Healthy Living Guides

Learning Intelligence and What It Means to People with LD

Learning is supposed to be what we do best. As children, we are like sponges that soak up everything around us. This is not always the case. For some people, learning is not easy and simple concepts and ideas can be dumbfounding at times. For those individuals who have a learning disability, intelligence is there but the capacity to use the information or process it is not. Many people with learning disabilities make learning into an art form. They spend so much of their lives struggling to understand and keep up with others that they take learning and the capacity to learn to a whole new level. Learning intelligence is how one goes about the learning process and gathering and retaining information.

For most people with LD, it is a frustrating journey of hit and misses on what will help them and what will not. As more and more time goes by and help is given, the learning disabled person will excel in the art of learning. Where the average person will know basic ways to help them retain and learn information, the learning disabled must know many different ways to accomplish what works best for them at any given moment. Most people with LD are extremely intelligent. It is there lack of being able to express what is going on in their minds that stumps them. There is more than just one kind of intelligence. The theory of multiple intelligences has been around for decades now. The idea that IQ tests that only measure two forms of intelligence is a good way to gage the IQ of a child or adult has been proven not necessarily so. It has been proposed that there are eight types of intelligence and depending on which type you are dominated by that will be your learning style.

There are those who are word smart and excel at linguistic intelligence. This would be the way a child or adult with a nonverbal learning disorder would be most apt to learn. With verbal cues and communication for all the things they need to know the LD person can live up to their fullest potential. Those who are number and reasoning smart surpass in logical-mathematical intelligence. These people find working with numbers easy. They learn by putting everything into an equation and logically solving it. For those who are picture smart such as a child or adult with a verbal learning disorder. They would learn best by using their spatial intelligence. For those gifted in movement and sports bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is the forte. There are those who extraordinarily musically talented and have a gift in musical intelligence. The self-smart individuals, such as those with Asperger Syndrome, know a great deal about themselves and what interests them, they excel at intrapersonal intelligence. There are also those who are people smart and thrive on interpersonal intelligence. The last type of intelligence is naturalist intelligence or nature smart.

Most school systems only focus on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. This does nothing for the other people who fall into the learning intelligence of the other six possibilities. Children with a LD may not be as learning disabled as people might think. It could easily mean the style of teaching is wrong for their style of learning. Because of the higher recognition of more than one type of learning intelligence, more and more classrooms are integrating a variety of methods. This has lead to more students being kept in the traditional classroom and less labeled as learning disabled. For the schools that have adjusted their curriculum to include a variety of teaching methods that serve all students and keep them interested in learning. These schools have seen an increase in test scores and less labeling and need for special services. For those schools that are determined that the only way to teach is old way. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in special educational programs and services each year. There scoring on tests is low and the children seem to have a harder time staying focused. Using all eight methods of learning in the classroom as well as at home can truly help the learning disabled child tremendously. There will be less need for intrusive intervention that social separates these kids from their peers. The learning disabled child will be able participate in the classroom and learn like all the other kids, happy and struggle free.