Chapter 22: Learning Disabilities and Cognitive Impairment (Children)

Question 1

Early learning challenges are influenced by?

Answer 1

• emotional and social competencies
• auditory processing and language skills (e.g. memory and ability to retrieve)
• perceptual motor skills
• motor planning (e.g. sequencing and visual memory)
• visual/spatial processing skills
• ability to modulate sensory information

Question 2

Several Learning Disabilities

Answer 2

• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Dysgraphia
• Language Disorder

Question 3

Dyslexia

Answer 3

Reading Disorder

• impaired ability to read
• words or letters may be “mixed up” or distorted, making it impossible to recognize what others see

Question 4

Dyscalculia

Answer 4

Arithmetic Disorder

-inability to understand or recognize numbers or functions of numbers, or copy them correctly, or follow sequences

Question 5

Dysgraphia

Answer 5

Writing Disorder

-difficulties forming letters or writing within a prescribed space

Question 6

Language Disorder

Answer 6

delays in or lack of ability to understand or express verbal communication

Question 7

Signs and Symptoms of Learning Disabilites

Answer 7

• academic achievement less than would be expected for her age, education, and level of intelligence
• interference with academic performance or activities that require reading, math, or writing skills

Question 8

Nursing Assessment

Answer 8

• multidimensional approach is used to assess early learning patterns
• areas for assessment include functional, emotional, and developmental capacities, auditory processing and language, visuospatial capacities, and regulatory-sensory processing patterns

Question 9

Diagnosis

Answer 9

• comprehensive assessments involving interviews and observation
• definitive testing is recommended before a learning disorder or challenge is diagnosed

Question 10

Prevention

Answer 10

-early identification of learning challenges are conducted before a child is fully immersed in an academic environment so that early intervention can begin

Question 11

Nursing Care

Answer 11

• communicates to the family that the child’s strengths are incorporated as part of assessment, early prevention, and intervention
• fully inform the parents about their child’s rights and entitlements in the public school sector
• children who enter public education with a learning challenge or disability will have Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that is revised every few months

Question 12

Education/Discharge

Answer 12

• teach parents how to capitalize on their child’s strengths

- school nurses particularly useful in providing education and support to children and their families