Gender Differences Observed With Learning Disabilities
Are girls with learning disabilities being addressed in schools and clinic settings as much as boys are? If not, then what is the cause for this? What are the solutions?
We need to first look at the cause for girls getting overlooked when it comes to learning disabilities, or LD. When LD is mentioned, most people think of boys. Why is that? Most of the symptoms that have been identified with LD shows up in boys, such as rebellious behavior, defiant, and sometimes, hyperactive. To a lesser degree, most boys act like this. Girls do not act like this as much, and if they have LD, it often gets overlooked, due to the fact that they don't "act out" as much as boys. They may behave well, but don't do well in school. They may daydream in school or at home, when they are supposed to be working on school work or they may be extremely talkative, silly, excitable, or overemotional.
Girls who are un- or misdiagnosed may be seen as ditzy, spacey, or nonacademic, and may not get the help they need and may have problems in the higher grades, when organization is essential. They fall behind academically, and are more likely to engage in more dangerous/reckless behaviors in their teens, such as smoking, drinking, or becoming sexually active at a younger age. Practical implications of the current research might be reading to girls, and boys, with LD longer per day, different teaching methods, and different discipline methods.
Solutions to this may include, but are not limited to, developing new standards of testing or evaluating girls and creating new teaching methods for girls with LD. Creating a public awareness in the professional sense may help, in that teachers and school counselors would be able to recognize the different signs of LD, and would test the girls a lot sooner, so they would be able to get help.
Bibliography
Sokal, L. (2001). Help Wanted: Boys' Reading. Retrieved November 18, 2002, from The Learning Disabilities Association of Canada -- Research Web site:
www.ldac-taac.ca/english/research/boysread.htm
Nadeau, K. (2002). Is Your Daughter a Daydreamer, Tomboy, or "Chatty Kathy?." Retrieved November 18, 2002, from Learning Disabilities Online web site:
www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/add_adhd/nadeau.html
