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learning disability

learning disability

21 4.0
A condition that makes reading, writing, or math hard for someone with average thinking skills
  • noun
  • /ˈlɜrnɪŋ dɪsəˈbɪləti/
  • Specialized
translation icon : trastorno del aprendizaje
  • Now Isaiah, who is a young man with learning disability, with developmental issues, is having to relive this publicly.
  • people with learning disabilities
  • children with learning disabilities
  • students with learning disabilities

By its very nature, diagnosing a learning disability requires clinical judgement.

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Examples

  • Teachers are trained to identify students who may have a learning disability and help them succeed.

  • Improving the quality of life for people with learning disabilities involves more than just providing care services.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Is it possible you got a learning disability or something?

  • - He has a learning disability.

  • What might more research of this nature bring to the field of learning disabilities?

    Academic text (2011)
  • I'm concerned Lewis has a learning disability.

  • Teddy has a learning disability, so we really wanted to use that as part of his arc and part of his story.

  • Colleen and I will have an updated curriculum for the students with learning disabilities by next week.

  • "People with a whole range of learning disabilities can be very independent in environments they're familiar with.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Hoolahan is mindful of the impact a change of provider can have on people with learning disabilities.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

learning disorder
vslearning disability
  • Specialized
2 4.4

A difficulty that makes it hard for children with normal intelligence to read, write, or do math

applies the same difficulty to people of any age not only children
learning difficulty
vslearning disability
1 3.9

A condition that makes it harder for a person to understand or do things like others their age

is narrower naming trouble with specific academic skills despite normal intelligence

Antonyms

How well a person gets new knowledge and skills from study or experience

How Impaired

disabled
27 3.3
learning disability
  • Specialized
21 4.0
unimpaired
1 5.1

Surface Forms

Morphology

learning + disability

The noun phrase is a straightforward composition: 'learning' (acquiring knowledge) + 'disability' (a condition that limits ability) yields a condition that impairs learning. This relation is transparent and common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will reliably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The noun learning disability puts together learning (skills like reading, writing or maths) and disability (a word for a lasting difficulty doing something). It was made to name a condition where a person with normal intelligence has trouble with some school skills, so the phrase shows the problem is about how someone 'learns', not their 'intelligence'.