Recognise the usefulness and limitations of knowing the cause of a persons learning disability?

Question

discuss the limitations of understanding in relation to causations of learning disability

Answer 1

Down's syndrome is a genetic condition known as trisomy, where a person inherits an extra copy of one chromosome. This additional genetic material changes the finely tuned balance of the body and results in characteristic physical and intellectual features - e.g shape of face and eyes, shorter in stature than the average person and the hands are shorter and have a single crease across the palm. There are 3 types of downs syndrome.

About 50% of people with downs syndrome have heart defects and may have other accompanying health issues such as being suseptible to infections, hearing difficulties, sight problems etc.

Downs syndrome can not be cured. However the health issues can be treated or managed with medication.

People with Down's syndrome have varying degrees of learning disability, which may range from moderate to severe.

All this is well and good but people with downs syndrome are as different as you and i. There will be some things i will find easy to do that you won't, things i can learn fast and you won't, things i will never be able to do that you can.

If you don't look at the individual person you do not get a real feel for who they are and what they can achieve. They get labelled, stuck in a box and not allowed to delvelop.

If you are told for long enough that you will not be able to do something you will give up and not try.

Answer 2

I would say that the usefulness of knowing the cause of a person's learning disabilities is so that the learning disability can be better accommodated. For instance if a child has an auditory processing deficit, you are going to provide different modifications and accommodations than for a child with a visual motor integration deficit.

The limitations are that learning disabilities are not something concrete and it may be fairly easy to attribute a behavior or deficit to a learning disability and entirely miss the true cause. Learning disabilities often manifest in different ways. However, the ability to accommodate the disability far outweighs any mistake that can be made.