Parents fear that their child’s language based learning disability will limit opportunities, but with additional supports like speech/language therapy this is not true.
Even if the distinction between learning disabilities and intellectual impairment is made clear to children, they will pick up on the fact that in school they are having more problems than their peers. They know the specialist comes only to work with a few children. Children interpret these differences to mean they are “dumb.” This assumption is incorrect, but children will often act upon their belief. To further compound the issue, if they are not hearing consistent messages at home to the contrary, they will likely interpret their struggles as an intellectual deficit. As a result, some students with language based learning disabilities seriously underestimate their learning capacity.
There are many accomplished individuals with learning disabilities who are role models for what can be achieved. People such as Stephen Spielberg, film director, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor, were not defeated. They continued to learn, be motivated, and innovative. These famous people prove that hard work, in addition to understanding and working with your deficits are the key components for success.