Prevalence: Learning disabilities among school students

In the modern society mastery of basic academic skills reading, writing and arithmetic is a necessary pre-requisite for success in both school and employment setting and in society at large. However a large percentage of children suffer from learning disabilities. Which is a childhood disorder characterized by difficulty with certain skills such as reading or writing and they are prevalent in individuals with normal intelligence.

The primary aim of the present study is early detection and assessment of magnitude of learning disabilities among students in order to plan and provide interventional services.

For the present study, univariant descriptive research design was utilized to achieve the objectives. It was conducted on total sample of 500 students studying in 5th to 8th standard in two secondary schools of Amritsar namely Guru Teg Bahadur Public School and Guru Harkrishan International School Amritsar.

The findings of the study revealed the prevalence of mild learning disabilities was 17.2% and severe learning disabilities was 2.4% among school students. Maximum (29.6%) students have mild reading disability and 1.2% students have severe reading disability. Almost half of the students (44.4%) had mild mathematics disability and 6% students had moderate mathematics disability. As per the findings of the specific deficit areas, most of the students have reading disabilities than writing and mathematics disabilities.

It was concluded that the prevalence of learning disabilities is common in school going children. More common are reading and mathematics disabilities. There is need for early detection of learning disabilities and remedial measures in order to give special education to affected students.