Our psychologists and educators can help children, teens and young adults with learning disabilities through comprehensive assessment and goal-directed support.  

There are some classic warning signs of a learning disability during the preschool years: 

1. Late speech development
2. Late development with learning alphabets letters and sounds (late is considered by 5 to 5 ¬Ω years)
3. Inconsistent development and learning of the alphabet and sounds
4. Poor rhyming skills
5. Avoiding drawing/coloring, pre-writing tasks
6. Weak fine motor skills
7. Late established hand dominance
8. Difficulty with word retrieval (says ummm and thing)
9. Advanced vocabulary in comparison to development of reading skills
10. Late color recognition

Learning disabilities, and specifically dyslexia, impact approximately 20% of the population. The NC and SC public school systems have resources in special education to identify individuals with learning disabilities however, procedures and guidelines are such that most children are not identified with learning disorders until 2^nd or 3^rd grade and in order to be identified their delays must be significantly impacting their educational performance. Therefore, many children with mild delays simply ‚Äúfall through the cracks‚Äù as their mild delays turn into moderate and severe delays without appropriate intervention. Research indicates the children make the greatest gains in learning to read in grades K through 2^nd. Research has also shown that if the reading gap is not remediated by the 3^rd grade, it is very hard to close. Therefore, it is imperative that professionals in the medical field collaborate with parents and educators to help identify individuals with learning disabilities.

Talk with a pediatrician or teacher if you have concerns.  They may recommend psycho-educational evaluation.  

Learn more about services preschoolers with signs of a learning disability at Child and Family Development here.