[Early attention to learning disabilities].
BACKGROUND
In the early stages of their development, children acquire the skills and knowledge that provide them with the foundations on which they will later add what they learn at school, including skills such as reading, writing and mathematics. The presence of learning difficulties at the infantile stage can affect the development of these academic skills during the period of compulsory schooling.


METHODS
Some children show learning difficulties in their earliest years. Early learning difficulties refer specifically to those problems that occur in the time between birth and the age of six and which reduce the chances of accomplishing the skills and knowledge that are typically acquired during the stage of infancy. There is a correlation between these problems and difficulties linked to cognition, to attention, perception and memory processes, to language skills involving both comprehension and expression, and to visuospatial processing. Their aetiology involves neuropsychological, social and cultural factors, as well as others that derive from the actual learning processes themselves. Following an interdisciplinary model using development scales, psychometric tests and neurodevelopmental monitoring will allow an early diagnosis to be reached. The intervention will be carried out in the medical, social, educational and family areas, and will focus on the aspects that favour maturing, development and the learning of curricular material.


CONCLUSIONS
The new socio-educational scenario makes it necessary to attend to early learning difficulties in infants' education. Prevention and early attention offer guidelines and strategies to deal with them in a satisfactory manner.
Federación Estatal de Asociaciones de Profesionales de Atención Temprana-GAT, Barcelona, España. mmilla736c@cv.gva.es
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D002648:Child; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*