What kind of learning disabilities are out there for liitle boys who.....?

Question

......are not yet potty trained (at night only), a nervous habit with hands he does when excited or stressed, he doesn't get instructions the first time and sometimes he need alot of explaining. He is 6.

He reads excellently, cursive writing is ok, coloring is pretty good, he is very good at Game cube, he just got glasses, and he speaks well but could be better. When he understands something then it clicks and he's got it down. He seems pretty normal but his teacher seems to think he might have an issue.

he just turned 6 in sept on the 28th.

Answer 1

If the school thinks he has a Learning Disability (LD) have they organized for him to be assessed?

As only an assessment will give you a clear idea on what type of LD he has if any. They will also suggest programs to assist him through his school years.  

He may have Asperger's Syndrome, but he really needs to be assessed rather than my second guessing, going on the little information you have given.

Asperger's Syndrome is high functioning Autism, and sufferers have normal IQ, but have a dislike of their routine being out of sync, they can be overly sensitive to noise, smells, taste or touch, hence some will only wear certain types of clothes which maybe soft to touch, and some may tend to have uncanny obsessive/knowledge in a particular subject e.g trains, maps etc.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/005...

Answer 2

Have you talked to his pediatrician about his problem because why it's not unusual for children to have accidents at  night but to have them during the day doesn't make much sense. If the school wants to have him assessed get the opinion of his doctor and see if you can get him assessed privately, a private assessment is better than one done by the school. A private assessment will give you a complete diagnoses which one from the school might not.  It does sound like he has a processing issues, these were some of the same signs that my daughter had when she was younger and before she had a private evaluation done. I hope that your son gets the help that he needs.

Answer 3

I suspect that there could be an auditory processing disorder or a short term memory deficit for the following reasons:

*He can read but doesn't get instructions, probably when they are given verbally. This could indicate that he takes things in visually but has trouble processing what is being said.

*A short term or immediate memory deficit makes it difficult for children to hold something in memory and manipulate it. When they see something, especially in reading, it is permanent, so they don't have these issues. When something is said, if you can't hold it in memory very long, it will disappear.

Ask the teacher to give him visuals for lengthy instructions or do it one step at a time. He should have a desk copy of anything presented on the overhead. Kids with these deficits have trouble copying from the board or screen because they can't hold things in memory long enough.

The other issue that could be at play is an underlying receptive language disorder. A speech pathologist can find out if this is the case.

If you are thinking autism because of the hand flapping, I wouldn't worry too much. That can also be a sign of ADHD, as can the above. Children with autism don't socialize very well, usually can't imitate and have severe difficulties with any kind of communication.

Finally, this could be developmental. Some kids, especially boys, lag behind in language and memory development. Six is pretty early to start worrying unless he is really falling behind his class.