Unseen Struggles: The Obstacles to Diagnosing Learning Disabilities in Children

Originally published November 2024

By Michelle Senneway

It is not uncommon for a student to struggle with newly learned material. After teaching in middle school special education classrooms for 19 years, I have seen this more times than I can count. The question we educators need to ask ourselves is when does it become problematic?

I once taught a student named Tommy. He was a typical 12-year-old boy who enjoyed spending time with his friends and playing video games. His favorite subject was gym. Everyone liked Tommy; he had a sweet disposition and was easy to be around.

However, Tommy had some struggles that were not immediately visible. He had a difficult time learning. His math scores were consistently low and his reading scores were lower. He seemed to be paying attention and staying on task in school. He didn’t have behavior problems. He asked for help at appropriate times during class.

His teachers were concerned with his scores and requested to have him tested for a learning disability. His results led to an IQ score of 73. IQs between 85 and 100 are considered average, so Tommy was clearly falling into the “below average” range. This was not indicative of a learning disability, however.

A learning disability is diagnosed when the achievement of a student doesn’t align with their IQ score. In other words, their IQ is higher than their achievement. But in Tommy’s case, his achievement and IQ matched, meaning that, basically, he was doing as well in school as he could. Therefore, according to the special education law, he didn’t qualify for an individualized education program (IEP).

 An IEP would have afforded Tommy accommodations, modifications, and participation within special education classes that would have been tailored to his needs and designed for his personal success. And while myself and his other teachers truly wanted to offer the appropriate amount of support for him to learn and grow, our hands were tied.

So, Tommy received as much help as we were able to give, during study hall or before or after school, if time allowed. However, in terms of a formal, legal document stating the appropriate level of support for Tommy that would ensure his academic success, we simply weren’t able to provide it.

What Can Be Done?

Unfortunately, this problem isn’t as rare as you might think. As a special educator in a public middle school that contains around 700 students, I attempted to estimate the yearly percentage of students who struggle with academics but don’t meet the qualifications for a learning disability. Based on my own personal observations as well as conversations with other support teachers, my rough numbers landed at about 3% of the school’s population. This percentage may give or take depending on the year, but no matter the number, whenever there is a student who isn’t getting what they need in order to feel good about their academic experience, for us teachers 3% feels like 300%.

This type of situation is frustrating for all parties involved, and although there is not yet an official solution, there are certain things that educators can do to help boost these students—both academically and emotionally. (The latter is just as important as the former, because without the emotional aspect being addressed, the academics won’t fall into place.)

In fact, emotional assistance can be a lot more straightforward, in terms of how to provide it. As teachers, we offer unconditional emotional support every day to the students who enter our classrooms. We act as parents, siblings, friends, confidantes. While we can’t ensure emotional stability for every student, we can certainly make sure they know that we’re here for them.

Academic assistance, on the other hand, is typically more black-and-white and comes with a lot of rules; however, there are still ways to accommodate the different needs of students. With so much technology readily available these days, differentiating material is easier than ever.

There are learning apps that provide immediate feedback while students are working, such as Kahoot!, Blooket, and Quizizz. These particular apps are game-based, so they also make learning fun. Then there are programs that help students spell, read, and write, like Read&Write, Speak It!, and Read Naturally. These programs have notable features such as auditory capabilities, comprehension support, and grammar detection.

We are also currently being introduced to the world of AI, where it seems the possibilities are endless with applications such as ChatGPT (composing content), Loom (screen recording and sharing), and Perplexity AI (real-time web searches with up-to-date information). These are just a few examples of how educators can branch out and offer new ways to present and teach material to a variety of learners.

The Right Learning Environment

But despite all the additional supports we can try to provide for students who fall into a gray area in terms of intervention, is there really a replacement for a small group setting with a special education teacher?

One of the courses I currently teach is learning support math, but I also teach regular education Algebra 1. It doesn’t follow the same pace as a typical one-year Algebra 1 course, however. Instead, I teach the same curriculum, but at a slower pace and with a smaller class size—typically no more than 15 students.

Some years ago, many students were stalling out in Algebra 1. None of them were diagnosed with any particular learning disability, but they just weren’t “getting it.” The solution was a two-year Algebra 1 course spread across grades 8 and 9.

The key factor was that any student would be able to take this course. There was no prerequisite of having an IEP or any diagnosis of a learning disability. And why Algebra 1? Because it’s pretty much the base math course for all others that follow. In order for students to achieve future success in the subject, they must first build a solid foundation by understanding the concepts covered in Algebra 1.

While this course is an excellent option for so many students and addresses the issue at hand, getting buy-in can sometimes be difficult. First, acquiring parent support isn’t always easy. No parent wants to hear that their child isn’t performing as they should and that a slower paced class might be the answer. Second, students themselves are often resistant to the idea. Being in middle school is difficult in general, but being “different” in middle school is an even harder pill to swallow. 

Having taught this class for a long time, however, I can tell you that while the beginning of the year may be a bit rocky, once the students begin to achieve success in the subject, both they and their parents understand why the course is necessary.

Of course, this is just one option that was created and implemented within one school district at one grade level. It’s fortunate that my district is innovative and caters to student success—and that it has appropriate funding to do so—but there are many others out there who don’t have the funding or leadership to make these somewhat radical changes.

That’s why it is so important to openly discuss the challenges faced by these students—students like Tommy. In order to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks of the education system, we must be creative and forward-thinking in our approach. Most of all, we must work together. Only by teaming up with the students, their parents, and our schools, will we find our way toward a solution.   

A Path Forward

Throughout my years of teaching, I have come to one important conclusion: a student’s general view of themselves, in terms of academics, can either help or hinder their path for additional education. It can’t be emphasized enough that the impact of feeling successful in the classroom will create a growth mindset and feed a student’s desire to learn beyond graduation. This is the outcome I wanted for Tommy, and the outcome that I believe all of our students deserve.

While there is still a long way to go to address this issue, for now I will control what I can when it comes to providing as much assistance as possible, and in the meantime, I’ll continue to brainstorm creative ways to support every student on their learning level.

*Student names have been changed.

Michelle Senneway is a special education mathematics teacher with 18 years of experience working in Pittsburgh, PA. She has a Master’s degree in Special Education from California University of Pennsylvania and a Higher Education Teaching Certificate from Robert Morris University.