6 Surprising Signs of Learning Disorders

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Everyone thought it was adorable when my friend’s young daughter put her shoes on the wrong feet every day. They’d coo, “Aw, that’s so cute,” as if she’d done it on purpose just to delight her admirers. But the mix-up was no simple mistake, my friend would later learn. It was actually an early indication that her little girl had a learning disorder: Dyslexia.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities reports that a whopping 2.4 million students ages 6 to 21 have been diagnosed with a learning disability, which it defines as any of a number of disorders that have a negative impact on learning and may affect the ability to speak, listen, think, read, or write.

And make no mistake, the impact of these conditions can be negative indeed. According to NCLD, around 45 percent of secondary students with learning disabilities “perform more than three grade levels below their enrolled grade in essential academic skills.”

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The good news is, the most prevalent disorder in the bunch — you guessed it, dyslexia, a language-based processing disability — is also the most treatable if caught early, says Talin Babikian, assistant clinical professor and clinical neuropsychologist at the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine, who specializes in evaluating children for learning disabilities.

“Kids who start missing normal developmental milestones in terms of gross motor, fine motor, language, and socialization are raising a big red flag,” she tells Yahoo Parenting.

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But a few surprising mini flags could also indicate that something’s not right. The tendencies below — when coupled with motor or social skill issues — may be indicative of behavior parents might want to consider getting checked. Babikian explains each, as well as the ages when such activities start to signal something could be amiss:

A voice that’s especially loud, soft, high, or low. “We learn volume as a social skill,” explains Babikian. “If a child of any age is consistently sounding weird, that’s a sign that perhaps there’s something to look into regarding his social communication.” After a hearing test, that is.

Frequently falling and bumping into things. “Motor skills are very much a part of neurodevelopment,” she says. But if the activities are more reckless in nature after roughly age 3, that could fit into the ADHD profile.

Droning on and on about something very specific, whether or not other kids pay attention. This one depends on what is developmentally appropriate for the child. If he’s pretty young and just discovered Thomas the Train and can’t stop talking about it, that’s one thing, says Babikian. “But in the context of an older child, who is socialized, if they’re not cueing in that their peers aren’t interested at some point, I may wonder about the Autism spectrum.” Parents want to start paying some attention to this issue after Kindergarten or First Grade.

Says words out loud while writing. “Doing that in class and being disruptive is another instance of not being able to follow social cues,” she says. “Or else the child is a very auditory learner who has gotten to the degree of not being able to do anything but that, which could warrant evaluation for a language problem.” Preschool proclamations over everything they jot down is to be expected but Babikian says if kids are still at it in school age, when they really start writing, it could be something to consider. 

An unusual pencil grip. Kids whose grasp is unstable at preschool level or fist-like tight and awkward in elementary school reveals that they may have fine-motor issues and suggests some Dyspraxia — a disorder that affects motor skill development. Kindergarten is the stage where children have typically gotten comfortable with a steady, moderate grip.