Learning Difficulties

What are learning difficulties?

A learning difficulty is something that affects the way a person learns, processes information or develops particular skills.

Someone might find it harder to:

read, write, spell, work with numbers, remember instructions, organise their thoughts, concentrate or coordinate movements.

Having a learning difficulty does not mean somebody is not intelligent.

A person may struggle significantly with one area of learning while being very capable in many others.

For example, somebody might find reading extremely difficult but be fantastic at problem-solving, art, practical activities, storytelling or understanding how things work.

The important thing is to find out how that individual learns best.

Learning difficulty and learning disability are not the same thing

In the UK, learning difficulty and learning disability have different meanings.

A specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, can affect particular areas of learning without affecting someone's overall intellectual ability.

A learning disability affects a person's intellectual ability and can make it harder to learn new skills, understand complicated information and manage some aspects of everyday life independently.

Someone can have both.

The terms are sometimes used differently in other countries, which can make information online confusing.

Specific Learning Difficulties

You may see the abbreviation SpLD, meaning Specific Learning Difficulty.

Specific learning difficulties affect particular areas of learning and information processing.

Examples include:

Dyslexia – primarily affects skills involved in reading and spelling.

Dyscalculia – affects understanding and working with numbers and mathematical concepts.

Dyspraxia/Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) – primarily affects movement and coordination but can also have an impact on learning and everyday activities.

Different difficulties can overlap, so somebody may experience more than one.

Learning differently

Traditional learning environments often expect everybody to learn in similar ways.

A teacher might:

explain something verbally → ask pupils to remember it → give written instructions → expect a written answer.

That approach may work well for some learners.

Another learner might understand the same information much more easily if they can:

see it, touch it, practise it, discuss it, watch somebody demonstrate it or break it into smaller steps.

Needing information presented differently does not mean somebody cannot learn.

It means we need to find a way of making the learning accessible.

Processing information

Some people need more time to process information.

A question might be asked and the person may know the answer, but their brain needs additional time to:

understand the question, find the information, organise the response and communicate it.

If another question is asked immediately, the brain now has even more information to process.

Giving someone extra processing time can make a huge difference.

Silence does not necessarily mean:

“I don't know.”

Sometimes it means:

“I'm still thinking.”

Working memory

Working memory is the temporary workspace our brains use to hold information while we do something with it.

Imagine being told:

“Turn to page 24, read the second paragraph, underline the adjectives and then answer questions 1–3.”

That instruction contains several separate pieces of information.

Someone with working-memory difficulties may understand every individual instruction but struggle to hold all of them in their mind at once.

Helpful strategies include:

short instructions, visual reminders, checklists, written steps and giving one instruction at a time.

Reading difficulties

Reading requires the brain to perform many different processes.

A reader needs to:

recognise letters, connect letters with sounds, combine sounds, recognise words, understand sentences and remember what they have just read.

Someone may be able to read words accurately but struggle to understand or remember the meaning.

Another person may understand complex stories when listening but find decoding written words extremely difficult.

Reading ability should therefore not automatically be treated as a measure of someone's intelligence or understanding.

Writing difficulties

Writing is also much more complicated than simply knowing what you want to say.

A learner may need to manage:

ideas, vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, handwriting, working memory and organisation

all at the same time.

A child might therefore give an excellent verbal explanation but produce only a few words when asked to write it down.

The problem may not be their knowledge.

Alternative ways of recording learning can include:

typing, speech-to-text, scribing, diagrams, mind maps, oral responses or selecting from visual choices.

Maths difficulties

Some people experience particular difficulty with numbers and mathematical concepts.

They may struggle with:

number sense, quantities, mathematical symbols, sequences, remembering number facts, telling the time, estimating, money or following several stages of a calculation.

For somebody with significant and persistent difficulties specifically involving numbers, dyscalculia may be considered.

Using concrete objects, visual representations, number lines and practical examples can make abstract mathematical ideas easier to understand.

Memory

Learning difficulties can affect different types of memory.

Someone may understand something during a lesson but struggle to retrieve that information later.

They might need:

repetition, reminders, visual prompts and opportunities to practise skills in different situations.

Forgetting does not necessarily mean the person:

wasn't listening

or

didn't try hard enough.

Sometimes their brain needs information to be presented and reinforced in a different way.

Organisation and sequencing

Some learners find it difficult to organise information or put things into the correct sequence.

This can affect activities such as:

writing a story, following a recipe, getting dressed, completing a maths calculation, organising homework or remembering what needs to happen next.

Breaking an activity into clear individual steps can reduce the amount of information the person needs to manage at once.

Visual sequences can be particularly helpful.

Instructions

Long instructions can quickly become overwhelming.

Instead of:

“Get your book, find a pencil, write the date and title, copy the sentence and answer the questions underneath.”

it may help to give one or two instructions at a time.

For example:

1. Get your book and pencil.

Then:

2. Write the date and title.

Visual instructions also mean the learner does not have to rely entirely on memory.

Learning difficulties and attention

Difficulty concentrating does not always mean someone has an attention disorder.

Concentration can become difficult when a task requires enormous amounts of mental effort.

Imagine having to decode almost every word on a page while also trying to understand the story.

Your brain is doing significantly more work than somebody who reads those words automatically.

The learner may become:

tired, distracted, frustrated or avoidant.

Sometimes what looks like a problem with motivation is actually a sign that the activity is too cognitively demanding.

Learning difficulties and sensory needs

The environment can also affect learning.

Someone trying to process information may simultaneously be managing:

background conversations, scraping chairs, bright lights, uncomfortable clothing, smells, movement and visual clutter.

Reducing unnecessary sensory information can leave more brain capacity available for learning.

A quiet environment is not necessary for everybody, but learners should have opportunities to discover the conditions in which they work best.

Learning difficulties and confidence

Repeatedly struggling with something that other people appear to find easy can have a significant effect on confidence and self-esteem.

A child may begin to think:

“I'm stupid.”

“I'm bad at school.”

“Everyone else can do this.”

They may start avoiding activities because avoiding them feels safer than failing again.

This is why the language adults use matters.

Instead of focusing only on mistakes, recognise:

effort, strategies, progress, creativity and understanding.

A learning difficulty describes a difference in learning.

It does not describe the person's value or potential.

Behaviour can communicate difficulty

Sometimes a learner cannot explain:

“This activity requires more processing than I can manage right now.”

Instead, adults might see:

refusal, distraction, joking, leaving the table, ripping work, becoming angry, shutting down or saying they don't care.

Before assuming somebody is simply refusing to learn, it can help to ask:

“Is this work accessible?”

“Do they understand what is expected?”

“Is there too much information?”

“Are they worried about getting it wrong?”

“Is there another way they could show what they know?”

Avoiding work can protect someone from failure

Sometimes avoiding a task is a form of self-protection.

If a child believes:

“I can't do this,”

then refusing to try means they never have to experience everybody watching them struggle.

This can create a cycle:

learning feels difficult → anxiety increases → the child avoids → they miss opportunities to practise → learning becomes harder → anxiety increases further.

Support should help make the activity feel achievable, rather than simply increasing pressure.

Fatigue

Learning differently can be tiring.

A task that takes another learner ten minutes might require much more concentration and effort for somebody with a learning difficulty.

By the end of the school day, they may be exhausted.

Regular breaks, movement and reducing unnecessary workload can help prevent cognitive overload.

Sometimes doing five meaningful questions demonstrates understanding just as effectively as completing twenty repetitive ones.

Strengths

Learning difficulties should never be described only through things somebody finds hard.

Every learner has their own strengths.

These might include:

creativity

imagination

problem-solving

practical skills

visual thinking

storytelling

curiosity

determination

communication

design

sport

music

art

or understanding other people.

Not everyone with a particular learning difficulty will have the same strengths.

The important thing is to see the whole person, rather than defining somebody by an assessment score or difficulty.

Learning difficulties and neurodivergence

Learning difficulties can occur on their own or alongside other forms of neurodivergence.

For example, somebody might be:

autistic and dyslexic

or have:

ADHD and dyscalculia.

A person can also have several specific learning difficulties.

One diagnosis does not automatically explain everything somebody finds difficult.

Support should consider the person's complete profile of strengths and needs.

Supporting different ways of learning

There is no single teaching method that works for everybody.

Helpful support might include:

visual instructions

shorter instructions

extra processing time

practical activities

repetition

examples and demonstrations

movement breaks

assistive technology

audio materials

larger or clearer text

reduced copying

alternative ways to record answers

and breaking activities into smaller steps.

The goal is not to make the work unnecessarily easy.

The goal is to remove barriers that prevent the learner from showing what they understand.

Assistive technology

Technology can make learning more accessible.

Depending on the individual, useful tools might include:

text-to-speech

speech-to-text

audiobooks

spellcheckers

electronic organisers

visual timers

typing instead of handwriting

or software that changes how text is displayed.

Using a tool that removes a barrier is not cheating.

We do not expect somebody who needs glasses to prove they can read without them.

Accessibility tools work on the same principle:

give someone access to the information first.

Reasonable adjustments

Children and young people with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.

An adjustment changes something that would otherwise place a disabled learner at a substantial disadvantage compared with other pupils.

What is reasonable depends on the individual circumstances.

Adjustments might involve things such as:

how information is presented, how work is recorded, classroom arrangements, equipment, support or additional time.

The purpose is access, not giving somebody an unfair advantage.

Learning difficulties and SEND in England

In England, learning difficulties may fall within Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support.

The SEND Code of Practice describes four broad areas of need:

Communication and interaction

Cognition and learning

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

Sensory and/or physical needs

Learning difficulties are often considered within cognition and learning, although an individual child may have needs across several areas.

Importantly, support should be based on the child's identified needs.

A child does not always need to wait for a formal diagnosis before a school begins putting appropriate support in place.

SEN Support

Where a child needs additional help at school, they may receive SEN Support.

Schools should identify needs, plan appropriate support, put that support into place and review whether it is working.

You may hear this described as:

Assess → Plan → Do → Review.

Parents and carers should be involved, and the child or young person's views should also be considered.

Support should change if the current approach is not meeting the child's needs.

Education, Health and Care Plans

Some children and young people have needs that require support beyond what is normally available through SEN Support.

In England, an Education, Health and Care needs assessment (EHCNA) can be requested to consider whether an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is needed.

An EHCP describes a child or young person's identified needs, outcomes and the provision required to support them.

Not every child with a learning difficulty will need an EHCP.

The important question is the level and nature of the person's needs and the support required, rather than simply the name of a diagnosis.

Assessment

If a child is experiencing persistent learning difficulties, gathering information can help adults understand why.

Depending on the difficulty, this might involve input from:

teachers

the SENCO

educational psychologists

specialist teachers

speech and language therapists

occupational therapists

or other appropriately qualified professionals.

Different professionals assess different areas.

An assessment should not simply produce a label.

Ideally, it should help answer:

“How does this person learn, what are their strengths, where are the barriers and what support would help?”

Home and school may see different things

A learner may appear to cope in one environment and struggle significantly in another.

At school, they may work extremely hard to hide difficulties.

At home, parents might see:

exhaustion, homework distress, avoidance, low confidence or emotional dysregulation.

Alternatively, a child might manage learning at home where it is quiet and individualised but struggle in a busy classroom.

Neither observation automatically makes the other wrong.

Understanding the child means looking at their experiences across different environments.

Progress does not have to look the same

Children do not all develop skills at exactly the same rate.

For one learner, progress might mean moving ahead quickly through a curriculum.

For another it might mean:

remembering a strategy

attempting something independently

asking for help

reading one additional sentence

writing without becoming overwhelmed

or finally understanding a concept that has taken much longer to learn.

Progress should be meaningful for the individual learner.

Independence and support

The ultimate aim of support is often greater independence.

But independence does not mean:

“Do everything without help.”

Real independence can include knowing:

what you find difficult

which strategies help

when you need support

and how to ask for it.

An adult using text-to-speech, reminders or a calculator is still being independent.

They are using the tools that allow them to function successfully.

Remember

Learning differently does not mean being less intelligent.

Learning difficulty and learning disability do not mean the same thing in the UK.

A learner can understand something without being able to show it through traditional written work.

Extra processing time is not wasted time.

Behaviour can communicate that learning feels inaccessible.

Accessibility tools are not cheating.

Fair does not always mean everybody receiving exactly the same thing.

Support should build on strengths as well as address difficulties.

And most importantly:

Difficulty with learning something does not mean difficulty learning everything.

When we change the method, environment and support, we often discover abilities that were there all along. 💜