Clinical and academic profile of children with specific learning disorder-mixed type: An Indian study

Abstract

Background: Specific learning disorder (SLD) in the past decade has gained recognition as a disabling condition among children by parents and teachers in India. However, there are still gaps in knowledge about its clinical presentation and understanding. Therefore, the present study was planned to evaluate the clinical and academic profile of children with SLD. Methods: The sample comprised 30 children with their age range between 7 and 12 years with a diagnosis of SLD-mixed type. All children were assessed through specifically designed structured pro forma for clinical details (i.e., nature of birth, developmental milestones, and comorbidities) and academic history (i.e., history of failure, promoted in next class, repetition in the class, school change, etc.) and SLD-comprehensive battery. Results: The mean age of the participants was 9.6 years (standard deviation [SD] = 1.5). 76.7% of participants were male and their mean years of education was 4.7 (SD = 1.5). Thirty percent of children had a history of delayed developmental milestones in terms of speech (16.7%), walking (6.7%) and in speech and walking (6.7%), 23% of children had comorbid conditions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder/attention-deficit disorder. Thirty percent of children repeated classes in their academic career. Conclusions: A significant number of children had delayed milestones and other problems. Moreover, it is important to understand the clinical and academic profile in the cultural context so that early identification and intervention can be planned.

Keywords

• Clinical and academic profile
• India
• specific learning disorder