Education is an important factor that contributes to the human resource development. Children learn to read, communicate, write, express in his or her own ways. Some may do exceedingly well and some might face difficulties. At least one in five students has trouble keeping up academically at some point during school. In recent years, complaints of poor school performance and difficulty in learning have increased to a varying degree. There are many reasons for children to underperform at school. They can be either due to medical conditions, psychiatric disorders, environmental conditions, psychological and emotional problems, and developmental disabilities or comorbid conditions.
Each of these conditions adversely affects the children’s ability to performances in school at both internal and external ways. The ability of a child to function efficiently at school varies based on the nature of the disabilities diagnosed, the comorbid conditions, other factors affecting the children such as family, friends, schools, environmental factors, personality traits, etc.
Children diagnosed with intellectual disability learn at a slower rate than others. They can have difficulty with memory and problem-solving, as well as developmental delays early in life. Intellectual disability ranges from mild to profound and the symptoms varies from one person to another. Those children diagnosed with intellectual disability have difficulty in functioning at the school including participating in general activities at the class, maintaining relationship with students and teachers, difficulty in academic functioning, play and extracurricular activities compared to the normal children. Children scoring IQ below 70 to 75 are thought to have an intellectual disability. These children lacks in skills necessary for the proper adaptive functioning including daily living skills, such as getting dressed, going to the bathroom, and feeding one’s self; communication skills, such as understanding what is said and being able to answer and social skills with peers, family members, adults, and others. Children with intellectual disability lack such skills. Other comorbid conditions such as ADHD, Autism, childhood psychiatric disorders, physical and medical conditions should be ruled out, that affects the Childs’ ability to functioning.
As we mentioned that, mental retardation ranges from mild, moderate, severe and profound. Children diagnosed with borderline intelligence to mild range of MR can get admitted to normal schools, even though they need individual care and attention, since they are poor in grasping lesions and understanding concepts and has low intellectual functioning. When a child fails to meet such demands, it creates low self-esteem, lacks confidence, being aloof from others, frustrations that leads to behavioral issues that in-turn resulting in low performance and functioning at family, school and society.
Specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia can make it difficult and sometimes impossible for a child to achieve the same results as his or her peers in a traditional classroom setting. Some children face a constant struggle with reading and writing and many are at risk for developing low self-esteem, particularly when their condition goes undiagnosed and/or untreated. A learning disability is a pattern of neurological dysfunction in the brain that causes a child to have difficulty in correctly receiving information (perception), correctly processing information (cognition/thinking), or satisfactorily responding to information (written and verbal expression, visual-motor coordination, memory, etc.) and significantly hinders the child’s ability to learn. Children with learning disabilities have average to superior intelligence and struggles in all areas of school. For example, language processing disabilities can make reading and writing slow and challenging, memory issues can result in a student having to reread a piece of text or listen to spoken instructions many times.
These students also may need more time to process information before answering questions or replying when spoken to, which can result in difficulties contributing to classroom or group discussions. Someone may find it difficult to maintain focus, and paying attention, essential for learning. A child with dyslexia, might spell a word correctly and incorrectly the next or struggle to get through the assigned reading. Dysgraphia can make it difficult to hold a pen or pencil so that even writing a short paragraph by hand might be challenging. Organization and planning can also be impaired, resulting in difficulty keeping track of assignments or supplies and submitting work on time. Students with learning disabilities experience an imbalance in their own ability levels. They feel the tension between what they can and cannot do. Frustration, confusions, low self-esteem and self-confidence, difficulty in focusing on a specific tasks, easily distracted, unable to express oneself and recalling the proper instructions, difficulty in adapting to the environment are the hallmark of a student with learning disabilities. Typically such students will either be failing in one or more academic areas or be expending excessive amounts of energy to succeed. Also, they are also highly inconsistent, able to do a task one day and unable the next. Consistently underperforming, feeling uncomfortable in front of peers and receiving negative attention from parents and teachers can cause a child diagnosed with learning disability to lose interest in school. He or she may develop a poor self-image that can lead to emotional issues in and outside of the classroom.
Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder are at risk with poor performance. Such children have comorbid conditions, including anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior disorders, tics, and learning problems. Children with ADHD have a difficult time controlling their bodies. These children appear to be “on the go” much of the time. They feel compelled to stand up, move around the room, and often seek excuses for leaving the classroom in order to satisfy their need for movement. Such children miss critical instruction given at the classrooms. Inability of a child having ADHD to maintain a sustained attention will lead to poor academic performances. Students living with ADHD will be frustrated much of the time. Many children with ADHD are of average to above average intelligence. They often understand the content presented in the classroom but struggle to demonstrate that understanding in school due to their lack of concentration, impulsivity and trouble paying attention. Such, students may fail tests, or may not complete assignments and long-term projects. Students with ADHD may begin to feel incapable and defeated, and may even go so far as to simply give up on the task at hand that results in their school performance. Language-processing problems are common among children with ADD or ADHD. Listening and Reading Comprehension becomes confused with lengthy verbal directions; loses main point, difficulty taking notes; difficulty following directions; may not ‘hear’ or pick out homework assignments from a teacher’s lecture; poor reading comprehension, can’t remember what is read, must reread material. They also have problem with spoken language (oral expression). Children with ADHD talks spontaneously and talks less in response to questions where they must think and give organized, concise answer; They avoids responding in class or gives rambling answers. They also troubles with
written language such as takes time for reading and writing, poor handwriting, takes longer to complete work, produces less written work; difficulty organizing essays; difficulty getting ideas out of head and on paper; written test answers or essays may be brief; responses to discussion questions may be brief. Organization skills such as loses homework; difficulty getting started on tasks; difficulty knowing what steps should be taken first; difficulty organizing thoughts, sequencing ideas, writing essays, and planning ahead, impaired sense of time are poor with children diagnosed with ADHD. Difficulty in memorizing material such as multiplication tables, math facts or formulas, spelling words, foreign languages, and/or history dates are very common in such children. All these factors along with adjustment issues and behavioral responses contribute to poor academic performances.
Every child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is unique and its needs will be reflected differently. Challenges experienced interacting socially and communicating with others are common among students diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder, and will have an impact on every aspect of their lives. These challenges can lead to levels of stress, anxiety and depression that are much higher than for other students. Lack of social-emotional competence can lead to low academic performance and decreases a student’s connection with school. Much focus on academic aspects of the curriculum at the schools results in difficulty to cope for children diagnosed with ASD. Students on the spectrum have difficulty with motor skill, which makes handwriting difficult, holding a pen etc. Peers and teachers find that, these children come to them to fulfill their needs and often treat people as objects and lacks emotional feelings. These children find difficult to work with group and lacks skill necessary to make friends and has severe weakness in reciprocal social interaction. The ability to understand and interpret social situations is limited. These children lacks in social skills such as expressing speech, understanding in speech, social use and social understanding of language and non-verbal communication. Ie Children with ASD find difficulty in understanding the classroom instructions, misunderstands what is said, difficulty in grasping abstract concepts, difficulty in applying additional taught in numerical math to word problem, difficulty in following group instructions, interpreting things literally, difficulty in understanding metaphors, idioms and proverbs, difficulty in coping with unexpected changes etc. All these problem leads to underperformance in school.
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in both fine and gross motor coordination, which have a significant impact on a child’s activities of daily living or school productivity. Academics of children with DCD often do not reflect their true abilities as they struggle with fine motor skills, including difficulty in writing leading to poor handwriting, displaying poor pencil grasp, etc. The children diagnosed with DCD have academic deficit involving reading, poor letter formation, and difficulty in orienting letters to the baseline, poor working memory and mathematical skills. Although initially identified on the basis of motor difficulties, the condition may develop into complex psychosocial problems, with difficulties in peer relationships and social participation, bullying, low self-worth and perceived self-competence, and internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and low mood.
These leads to poor performance in school. Even though the diagnostic criteria for DCD include the assurance of typical cognitive ability, the condition may cause learning and academic issues. DCD children may receive lower grades due to incomplete classroom work, being inattentive at classes, unable to complete given tasks or complete tests in given time, In many cases, the lack of cognitive difficulties can hinder or delay the recognition of the condition, which might cause more frustration. Moreover, children with DCD tend to be well aware of their motor difficulties, most likely because of the absence of cognitive impairments. Along with developmental coordination disorder, the co-occurring conditions such as SLD, ASD, ADHD, speech and language impairments also leads to behavioral, emotional and psychological issues, which in-turn reflects the academic and non academic performances of the children.
Speech and language disorders can affect the way children talks, understand, analyze or process information. In an academic setting, communication plays a big role in learning. A child’s capability to actively interact with others in an academic setting is essential for the child’s success in school. Children with speech language disorders can have a difficult time keeping up with their fellow peers due to fluency/stuttering that limit their classroom participation. Speech disorders affects the clarity, voice quality, and fluency of a child’s spoken words. Language disorders affects a child’s ability to hold meaningful conversations, understand others, problem solving, to read and comprehend, and express thoughts through spoken or written words. Some common difficulties children with speech language disorders may have are following directions that involve multiple steps, comprehending information that is presented orally, reading at the appropriate grade level, understanding social cues and difficulties with memory and cognitive skills. If these issues are not address properly, your child may begin to dislike going to school and/or exhibit behavioral issues at school and ends up at low performance at school.
