Anna Sans Fitó: «All children with dyslexia, DLD, dyscalculia… show signs in early childhood, and that’s when intervention should begin»

Anna Sans webinar

If between 15 and 20% of children have a learning disorder, that means there are students with difficulties in every classroom. ADHD, dyscalculia, DLD, dyslexia… learning disorders are diverse, and they all show warning signs in the early stages of learning, which is why it’s crucial to know how to spot them in early childhood and help the students affected.

To understand what the most common learning difficulties look like and, above all, how we can adapt our teaching and support our students, we spoke with Dr. Anna Sans Fitó, a specialist in pediatrics and pediatric neurology with more than 30 years of experience in neurodevelopmental learning disorders, and director of the Institut SOM VIA de Neurodesenvolupament i Aprenentatge.

In this article, we share some of the main ideas from our interview with Anna Sans Fitó, which you can now watch on our YouTube channel.

How can you identify your students’ learning difficulties?

  • Studies show that learning disorders affect 15 to 20% of the pediatric population. They’re more common than they seem and affect students in every classroom.
  • Denying that learning disorders such as ADHD exist is irresponsible and harmful to the people affected.
  • In children with ADHD, the maturation of the frontal lobe can be delayed, which affects their ability to pay attention and develop organizational and independence skills.
  • DLD (Developmental Language Disorder) is less well known, but it also has a significant impact on learning and requires early intervention. If a child’s speech is still hard to understand at age 4, they very likely have a learning problem and we need to act to help them.
  • Spotting the signs of learning disorders early, such as lack of attention and organization, is key to identifying them and starting to work on them.
  • The education system must be prepared to support students with learning disorders, offering personalized instruction and assessment adapted to their needs.
  • A lack of institutional support and limited individualized attention for students with learning difficulties contribute to school failure.
  • Giving children with learning disorders an appropriate diagnosis benefits their emotional well-being and self-esteem. When they understand what’s happening to them, why they don’t learn like others do, and that there are ways to work on it, they feel reassured. The first remediation session with a child with learning problems is explaining what’s happening and what we’re going to do.
  • It isn’t unusual for different developmental disorders to coexist in the same person, and to truly help the student it’s important to get a full diagnosis.

Resources to identify and prevent difficulties in math and language arts

After watching the interview with Anna Sans Fitó, we know how important it is to identify learning disorders as early as possible to help our students. At tekman Education, we’re sharing some content for working on difficulties in learning math and early literacy. We hope you find it useful!

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