Umbrellas and Labels

Parents who have children struggling to learn how to read can sometimes find themselves in the middle of a confusing array of educational terms. This confusion affects their basic understanding of the problem which means they do not have the clarity they need to make informed decisions on how best to help their child.

Labels such as learning disability, auditory processing disorder, dyslexia and attention deficit disorder are just a few terms parents may hear from educational professionals. The problem is that most of these terms fall under large umbrellas with a wide variety of symptoms falling under each.

If that’s the case, then are these labels important? Yes and no. Labels are important only as far as they can be used to get help for a child, whether that means help through accommodations for challenges that are innate, and/or specific remediation for challenges that can be improved with research-backed work.

Complicating Factors

One example of how labeling can be helpful is when a child has several factors coming into play that can affect learning in various ways. If nothing else, for a child with a lot of challenges, giving a series of labels about a child can quickly help an educator understand that a particular child has a lot more to juggle in order to learn than another child without those labels. Labels can also help determine specific accommodations or help a school may offer. If the label is used to translate into specific individual help for the child, then that’s what's important.

Uncomplicating the Factors

When it comes to getting some specific help, often there is no reason to think in terms of labels. At Langsford, it’s our philosophy not to label children, especially when we know that the right kind of work can bring a child up to a typical level of functioning. We will certainly use a label if it is helpful in some way for the family to get the help they need, but otherwise we just don't find it necessary or even helpful to the family or the child.