Learning disability (LD) involves persistent difficulties in memorizing and acquiring certain skills, no matter how hard the children put in. However, there are tools and strategies to support them in their academic and family progress, and thus promote their development.
“Would you say to someone who is short-sighted: ‘Take off your glasses and force yourself a little to read what is written on the board’? rhetorically asks Annie Sanscartier, neuropsychologist and co-founder of the NeuroÉduc clinic. Despite all the energy deployed, people with LD will progress more slowly, and it has nothing to do with willpower. »
AD is part of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Tourette’s syndrome and autism spectrum disorder, which can also involve learning disabilities. There are specific disorders that alter the cognitive abilities involved in basic school learning such as reading, writing or mathematics. About 30% of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also have a learning disability, according to data from the Sainte-Justine Foundation.
If there is no link with intelligence, the chronic inability to update knowledge can greatly affect academic results. “This can in particular create anxiety and a drop in self-esteem, underlines the neuropsychologist. When in fact, these children have enormous resources and strengths that must be recognized and valued. »
Executive functions
To adequately support young people with learning disabilities, it is first necessary to assess their neuropsychological profile. “When we take stock, we examine the executive functions of the brain, because we know to what extent they are involved in learning and daily behavior,” explains Annie Sanscartier.
Governed by the prefrontal cortex, the “great chief coach” as the neuropsychologist calls it, executive functions intervene in new and complex situations. The main ones are working memory, inhibition, mental flexibility and planning. In other words, they are what allow us to manage our thoughts, our behaviors and our emotions to face a problem that we cannot solve automatically. By dint of practice and repetition, we integrate the tasks which will then be governed by other parts of the brain, which makes it possible to release the load of the prefrontal cortex.
In children with AD, this process of automation does not take place and all the energy is devoted to properly decoding the words. This then leaves little room for the overall understanding of the text or the resolution of an enigma, for example. Annie Sanscartier has also written a book, 100 billion neurons (Éd. Midi Trente), which dissects the functioning of the brain for children. “Studies have shown that knowing your own functioning is one of the most effective ways to progress,” she says.
Effective Strategies
To compensate for this overload, strategies can be put in place, such as the use of an electronic or phonetic dictionary for specific reading and writing disorders. The use of a calculator may also be necessary to give students time to fully understand the problem and demonstrate their ability to reason. For a child who also has ADHD, Mme Sanscartier suggests placing him always close to the teacher in the classroom, segmenting the tasks, organizing frequent breaks and allowing him to move. Wearing sound-absorbing earmuffs can also help shut out distractions.
The Institute for Learning Disabilities works for its part to support all school stakeholders. “If staff are aware of the importance of executive functions, they will build their teaching with appropriate strategies that will help the whole class develop good ways of understanding a problem and solving it,” says Lucille. Doiron, Executive Director of the TA Institute.
Mme Doiron also stresses the importance of raising parents’ awareness in order to allow them to recognize the manifestations of AD. “Then we define groups according to the needs and we suggest solutions to work in daily life on these challenges,” she explains. We want to show parents that they can be amazing helpers. »
To support them in adopting healthy habits for the coming school year, a day of conferences for parents will be held on October 15 at the TA Institute.
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