Children's Learning Difficulties: A Cognitive Approach

Many children experience learning difficulties which may be specific, such as with language, reading and numbers, or more general, such as "mental handicap". In this book, the authors provide an account of learning difficulties, linking the theoretical with the practical. The central theme of the book is the role that cognitive factors play in these problems: how do children with learning difficulties differ in the way they process information?; and are the differences due to lack of efficiency or a disturbance in the cognitive system? The authors argue that it is only when the child's difficulty is established within a theoretical model of cognitive development that it is possible to develop intervention techniques to help the child in the acquisition of new skills. They go on to describe the skills and strategies children need in order to read, spell, talk and use arithmetic; they show how to assess what missing skills and wrong techniques lie behind learning difficulties, and they discuss the techniques which can be used to correct and compensate for these problems.