The difference between learning difficulties, academic delay and slow learning

We previously learned in our article on learning difficulties that learning difficulties are a decrease in the student’s academic achievement compared to his classmates in the same grade due to a group of disorders that affect the student’s ability to interpret what he sees and hears of verbal and non-verbal information, and they also affect the connection of information coming from different parts of the brain.

Learning difficulties are not due to any disability or environmental deprivation of learning opportunities. Learning difficulties often appear in multiple forms, such as disorders in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing (such as spelling, expression, handwriting) mathematics, difficulties in coordination, self-control, or attention.

Learning difficulties are not limited to studies only, but extend to individual life in self-esteem - education - career - social adaptation in daily life activities.

According to this definition, we find that some people may confuse the previous definition of learning difficulties with academic delay and slow learning. Does learning difficulties express academic delay or slow learning ? In fact, this is not true.

The difference between learning difficulties, academic delay and slow learning

There is a difference between the three concepts - learning difficulty - academic delay - slow learning. In the first part of this article, we will review academic delay in detail and you will learn about...

1- Definition of academic delay

2- Reasons for academic delay

3- Types of academic delay

4- Characteristics of a student who is academically behind

5- The difference between the characteristics of academic delay and the characteristics of learning difficulties

What is academic delay?

Academic delay is a decrease or deficiency in the level of academic achievement from the expected level or the previous level in achievement tests. Often, students with academic delay have a lower level of academic achievement than their other peers of the same age or grade for reasons that may be mental, physical, social, familial, or personal.

Reasons for academic delay

The reasons for academic delay are due to a group of factors, including:

1- Mental factors: These are as follows:

Low IQ - Inability to concentrate - Distraction and daydreaming - Slow reading - Difficulty dealing with numbers - Inability to remember and connect things

Low family income. - Weak family capabilities. - Lack of a suitable environment for studying. - The student is busy with work.  Low cultural level of the family. Loss of encouragement. Modesty of family hopes and ambitions, family disputes. Deprivation of one of the parents.  Negative treatment and disturbed relationship with parents.  Bad company of friends.

 Emotional disturbance .  Anxiety/fear/shyness. - Low self-confidence. - Hatred of the subject. Hatred of the teacher or school. - Feeling of hopelessness. - Fantasies.

Misuse and mismanagement of time. - Low motivation to learn. - Ignorance of study methods. - Frequent absence. - Lack of interest in homework. - Postponing study or study until the end of the year.

5 - School factors, which are as follows: 

The way teachers treat each other. - The negative attitude of the school administration. - The lack of books. - The inadequacy of teachers. - The teacher’s lack of interest in students’ problems. - The inability to adapt to school. - The difficulty and abundance of homework.

The nature of the tests. - The teacher's lack of interest in the student. - The teacher's lack of interest in the subject. Manifestations of academic backwardness

Signs of academic delay

The manifestations of academic delay among students are as follows:

• Students' intelligence is below average.
• Lack of concentration and distraction
• Low level of academic achievement
• Students who are behind in their studies are often accompanied by stress, tension, laziness, and nervous movements.

Types of academic delay

There are several types of academic delay. There are 7 types, which are as follows:

1- General academic delay 

It expresses the student’s delay in all academic subjects, and the IQ of this type of academically backward person ranges between 70-85.

It expresses the student’s delay in a specific subject such as mathematics or specific subjects and is related to a lack of specific mental ability such as mathematical ability - verbal ability - artistic ability - the ability to memorize and remember.

3- Situational academic delay

It is linked to certain situations - such that the student's achievement falls below his level of ability as a result of going through bad experiences such as the death of a family member, repeated failures, or going through painful emotional experiences - the student being transferred from one school to another - going through a certain emotional state

A student or group of students is late in a particular class.

It is the general weakness of students in a specific class or group of classes or in a specific school or organization and arises due to school reasons or the surrounding environmental conditions.

6- Permanent academic delay

It is a delay in which the student's academic level decreases for a long period of time.

7- Apparent academic delay

It is called false academic delay and is due to non-rational reasons that can be easily treated. The academically delayed student is characterized by a set of characteristics.

Characteristics of academic delay

Physical characteristics:

• Less growth on average than normal students in terms of physical and mental development.
• Less energetic and active than their peers of the same age, those who are behind in school often suffer from poor general health, laziness, and severe anemia, in addition to a high rate of hearing and visual impairment among them. 

•  Ability to think deductively and solve problems
• Poor memory and inability to retain information for a long time
•  Poor ability to memorize or understand deeply

Emotional characteristics

Low academic level causes the student to fall behind in school and feel like a failure, in addition to being accompanied by a feeling of excessive sensitivity towards school or home, which increases the feeling of frustration in the student who is behind in school - all of these factors make the student

1. Hostile towards classmates - towards school - school in general
2. Introvert who runs away from school or society
3. He has negative attitudes towards himself - towards school - towards society
4. They have people who are hopeless and self-absorbed and consider themselves failures.
5. The motivation to achieve academic achievement among students with academic delay is low compared to their normal peers, as a result of feelings of frustration and negative attitudes.

Social characteristics

Because academic delay is not limited to a specific social, economic or cultural environment, the social behavior of academically delayed students usually tends to - Negativity, introversion, and unwillingness to make and keep friends - Easily led by deviants and outlaws

It is worth noting that there is no direct relationship between academic backwardness, deviance and crime, but due to the presence of feelings of frustration, deficiency, academic negativity and negative attitude towards oneself among those who are behind, all of these factors facilitate the attraction of these students to deviants, as they consider them compensation for the psychological pain and social ostracism they feel.

Now, after learning about academic delay, we will now learn about

The difference between the characteristics of students with academic delay and the characteristics of students with learning difficulties:

Now we will review the second part of the article, which is the difference between learning difficulties and slow learning.

Slow learning - In this part of the article we will discuss the following elements:

• What is slow learning?
• What are the causes of slow learning?
• What is the difference between learning difficulties and slow learning?

What is slow learning?

A slow learner is a child who is unable to keep up with other students in academic and scientific achievement as a result of difficulty in understanding the information he receives and the slowness in acquiring the academic skills that characterize students of the same age and in the same grade. No mental disability applies to slow learners.

Symptoms of slow learning

1. Delayed speech due to language problems and incomprehensible pronunciation methods, which leads to delayed language development.
2. Not accompanying children of the same age and tending to accompany younger children. Slow learning children are often classified as introverts.
3. Lack of knowledge in dealing with problems, as he usually shows anxiety and tension in the simplest problems, and slow-learning children often face problems with self-esteem and self-confidence.
4. Difficulty receiving academic information, as it takes longer to understand academic information.

Causes of slow learning

Slow learning may be due to several main reasons, including:

The environment surrounding the child, as the people with whom the child spends time must be chosen effectively in terms of their suitability to the intellectual level and the way of dealing with the child.

1. Providing diverse learning opportunities for children helps effectively in developing abilities that are supported by simple and smart play methods and activities capable of developing and improving children’s ability to learn and enhance their intellectual skills.
2. Families are busy with children due to work conditions
3. Violence in school affects the child's learning abilities in addition to its impact on his psychological state.
4. Number of family members - A family with many children makes less attention among children.
5. Learning method: Modern and different learning methods must be used to enhance children’s ability and motivate them to learn.

Types of learning difficulties

• Language learning difficulties: These are related to reading, writing, spelling, pronunciation, understanding and communication. They may be caused by a defect in the processing of sounds or linguistic symbols in the brain.
• Arithmetic learning difficulties: These are related to mathematics, calculation, logic, and abstract thinking. They may be caused by a defect in the processing of numbers, quantities, or spatial relationships in the brain.
• Motor learning difficulties: These are related to movement, coordination, balance, and visual and auditory perception. They may be caused by a defect in the processing of sensory or motor information in the brain.
• Attentional learning disabilities: These relate to attention, concentration, organization, planning, memory, and emotional control. They can be caused by a defect in attentional or executive information processing in the brain.

The difference between learning difficulties and slow learning:

Distinguishing between academic delay and learning difficulties

They require different interventions and resources. Both conditions can be diagnosed through psychological, educational, and medical testing of the student. Parents and teachers should work with experts to develop an individualized education plan that suits the student’s needs and helps him or her reach his or her potential.