Nancy Davidson Ph.D. Psychologist

James Davidson Ph.D. Psychologist

When children learn differently than others or experience failure in school despite average or better intelligence, they may have a learning disability.  Learning disabilities cover a wide range of disorders, including dyslexia, developmental speech and language problems and academic learning disorders in reading, math or other subject areas. Nearly 4 million children have learning disabilities in America.

The causes of learning disabilities are varied, and include prenatal damage due to trauma, toxins or alcohol and drug abuse. Genetic factors can also lead to learning disabilities. 

Treatment includes educational testing to determine the extent and nature of the learning disability, and supportive counseling for the child and family. Comprehensive testing (a multi-factor evaluation) may be requested from the school instead of testing in the office. Coordination of care for the learning disabled child is important between the counselor, teacher, school psychologist and pediatrician.