Prevalence and Patterns of Learning Disabilities in School Children.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence and patterns of learning disabilities (LD) in school going children in a northern city of India.


METHODS
The present cross-sectional study comprised of three-staged screening procedure for assessing learning disabilities of 3rd and 4th grade students studying in government schools. The first stage comprised of the teacher identifying at-risk student. In the second stage, teachers assessed at-risk students using Specific Learning Disability-Screening Questionnaire (SLD-SQ). The third stage comprised of assessment of the screen positive students using Brigance Diagnostic Inventory (BDI) part of NIMHANS Index of Specific Learning Disabilities for identifying the cases of LD.


RESULTS
A total of 1211 (33.6%) children out of the total screened (n = 3600) were identified as at-risk by the teachers at the first stage. Of them, 360 were found to screen positive on the second stage using SLD-SQ. The most common deficits were missing out words or sentences while reading, misplacing letters or words while reading or writing, and making frequent mistake in spelling while writing or reading. Of these, 108 children were confirmed to have learning disability on the third stage using BDI, which represented 3.08% of the total population.


CONCLUSIONS
Learning disability is an important concern in young school aged children. Early identification of such students can help in early institution of intervention and suitable modifications in teaching techniques.
Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Sector 12, Chandigarh, 160012, India. susanta.pgi30@yahoo.in.
Susanta Kumar
SK
Padhy
Department of School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Sonu
S
Goel
Department of School of Public Health, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Shyam Sinder
SS
Das
Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Sector 12, Chandigarh, 160012, India.
Siddharth
S
Sarkar
Department of School of Public Health, Punjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Vijaylaxmi
V
Sharma
Department of Community Medicine, Giansagar Medical College, Bannur, India.
Mahima
M
Panigrahi
D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students
India; Learning disability; Prevalence; Young children