Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Children ‘At Risk’ of Developing Specific Learning Disability in Primary Schools

  • Original Article
  • Published:
The Indian Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To study the proportion of children of age 5 to 7 y at risk of specific learning disability (SLD) and to analyse the socio-demographic risk factors.

Methods

A school based cross-sectional study was conducted in six schools in Puducherry. Four hundred eighty students were enrolled and study was conducted in a triphasic approach. Phase I- Screening by teachers using SLD-SQ (Specific Leaning Disability – Screening Questionnaire); Phase II- Vision, hearing, and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) assessment were done in students screened positive with SLD-SQ and those with vision or hearing impairment and subnormal intelligence were excluded; Phase III- Remaining children were subjected to NIMHANS SLD index (Level I profile).

Results

Of the 480 enrolled students 109 were screened positive with SLD-SQ. Twelve students were excluded in Phase II. Remaining 97 evaluated were evaluated with NIMHANS SLD index and 36 (7.5%) were screened positive. Boys (9.6%) were significantly more affected than girls (4.9%). Similarly, risk was significantly higher in students of government schools (12.1%) than private schools (2.2%). Ignoring punctuation and capitals was the commonest problem in SLD-SQ whereas, dysgraphia was most common in NIMHANS index.

Conclusions

The present study shows though SLD is highly prevalent and remains undiagnosed due to lack of awareness among teachers and parents. Since early intervention leads to better outcomes, Universal screening should be made mandatory and remedial teaching centres made available, accessible and economical.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®), 5th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub; 2013.

  2. Padhy SK, Goel S, Das SS, Sarkar S, Sharma V, Panigrahi M. Prevalence and patterns of learning disabilities in school children. Indian J Pediatr. 2016;83:300–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Arun P, Chavan BS, Bhargava R, Sharma A, Kaur J. Prevalence of specific developmental disorder of scholastic skill in school students in Chandigarh, India. Indian J Med Res. 2013;138:89.

  4. Dhanda A, Jagawat T. Prevalence and patterns of learning disabilities in school children. Delhi Psychiatry J. 2013;16:386–90.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Mogasale VV, Patil VD, Patil NM, Mogasale V. Prevalence of specific learning disabilities among primary school children in a south Indian city. Indian J Pediatr. 2012;79:342–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Altarac M, Saroha E. Lifetime prevalence of learning disability among US children. Pediatrics. 2007;119:S77–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Karande S, Bhosrekar K, Kulkarni M, Thakker A. Health-related quality of life of children with newly diagnosed specific learning disability. J Trop Paediatr. 2009;55:160–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Karande S. Current challenges in managing specific learning disability in Indian children. J Postgrad Med. 2008;54:75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Mugali J, Patil S, Gosavi K, Pattanshetti N, Kovvuri S, Deepthi PT. Study of specific learning disorder in children with poor academic performers. Int J Indian Psychol. 2017;4:153–7.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Pandey VK, Aggarwal P, Kakkar R. Modified BG Prasad’s socio-economic classification-2018: the need of an update in the present scenario. Indian J Comm Health. 2018;30:82–4.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sinha UK. Specific Learning Disability- Screening Questionnaire (SLD-SQ). New Delhi: Psychomatrix Corporation; 2012. p. 1–5.

  12. World Health Organisation (2004). ICD-10: international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems: tenth revision, 2nded. World Health Organisation. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42980.

  13. Kelly EA, Li B, Adams ME. Diagnostic accuracy of tuning fork tests for hearing loss: a systematic review. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599818770405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Koshy B, Thomas T, Mary H, et al. Seguin form board as an intelligence tool for young children in an Indian urban slum. Fam Med Commun Health. 2017;5:275–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Panicker AS, Bhattacharya S, Hirisave U, Nalini NR. Reliability and validity of the NIMHANS index of specific learning disabilities. Indian J Mental Health. 2015;2:175–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Nair MKC, Prasad C, Unni J, Bhattacharya A, Kamath SS, Dalwai S. Consensus statement of the Indian academy of pediatrics on evaluation and management of learning disability. Indian Pediatr. 2017;54:574–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bandla S, Mandadi GD, Bhogaraju A. Specific learning disabilities and psychiatric comorbidities in school children in South India. Indian J Psychol Med. 2017;39:76–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sridevi G, George AG, Sriveni D, Rangaswami K. Learning disability and behavior problems among school going children. J Disabil Stud. 2015;1:4–9.

  19. Petchimuthu P, Sharma N, Gaur A, Kumar R. Pattern of specific learning disability and awareness among care providers in children between 8-12 years. Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2018;5:809–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kumari MV, Barkiya SM. Children with poor school performance for specific learning disability. Int J Sci Stud. 2016;3:201–5.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Kumar J, Suman S. Identification and prevalence of learning disabled students. Int J Sci Res Publ. 2017;7:317–9.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Singh RP, Nijhawan A, Nijhawan M, et al. Prevalence of dyslexia among school children in western Rajasthan, Jaipur. IOSR J Dental Med Sci. 2017;16:59–62.

  23. Choudhary MG, Jain A, Chahar CK, Singhal AK. A case control study on specific learning disorders in school going children in Bikaner city. Indian J Pediatr. 2012;79:1477–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Rutter M, Caspi A, Fergusson D, et al. Sex differences in developmental reading disability: new findings from 4 epidemiological studies. JAMA. 2004;291:2007–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Learning Disabilities In Males: Nine New X Chromosome Genes Linked To Learning Disabilities." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 April 2009. Available at: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419133841.htm

  26. Morgan SR. The learning disabilities population: why more boys than girls? A hot area for research. J Clin Child Psychol. 1979;8:211–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Shaywitz SE, Morris R, Shaywitz BA. The education of dyslexic children from childhood to young adulthood. Ann Rev Psychol. 2008;59:451–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kamala R, Ramganesh E. Knowledge of specific learning disabilities among teacher educators in Puducherry, union territory in India. Int Rev Soc Sci Humanities. 2013;6:168–75.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Padhy SK, Goel S, Das SS, Sarkar S, Sharma V, Panigrahi M. Perception of teachers about learning disorder in a northern city of India. J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4:432–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the School teachers who helped them in screening children with SLD-SQ score and Dr. Sindhuri, Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital for statistical analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, 605107, India

    Sri Lakshmi Chordia, Kanimozhi Thandapani & Arulkumaran Arunagirinathan

Authors
  1. Sri Lakshmi Chordia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kanimozhi Thandapani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arulkumaran Arunagirinathan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

SLC collected the data, reviewed the literature and drafted the manuscript. KT and AA conceptualized the study, reviewed the literature and critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors contributed to writing the paper and approved the final version of the manuscript. AA is the guarantor for this paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kanimozhi Thandapani.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

None.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chordia, S.L., Thandapani, K. & Arunagirinathan, A. Children ‘At Risk’ of Developing Specific Learning Disability in Primary Schools. Indian J Pediatr 87, 94–98 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-019-03130-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-019-03130-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation