Psychological and Educational Aspects of Specific Learning Disabilities

I will discuss some general principles and specific examples of diagnosis of specific learning disabilities and to link them to Chinese children in Hong Kong. Under the broad umbrella condition of learning disabilities, estimated to occur in some 15% of the school population, there are those children with specific learning disabilities or severe disorders in reading, spelling and composing, and in mathematics. My estimate is that at least something like 3% to 5% of our students may be so classified. These disorders may persist to adulthood and require early diagnosis and systematic, sustained treatment in great measure, in good time and in great intensity. The core deficit in the literacy domain is in the language area, and, in particular, in phonological processing linking symbols to speech sound, at least in alphabetic language systems. Studies on the cross-linguistic aspects of learning to read and spell, including Chinese and Japanese, have shown that there are processing mechanisms common to both the alphabetic English and the morphosyllabic Abstract This paper discusses a two-stage model of more generalised assessment followed by fine-grained diagnoses of children with specific learning/reading disabilities. Two clinical cases with severe language/ reading impairment, one in English and one in Chinese, are outlined. The related issues of using a discrepancy approach and the role of "intelligence" in diagnosis are examined. The neuropsychological aspects of dyslexia in Chinese are delineated. Multi-disciplinary cooperation is needed in helping children with specific learning disabilities.