Addressing Learning Difficulties Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The teacher will re-read the lesson by choosing examples from the child's background.

If a child has not understood, simply repeating the same lesson or handing over more reading is unlikely to help. Teaching the lesson again with examples drawn from the child's own experience connects new ideas to what the child already knows, which is the principle of contextual, child-centred teaching.

Knowing the child's prior knowledge is a useful step, but on its own it does not re-teach the lesson, so the key prefers the option that acts on it.

Answer: D

Students with dyslexia can be taught to read through systemic phonological training (systematic phonics).

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability rooted mainly in difficulty with phonological processing: linking sounds to letters and blending them into words. Structured, explicit and systematic teaching of phonological awareness and phonics, often multisensory, is the approach with the strongest evidence for improving reading.

Studying amid multiple distractions makes attention and decoding harder. Texts above the child's level frustrate rather than help, and punishment raises anxiety without addressing the underlying difficulty.

Answer: C

The primary characteristic of dyslexia is inability to read fluently.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects reading. Children with dyslexia have difficulty decoding words, recognising them quickly and spelling, so they read slowly and with effort, even though their general intelligence is usually normal.

Attention deficit is the mark of ADHD, a separate condition. Fluent reading is the opposite of dyslexia, and repetitive movements are associated with conditions such as autism, not with dyslexia.

Answer: C

The child is showing signs of a learning disability.

Repeatedly reversing letters such as b and d, or confusing m and w, beyond the age when such errors usually stop, can be a sign of a specific learning disability such as dyslexia or dysgraphia, which affects processing of written symbols.

Learning preferences, styles and differences describe normal variation in how children like to learn; they do not explain persistent reversal errors in writing.

Answer: C

These signs indicate a student with learning disability.

Anxiety around reading, difficulty recognising words or letters, poor vocabulary, and difficulty understanding or remembering what was read are typical signs of dyslexia, a specific learning disability in reading. It occurs in children of average or above-average intelligence and is not due to poor teaching or lack of effort.

Autism is marked mainly by difficulties in social communication and restricted, repetitive behaviour, not by reading problems specifically. Creativity is not shown by reading difficulty. An intellectual ('mental') impairment involves general limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour, not a reading-specific difficulty.

Answer: B

Dyslexia is a developmental reading disorder.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in which a child of normal intelligence has persistent difficulty with reading: decoding words, linking letters with sounds, reading fluently and spelling. Reversals of letters such as b and d are a common sign.

A developmental writing disorder is dysgraphia, and difficulty with motor coordination is dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder). Dyslexia has nothing to do with the immune system, so 'autoimmune disorder' is wrong.

Answer: A

The characteristic of dysgraphia is difficulty forming letter shapes.

Dysgraphia is a learning difficulty that affects handwriting and written expression. Signs include trouble forming letters, irregular size and spacing, an awkward pencil grip and slow, laborious writing.

Reversals of letters and difficulty learning the names and sounds of letters are typical signs of dyslexia, a difficulty with reading. Delays in speaking and acquiring language point to a language or speech disorder, not dysgraphia.

Answer: C

The suitable approaches are (i), (iii) and (iv).

Multisensory strategies let a child learn through sight, sound, touch and movement together, which helps children who struggle with one channel. Flexible and sequential instructions allow the pace and order to be adjusted, step by step. Breaking a task into smaller parts (task analysis) makes it manageable and lets the child succeed at each step.

Standardized learning goals (ii) go against the individualised planning that children with learning disabilities need, so any option containing (ii) is wrong.

Answer: C

These abilities are affected in Dyspraxia.

Dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder) affects the planning and coordination of movement. Children may struggle with hand-eye coordination, balance, handwriting, using scissors or tying laces, which is the manual dexterity the question mentions.

Dyscalculia is a difficulty with numbers and arithmetic. Dysphasia is a difficulty with producing or understanding language. Dyslexia is a difficulty with reading and decoding words. None of them is primarily a motor disorder.

Answer: C

A child with dysgraphia is likely to be slow in written work, make poorly formed letters and have difficulty copying from the blackboard.

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability in writing. It affects handwriting, spacing, letter formation and the motor and planning skills needed to get words onto paper, so writing is slow, effortful and hard to read, and copying from the board is a particular struggle.

Aggression and frustration, or withdrawal, guilt and anxiety, may appear as emotional reactions in many children, but they are not the defining signs of dysgraphia. Impulsiveness, poor concentration and forgetfulness are typical of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.