Most people have problems with learning and behavior from time to time. During the school years, parents and educators should be on the alert for consistent (and persistent) patterns of difficulty that children may experience over time as they may signal an underlying learning disability (LD). While variations in the course of development are to be expected, unevenness or lags in the mastery of skills and behaviors, even with children as young as 4 or 5, should not be ignored. And because LD can co-occur with other disorders, it's important to keep careful and complete records of observations and impressions so they can be shared among parent, educators and related service providers when making important decisions about providing needed services and supports.
Keep in mind that LD is a term that describes a heterogeneous ('mixed bag') group of disorders that impact listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, math, and social skills. And remember: learning disabilities do not go away! A learning disability is not something that can be outgrown or that is 'cured' by medication, therapy, or expert tutoring. So, early recognition of warning signs, well-targeted assessment, effective intervention, and ongoing monitoring of progress are critical to helping individuals with LD to succeed in school, in the workplace, and in life.
The following Checklist is designed as a helpful guide and not as a tool to pinpoint specific learning disabilities. The more characteristics you check, the more likely that the individual described is at risk for (or shows signs of) learning disabilities. When filling out this form, think about the person's behavior over at least the past six months. And when you're done, don't wait to seek assistance from school personnel or other professionals.
Domains and Behaviors
Shaded area indicates a characteristic is more likely
to apply at that stage of life. Check all that apply.
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PreSchool Kindergarten
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Grades 1-4
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Grades 5-8
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HighSchool&Audit
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Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Appears awkward and clumsy, dropping, spilling, or
knocking things over |
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Has limited success with games and activities that
demand eye-hand coordination (i.e., piano lessons,
basketball, baseball) |
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Has trouble with buttons, hooks, snaps, zippers and
trouble learning to tie shoes |
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| Creates art work that is immature for age |
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Demonstrates poor ability to color or write 'within
the lines' |
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| Grasps pencil awkwardly, resulting in poor handwriting |
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Experiences difficulty using small objects or items that
demand precision (i.e., Legos, puzzle pieces, tweezers, scissors) |
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| Dislikes and avoids writing and drawing tasks |
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Language
| Demonstrates early delays in learning to speak |
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| Has difficulty modulating voice (i.e., too soft, too loud) |
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| Has trouble naming people or objects |
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| Has difficulty staying on topic |
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| Inserts invented words into conversation |
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| Has difficulty re-telling what has just been said |
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Uses vague, imprecise language and has a limited
vocabulary |
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Demonstrates slow and halting speech, using lots of
fillers (i.e., uh, um, and, you know, so) |
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| Uses poor grammar or misuses words in conversation |
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| Mispronounces words frequently |
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| Confuses words with others that sound similar |
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Inserts malapropisms ('slips of the tongue') into
conversation (i.e., a rolling stone gathers no moths;
he was a man of great statue) |
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| Has difficulty rhyming |
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| Has limited interest in books or stories |
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| Has difficulty understanding instructions or directions |
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Has trouble understanding idioms, proverbs,
colloquialisms, humor, and/or puns (note: take into account regional and cultural factors) |
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| Has difficulty with pragmatic skills (e.g., understanding the relationship between speaker and listener, staying on topic, gauging the listener's degree of knowledge, making inferences based on a speaker's verbal and non-verbal cues) |
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Reading
| Confuses similar-looking letters and numbers |
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Has difficulty recognizing and remembering
sight words |
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| Frequently looses place while reading |
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| Confuses similar-looking words (i.e., beard/bread) |
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| Reverses letter order in words (i.e., saw/was) |
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| Demonstrates poor memory for printed words |
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| Has weak comprehension of ideas and themes |
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| Has significant trouble learning to read |
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| Has trouble naming letters |
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Has problems associating letter and sounds,
understanding the difference between sounds in words
or blending sounds into words |
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Guesses at unfamiliar words rather than using word
analysis skills |
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| Reads slowly |
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| Substitutes or leaves out words while reading |
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| Has poor retention of new vocabulary |
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| Dislikes and avoids reading or reads reluctantly |
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Written Language
| Dislikes and avoids writing and copying |
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| Demonstrates delays in learning to copy and write |
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| Has messy and incomplete writing, with many "cross outs" and erasures |
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Has difficulty remembering shapes of letter and
numerals |
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| Frequently reverses letters, numbers and symbols |
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Uses uneven spacing between letters and words, and
has trouble staying 'on the line' |
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Copies inaccurately (i.e., confuses similar-looking
letters and numbers) |
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Spells poorly and inconsistently (i.e., the same word
appears differently other places in the same document) |
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| Has difficulty proofreading and self-correcting work |
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Has difficulty preparing outlines and organizing
written assignments |
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Fails to develop ideas in writing so written work is
incomplete and too brief |
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| Expresses written ideas in a disorganized way |
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Math
Has difficulty with simple counting and one-to-one
correspondence between number symbols and items/
objects |
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Difficulty mastering number knowledge
(i.e. recognition of quantities without counting) |
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Has difficulty with learning and memorizing basic
addition and subtraction facts |
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Has difficulty learning strategic counting principles
(i.e. by 2, 5, 10, 100) |
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| Poorly aligns numbers resulting in computation errors |
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| Has difficulty estimating quantity (i.e., quantity, value) |
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| Has difficulty with comparisons (i.e., less than, greater than) |
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| Has trouble telling time |
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| Has trouble conceptualizing the passage of time |
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| Has difficulty counting rapidly or making calculations |
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Has trouble learning multiplication tables, formulas
and rules |
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| Has trouble interpreting graphs and charts |
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Social/Emotional
Does not pick up on other people's mood/feelings
(i.e., may say the wrong thing at the wrong time) |
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| May not detect or respond appropriately to teasing |
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Has difficulty 'joining in' and maintaining positive
social status in a peer group |
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| Has trouble knowing how to share/express feelings |
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Has trouble 'getting to the point'
(i.e., gets bogged down in details in conversation) |
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| Has difficulty with self-control when frustrated |
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Has difficulty dealing with group pressure,
embarrassment and unexpected challenges |
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| Has trouble setting realistic social goals |
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Has trouble evaluating personal social strengths and
challenges |
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| Doubts own abilities and prone to attribute successes to luck or outside influences rather than hard work |
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Attention
Fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless
mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities |
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Has difficulty sustaining attention in work tasks or
play activities |
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Does not follow through on instructions and
fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in
the workplace |
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| Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities |
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Avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that
require sustained mental effort such as homework and
organizing work tasks
policies to protect and strengthen |
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Loses things consistently that are necessary for
tasks/activities ( i.e., toys, school assignments, pencils,
books, or tools)
educational rights and opportunities. |
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| Is easily distracted by outside influences |
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| Is forgetful in daily/routine activities |
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Other
| Confuses left and right |
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Has a poor sense of direction; slow to learn the
way around a new place; easily lost or confused in
unfamiliar surroundings |
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Finds it hard to judge speed and distance
(i.e., hard to play certain games, drive a car) |
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| Has trouble reading charts and maps |
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| Is disorganized and poor at planning |
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| Often loses things |
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| Is slow to learn new games and master puzzles |
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Has difficulty listening and taking notes at the
same time |
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| Performs inconsistently on tasks from one day to the next |
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Has difficulty generalizing (applying) skills from one
situation to another |
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Reprinted with the permission of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. © 1999-2009 National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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