If your child experiences learning difficulties at school, (s)he may have a learning disability. Well-known learning disabilities are dyslexia (reading and spelling difficulties) and dyscalculia (difficulty in learning or comprehending arithmethics).
A learning disability exists when a child is impeded in his or her learning development.
Indications for a learning disability, such as dyslexia, may be:
- that a child lags behind distinctively in a particular aspect of learning in comparison to the rest of the class despite extra practice and help
- that a child has a conspicuous weakness in one area of learning, yet achieves extremely well in others.
It is useful to carry out an examination as to the nature of the learning difficulties. We examine the strong and weak points in your child by means of capacity tests. Generally we also carry out an examination of the learning skills of the child, such as reading, spelling and arithmetics. If the results relating to these skills deviate strongly from the norm based on the capacity and age of your child and the number of years in education, it may be a reason to suspect that (s)he has a learning disability such as dyslexia (or dyscalculia). If this is the case, we will then be able to confirm whether your child has dyslexia on the basis of the guidelines given by the British Dyslexia Association( BDA), the Stichting Dyslexie Nederland (2008), Orton/Blomert (2006) and the classification system of the DSM-V.
When dyslexia or dyscalculia has been confirmed, we will provide you with an official declaration which your child can use in order to claim any provisions supplied by the school, such as extra time for tests or the use of other (e.g. electronic) means to which your child may be entitled.
We also provide help in suggesting ways in which you and the school can support your child in the best possible way, both at home and at school. The underlying principle is that we endeavour to identify the exact requirements for your child to be able to develop in the most effective way.