School underachievement and specific learning difficulties

Book section : Chapter

A child struggling in school causes concern. Difficulties with school tasks can leave children frustrated and parents and teachers wondering about the barriers that are preventing learning. Indeed, school underachievement is one of the most common reasons for referral to a visiting specialist in school or to a child guidance clinic. Underachievement may however be a symptom of any number of cognitive, emotional and social difficulties. In this chapter we will first review definitions of learning disorders and discuss issues surrounding their diagnosis. Although there is a growing body of evidence about mathematical and other non-verbal learning difficulties, our focus will be on literacy learning difficulties for two reasons. First, they pose a significant barrier to achievement across the curriculum and second, because substantial cross-linguistic information is becoming available about their behavioral manifestations in different language contexts, methods of assessment and intervention. We will also consider school underachievement when it is secondary to other conditions and, for a small selection of such syndromes, we discuss why this may be the case. We end the chapter with a discussion about priorities that low income communities can set, both for the identification of children with specific learning difficulties and remedial support.

Authors: Nag, S; Snowling, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions
• Host title: IACAPAP e-Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Chapter number: C.3
• Place of publication: Geneva
• Publication date: 2012-07-01
• Edition: 1
• ISBN: 9780646574400
• Language: English
• Keywords: response to intervention; risk factors; specific learning disorder; dimensional view of disorders; multifactorial model; cognitive features
• Subtype: Chapter