be from exposure to lead poisoning during formative years. Interestingly, boys seem to outnumber girls by 3-1 in learning disabilities. Misunderstandings Over the past 30 years, I have worked with learning disabled children and their parents and found that most of them do not understand that the child is not retarded, lazy, or crazy. Also, in conducting approximately 1,000 Social Security Disability determination evaluations each year, for the past 20 years, I have seen numerous cases of learning disability in people who have also developed maladaptive emotional/functioning and behavior disorders due to misunderstandings by themselves and their families of what learning disability is and what it is not. Some people believe that special attention needs to be given by teachers, parents and friends of the learning disabled student to educate them about what their disability is. The misunderstandings can often be more devastating than the learning disabilities. These include low self-esteem, poor self-image, conduct problems, delinquency, and a high drop-out rate. It has been shown that there is a disproportionate number (up to 70 percent) of our prison population vs. our general population with diagnosable specific learning disabilities.