Page 32 - Part-A

Understanding Specific Learning Difficulties

How Specific Learning Difficulties can affect children and
adults in different ways

There are some difficulties that are particular to each SpLD. The following lists
are by no means exhaustive, and it is important to remember what was explained in
Unit 1; everyone is different and the mixture of signs and indications will vary from
person to person.

ADHD/ADD

In Section 1 of Unit 1, the characteristics of ADHD/ADD were explained. People with
ADHD usually display symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness,
whether singly or in combination. Most people with ADHD have problems that fall into
all of these categories, but this is not always the case. If a person has problems only
with inattentiveness, this can sometimes go unnoticed because the symptoms
may be less obvious.

Children with ADHD are likely to show the following symptoms of inattentiveness.
They may:

• Become distracted easily

• Find it hard to concentrate

• Say or do things without thinking

• Make mistakes when working and playing

• Find it difficult to sustain attention for extended periods

• Lose their belongings and be forgetful.

Children with symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsiveness will:

• Rarely sit down quietly

• Have trouble waiting their turn

• Talk and interrupt a lot

• Feel restless or fidgety.

A lack of research into ADHD in adults means that it is more difficult to define signs
and symptoms, although in children the symptoms are more easily defined.

Because ADHD is a developmental condition, it is believed that it cannot appear in
adults unless the condition first appeared in childhood, usually before the age of six
years, but was perhaps unrecognised. Symptoms may well continue throughout the
teenage years and into adulthood, and only then be recognised for what
they represent.

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