Learning disability

In UK health services, a learning disability means significantly reduced intellectual ability together with difficulty managing everyday activities, both starting before adulthood. It is broadly what the rest of the world calls an intellectual disability. It is a description of how someone learns and lives, assessed properly by clinicians, never something to conclude from one test score alone.

The label carries real entitlements, which is why getting the term right matters. A person with a learning disability can join their GP GP Your family doctor. For many families the GP is the first person to talk to, and the person who refers your child on to a specialist. Read the full definition of GP practice's learning disability register, and is entitled to a free annual health check from age 14 and to reasonable adjustments Reasonable adjustments Changes a school or service must make so a disabled child is not put at a big disadvantage. The duty applies now, and it does not wait for a diagnosis. Read the full definition of Reasonable adjustments from services.

Two warnings. Schools often say learning difficulty Learning difficulty The legal phrase schools use when learning is much harder for a child than for most children their age. It does not mean low ability, and it is not the same as a learning disability. Read the full definition of Learning difficulty when they mean something much broader, and the education phrase does not imply reduced intellectual ability at all. And American websites use learning disability to mean what the UK calls a specific learning difficulty Specific learning difficulty An SpLD means one skill, such as reading or maths, is much harder for a child than the rest. Dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia all sit under this heading. Read the full definition of Specific learning difficulty , such as dyslexia, so online reading can point you in exactly the wrong direction.