{"id":108343,"date":"2019-05-16T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/?p=108343"},"modified":"2023-03-09T08:21:43","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T08:21:43","slug":"learning-disabilities-vs-learning-difficulties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/learning-disabilities-vs-learning-difficulties.htm","title":{"rendered":"Learning Disability vs Learning Difficulty vs Learning Disorder &#8211; The Debate Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_136661\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-136661\" class=\"wp-image-136661 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-norma-mortenson-8456134-400x266.jpg\" alt=\"learning disability\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-norma-mortenson-8456134-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-norma-mortenson-8456134-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-norma-mortenson-8456134-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-norma-mortenson-8456134.jpg 709w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-136661\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo by Norma Mortenson for Pexels<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">by Andrea M. Darcy<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Have you or your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/mindful-parenting.htm\">child<\/a> been flagged for a learning assessment? <\/strong>And you are trying to research, but find yourself confused and overwhelmed between learning disability vs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/types-of-learning-difficulties.htm\">learning difficult<\/a>y vs learning disorder? Let alone this talk of &#8216;SpLDs&#8217;?<\/p>\n<h2>Diagnosis Gone Wrong?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>You are far from alone in your confusion. <\/strong>And no, it&#8217;s not in your head &#8211; the terms are indeed used differently on different websites and by different organisations.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">In an attempt to define issues with learning, including language? Rather ironically, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-mental-health.htm\">mental health<\/a> industry can&#8217;t agree on their words.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>The main confusions come between:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>disability vs difficulty<\/li>\n<li>difficulty vs difficulty vs disorder<\/li>\n<li>difficulty vs difference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How did this confusion happen?<\/h2>\n<p>The reason for the confusion is that:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Different countries are using terms in very different ways<\/strong>, particularly America vs. the United Kingdom.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different diagnostic manuals have different approaches<\/strong>, chiefly the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-the-dsm.htm\">DSM-V<\/a> (American) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-the-icd-10.htm\">ICD-10<\/a> (rest of the world).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Organisations and health practitioners are not often using the same terminology put forward by the diagnostic manuals.\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/psychiatrist-vs-therapist.htm\">Psychiatrists<\/a> do, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-a-counselling-psychologist.htm\">psychologists<\/a> and organisations don&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>The field of learning and developmental disorders and difficulties is still new and growing<\/strong>, so new information can change and challenge current terminology.<\/li>\n<li><strong>There is also politics at play, with many protesting against<\/strong> the negative connotations of current terminology.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s still debated if learning difficulties should be<\/strong> standalone diagnoses. Yes, really.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>America vs United Kingdom<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_108394\" style=\"width: 277px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/3373248256_6f4fe1363f.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-108394\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-108394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/3373248256_6f4fe1363f-267x400.jpg\" alt=\"learning disability vs learning difference\" width=\"267\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/3373248256_6f4fe1363f-267x400.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/3373248256_6f4fe1363f.jpg 333w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-108394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/waltstoneburner\/3373248256\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" \">Walt Stoneburner<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The American Psychiatric Association tries to address the different terminology mess on <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychiatry.org\/patients-families\/specific-learning-disorder\/what-is-specific-learning-disorder\">its page about &#8216;Specific Learning Disorder&#8217;<\/a>, its chosen label.\u00a0 Unfortunately all they manage is to make clear that it&#8217;s a maze for parents. They say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #666699;\">&#8220;A note on terminology: Specific learning disorder is a medical term used for diagnosis. It is often referred to as \u201clearning disorder.\u201d \u201cLearning disability\u201d is a term used by both the educational and legal systems. Though learning disability is not exactly synonymous with specific learning disorder, someone with a diagnosis of specific learning disorder can expect to meet criteria for a learning disability and have the legal status of a federally recognised disability to qualify for accommodations and services in school. The term \u201clearning difference\u201d is a term that has gained popularity, especially when speaking with children about their difficulties, as it does not label them as \u201cdisordered.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Despite this attempt at clarity, many USA sites still call dyslexia, for example,<\/strong> a &#8216;learning disability&#8217;. Here in the UK it is never considered a disability, but a difficulty.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">So if you live here in the United Kingdom, a general Google search can turn up American sites,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">which can provide not only different terminology, but diagnoses that don&#8217;t exist in the UK, such as &#8216;non verbal learning disorder&#8217;, which comes under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-autism-spectrum-disorder.htm\">autism spectrum<\/a> here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Learning difficulty vs learning disability in the UK<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">You&#8217;ll find varying terms, but in general it still stands that the main difference in the UK is seen as one of <strong>intellect and coping<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">As the Mental Health Foundation states, &#8220;distinguishing between learning difficulties and learning disabilities is quite a complex issue&#8230; a learning difficulty does not affect general intelligence, whereas a learning disability is linked to an overall cognitive impairment&#8221;.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>So a learning &#8216;difficulty&#8217; means you might struggle, but you can still<\/strong> cope and have an independent life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>A learning &#8216;disability&#8217; affects intellect to the point you can&#8217;t manage<\/strong> independently but need support for your day-to-day life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>Of course another problem is that each person manifests a learning challenge differently. For some it might <\/strong>be mild and manageable, for others severe. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">So what might be a learning difficulty for one person might veer toward the definition of a disability for another!<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>And then came the SpLDs<\/h2>\n<p>Each individual will manifest a learning difficulty differently. And many of the diagnoses overlap. You might, say, seem to have dyslexia and dysgraphia.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Because of this, educational psychologists now tend to use an umbrella diagnosis of &#8216;specific learning difficulties&#8217;, or SpLD.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">In an attempt to be more positive, <strong>some charities and organisations translate this to &#8216;Specific Learning Differences&#8217;<\/strong> instead of difficulties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What is included as a &#8216;learning difficulty&#8217; in the UK?<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_108396\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/7017661459_a8f02c2cc7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-108396\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-108396\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/7017661459_a8f02c2cc7-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"difficulty vs disorder vs disability\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/7017661459_a8f02c2cc7-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/7017661459_a8f02c2cc7.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-108396\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/62668825@N07\/7017661459\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" \">Eye to Eye National<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Another point of confusion is over what is and what isn&#8217;t counted as a learning difficulty.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dyslexia is the most common, and then dysgraphia. Dyscalculia was at first only an American term but is now even mentioned on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/conditions\/dyslexia\/\">NHS&#8217;s dyslexia page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Dyspraxia is now often included as a SpLD, even though clinically it&#8217;s not a learning difficulty but a <em>developmental<\/em> disorder, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-autism-spectrum-disorder.htm\">autism spectrum disorder<\/a> (which includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/signs-of-aspergers-in-adults.htm\">Asperger&#8217;s syndrome<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/adhd-in-children-should-you-be-concerned.htm\">Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)<\/a> is not clinically a learning difficulty either, but is often listed along with the others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What about Non-Verbal Learning Difficulties and the related &#8216;auditory processing disorder&#8217;? These are<\/strong> American diagnoses that are not currently made in the UK. Your child is more likely to be diagnosed as on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-an-autism-test.htm\">the autism spectrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For more on this, see our<\/strong> connected article, &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/types-of-learning-difficulties.htm\">Types of Learning Difficulties<\/a>&#8216;.<\/p>\n<h2>What does NICE say?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which is the closest that the UK has to its own diagnostic manual, has decided to not step in. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NICE only addresses learning disabilities, where independence is affected. They do not publish any guidelines for diagnosing or treating learning difficulties, not even dyslexia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Again, some in the UK still debate if dyslexia should be considered a standalone diagnosis. The heated debate resulted in<\/strong>the <a href=\"https:\/\/dera.ioe.ac.uk\/14790\/7\/00659-2009DOM-EN_Redacted.pdf\">now famous &#8216;Rose Paper&#8217;<\/a> an independent review on dyslexia for UK government carried out by Sir Jim Rose, that contains the &#8216;official&#8217; definition still in use.<\/p>\n<h2>And what about the Royal College of Psychiatrists?<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">The RC Psych does not help the terminology confusion. Although they use &#8216;learning disability&#8217; like other agencies and charities, they<strong> then use &#8216;specific learning disability&#8217; for what other agencies see as &#8216;learning difficulties&#8217;.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Perhaps as NICE has not stepped in, they go with the official term from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/what-is-the-icd-10.htm\">the World Health Organisation&#8217;s diagnostic manual, the ICD-10.<\/a> Psychiatrists must align with official diagnostic manuals as these manuals provide codes that are used for prescribing drugs and processing insurance claims.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The politics of language and neurodiversity<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_108328\" style=\"width: 331px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-108328\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-108328\" src=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/5551033595_fea99655dc-1-321x400.jpg\" alt=\"learning difficulties vs learning disabilities\" width=\"321\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/5551033595_fea99655dc-1-321x400.jpg 321w, https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/wp-content\/uploads\/5551033595_fea99655dc-1.jpg 401w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-108328\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/double-m2\/5551033595\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\" \">Double-M<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">The latest challenge to the vocabulary of learning is coming from those who actually live with learning differences, <\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #333333;\">and the charities and organisations supporting and representing them. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #333399;\">The health industry has been called out for choosing negative labels that put people in a &#8216;lesser than&#8217; light. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><strong>This movement demands that the word &#8216;difficulty&#8217; and &#8216;disability&#8217; disappear altogether in favour of<\/strong> the term &#8216;neurodiverse&#8217;.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>So how do I talk about my learning differences, or those of my child?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Learning difficulties are not as cut and dried as all the labels might suggest. There is often a lot of overlap. Plus, each individual manifests a learning difficulty differently.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For example, one person with dyslexia might find reading impossible but be very good at memorising. Another might find memorising very hard, but can guess their way through texts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Again, most psychologists, as well as charities and organisations, now veer toward<\/strong> &#8216;specific learning difficulty&#8217;, or SpLD.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But u<\/strong><strong>se the language that feels <\/strong>right for you. What matters is not what you call it, but that you reach out and get the support and information to help you or your child reach their potential. If your child is being given a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/counselling\/statutory-assessment-ehc-plan.htm\"> statutory assessment and EHC plan<\/a>, don&#8217;t be afraid to ask to have things explained to you in ways you can understand.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Would you like a learning difficulties assessment for you or your child? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harleytherapy.co.uk\/\"><span style=\"color: #666699;\">Harley Therapy<\/span><\/a> now provides educational psychologists in central London locations. Need some parental support? Use our booking site to find <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><a style=\"color: #666699;\" href=\"https:\/\/harleytherapy.com\/?utm_source=Harley%20Therapy%20Blog&amp;utm_content=Post%20End\">UK-wide therapists<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Still have a question re learning disability vs learning difficulty? Ask in the comment box below.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Andrea M. Darcy Have you or your child been flagged for a learning assessment? And you are trying to research, but find yourself confused and overwhelmed between learning disability vs learning difficulty vs learning disorder? Let alone this talk of &#8216;SpLDs&#8217;? Diagnosis Gone Wrong? You are far from alone in your confusion. And no, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":136661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[296],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","has_thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Learning Disability vs Learning Difficulty vs Learning Disorder - The Debate Continues - Harley Therapy\u2122 Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learning disability vs learning difficulty vs SpLD... confused yet? There is still debate in mental health circles over these terms. 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