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News
Learning Disabled Suffer from Emotional Problems
From the Second Report on the State of the Learning Disabled by Nitzan
Almost Half of Learning Disabled Children Developed Emotional Problems this Year!
Almost of ¼ of Learning Disabled Children Developed Social Problems!
47% of Parents in Israel with children aged 6-18 have taken at least one of their children to be assessed for learning disabilities. And in approximately 2/3 of these assessments, learning difficulties were found!
In preparation for their Annual Fundraising Day, Nitzan announces its yearly report on the state of children with learning disabilities in Israel. In contrast to regular surveys, which are conducted on a representative sample of the general Israeli population, the Smith Research Institute in cooperation with Dr. Iris Kalka conducted this survey on a designated representative sample of parents in Israel with children between the ages of 6-18.
According to the report of the parents, the survey reveals new and tough facts on the state of children with learning disabilities: Increased emotional and social problems, against the parents' helplessness in coping with the difficulties.
The results of the survey show that half of the children (50%) with learning disabilities or ADHD had occurrences of emotional problems this past school year; this is in comparison to 16% of other children.
Nitzan explains that this finding is doubly astounding: it turns out that the number of children with learning disabilities or ADHD who are suffering from emotional problems is three times as high as regular children. Secondly, it is shown that a significant percentage of regular children (16%) also have emotional problems.
The survey reveals that 47% of parents of children with learning disabilities or ADHD are not satisfied with the way their schools aid them when emotional problems occur with their children.
According to Mali Danino, Director of Nitzan ": emotional problems come from many different reasons, and therefore they can be found by children who do not have learning disabilities and/or ADHD. By children with learning disabilities or ADHD, the emotional problems are likely to come as a result of their repeated failures, from their lack of feeling that they are fully utilizing their potential, and similarly from their frustration from the gap in their different abilities in functioning that bring to a lowering of self concept and self confidence of these children. Emotional problems express themselves in different ways, for example: outbursts of anger, violence and extreme rebellion on one end, or in introversion, a lack of desire to make social contacts, refraining from different activities, sadness, depression, and other ways."
As Danino says, "Also when I meet adults that succeeded in overcoming academic difficulties and made accomplishments on their own merits, many times they still suffer from a low self image, a lack of self confidence, and difficulty in making social connections".
In the survey it was found that also 27% of children with learning disabilities or ADHD suffered in the previous school year from social problems in contrast to 8% by other children.
Also here it is likely that the number of children with learning disabilities or ADHD that are suffering from social problems is three times higher than other children.
Similarly, the parents report that a high percentage of regular children are also suffering from social problems.
Mali Danino explains that research studies from the last years show that children with learning disabilities and ADHD are prone to social loneliness much more. They have fewer friends than other children without learning disabilities. They are less socially accepted and they have many more difficulties adapting in contrast to children without learning disabilities. The cause of this is often a social disability that is characterized by a lack of understanding of social codes and messages, a lack of understanding of social situations and behavior within a group. In contrast, social problems are like to come from the very coping with the learning disability or ADHD which forms by the child a feeling of being different ("I'm not like everyone else"), a low self image and problematic self confidence, which make their social integration difficult".
The survey reveals that 65% of parents of children with learning disabilities or ADHD are not satisfied with the way the school helps them when social problems arise.
And in general, many of the parents report that they don't have the tools necessary to deal with the totality of their child's difficulties (emotional, social, and learning). 40% of parents noted that they are lacking information that would help their children to deal with their difficulties.
According to Ophra Elul, President of Nitzan, "It's important to help parents acquire tools to deal with the all encompassing difficulties of their children, at home, at school, and in the different social circles, since the parents have a deciding role in their children's success or failure. We learn from the survey about the difficult feelings of the parents from the meeting with the school and that within the school setting there isn't enough of a response to the social and emotional problems of their children. Nitzan calls to the school system to put an emphasis on the emotional-social aspect of the children, in addition to academic aspects and learning achievements. We call to the Ministry of Education, under the leadership of the new minister, to suggest a program for emotional work with children and support programs for the parents of children who are in need of training and guidance, as we at Nitzan have began in the last years by means of group and individual programs for parents."
How common is the phenomenon of learning disabilities?
75% of parents know at least one child or adult with learning disabilities or ADHD. The high percentage testifies that there is a high level of consciousness regarding the phenomenon. Only 7% of parents noted that they hadn't heard of the phenomenon at all, 18% reported that they had heard but they don't know anyone with a condition like this.
Almost half of the parents in Israel (47%) reported that they had taken at least one of their children to be assessed for a learning disability. 2/3 of the parents that took a child to be assessed (which is approximately a third of Jewish homes in Israel) reported that the results were positive, meaning that a learning disability or ADHD was found with the child.
From an analysis that was done at Nitzan, it turns out that at least 180,000-190,000 children between the ages of 6-18 in Israel are suffering from learning disabilities or ADHD. In a significant percentage of the cases, we're talking about children that have both learning disabilities and ADHD.
In the higher income areas: the relative portion of those with learning disabilities or ADHD (that have been formally assessed) approximated at like 20% and more. In the peripheral communities, where incomes are less, only 5%-10% are categorized as suffering from learning disabilities or ADHD, as a result of the relative lack of formal assessments.
And how does the school system deal with the large amount of learning disabilities and ADHD?
Not good. Only in 18% of the cases in which a child was assessed with learning disabilities or ADHD did he receive an explanation from the school. And not only this, only 20% of parents received an explanation from the school regarding the implications of the findings of the assessment. Most of the parents of children who have been assessed, about 2/3 of them, didn't meet during the school year with the school psychologist or other school professional.
More assessments for finding learning disabilities than for finding ADHD
In preparation for the Annual Fundraising Day, Nitzan is providing a look behind the scenes of the learning disability assessment market in Israel. In total, the overall market has grown, as we're talking about tens of thousands of assessments each year. In Israel, more assessments for locating learning disabilities are carried out than for locating ADHD, when in the last years the number of assessments for adults has steadily grown. The most common assessment in Israel is the diagnostic evaluation of didactic learning skills.
Costs: At Nitzan the cost varies between 500 shekels in the peripheral communities to 1,000, according to the geographic region and source of the assessment. At private testing centers, the cost is much more.
In the central region of Israel and in financially well-established communities, the average monetary costs of a family for the expenses connected to their child's learning disability to 1,500 shekels per month on average!
Nitzan distributed this year 2 million shekels in grants by means of private funds and donors to more than 500 children from needy families. The money, which will be raised on Fundraising Day, is intended for funding assessments and remedial teaching.
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