Abstract
Learning disability is a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning and mathematical abilities.
In a fast paced and competitive world such as we are living in, not being intellectually keen and having persistently low scholastic performances is looked down upon.
Such disorders can eventually turn into a disability when not diagnosed during the formative years of a child’s life and can seriously impair one’s future.
These disorders usually have a strong miasmatic background and when treated accordingly yield great results.
Keywords: Learning disorders, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, homoeopathy
Introduction:
Learning disorders are a type of neuro-developmental disorders which manifest in childhood as persistent difficulties in learning to efficiently read, write or do mathematical calculations despite normal intelligence, conventional schooling, intact hearing & vision, adequate motivation and socio-cultural opportunities.
A child with such a disorder navigates through a stressful life, being shamed and subjected to punitive action time and again; with no clue as to why his/her performance is persistently low.
In homoeopathy we believe in holistic healing. In this article I present a thorough learning of learning disorders and their management.
Definition According to (DSM-V):
These are neurodevelopmental disorders of biological origin, manifested in learning difficulty and problems in acquiring academic skills manifested in early schooling years, lasting for at least 6 months, not attributed to intellectual disabilities, developmental disorders, or neurological or motor disorders, or due to lack of opportunity and occur despite adequate schooling and instruction.
According to ICD- 10:
These are disorders in which the normal patterns of skill acquisition are disturbed from the early stages of development. They are not simply a consequence of a lack of opportunity to learn, nor are they due to any form of acquired brain trauma or disease, nor from abnormalities in cognitive processing that arise largely from some type of biological dysfunction.
Classification of Learning Disorders
- DSM-5 Classification
● Reading disorder
● Mathematics disorder
● Disorder of written expression
- ICD-10 Classification
- Specific reading disorder
- Specific spelling disorder
- Specific disorder of arithmetical skill
- Mixed disorder of scholastic skills
Types of Learning Disorders
- Dyslexia– Difficulty in reading, writing and spelling.
- Dysgraphia– Difficulty in writing, spelling and organizing ideas.
- Dyscalculia– Difficulty in understanding numbers, performing
mathematical calculations, and grasping basic math concepts.
Aetiology
- Hereditary
- Maternal malnutrition
- Complications during pregnancy, labour and delivery
Symptomatology
| Dyslexia | Dysgraphia | Dyscalculia |
| – difficulty in remembering names of alphabets- mis-spelling words- difficulty copying words from a board- inserts/deletes letters from a word while spelling.- confuses letters of similar shape | – difficulty in writing- difficulty in organizing Thoughts on paper.- illegible handwriting- tight, awkward pencil grip and body position while Writing.- omits words while writing- uses wrong words | – unusual difficulty in solving arithmetic problems and Grasping math concepts.- difficulty in mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, Division.- poor retention and retrieval Of mathematical concepts. |
Diagnostic Criteria
- There must be a clinically significant degree of impairment in the specified scholastic skills.
- The impairment must be specific in the sense that it is not solely explained by mental retardation or by lesser impairments in general intelligence.
- The impairment must be developmental, in the sense that it must have been present during the early years of schooling and not acquired later in the educational process.
- There must be no external factors that could provide a sufficient reason for the scholastic difficulties.
- The SDDSS must not be directly due to uncorrected visual or hearing impairments.
Miasmatic Classification of Symptoms
| Psora | Sycosis | Syphilis | Tubercular |
| Weakness of memory | Absent-mindedness | Slowness in comprehension/Mental paralysis | Dis-satisfaction & changeability |
| Mental restlessness | Loss of memory, while speaking lose their chain of thought | Increased clumsiness with awkward movements and poor coordination | Lack of concentration |
| Lack of concentration | Expressive language deficit | Failure to recognize mathematical signs or numerical symbols, | Slow and dull |
| Prostration of mind | Messy and disorganized | Memory problems due to difficulty in comprehension and retaining facts | |
| Difficulty in carrying out mathematical manipulations, and difficulty in learning mathematical tables | |||
| Lack of perception | |||
| Expressive language deficitVocabulary in such children is severely limited |
Rubrics
Kent’s Repertory
[Mind] absent minded, writing while
[Mind] comprehension, difficult
[Mind] comprehension, difficult: writing while
[Mind] confusion, writing while
[Mind] dullness sluggishness, difficulty of thinking and comprehending
[Mind] memory, weakness of letters, for names of the
[Mind] memory, weakness of write for what is about to
[Mind] mistakes: spelling, in
[Mind] mistakes: words: misplacing
[Mind] mistakes: writing in: omitting: letters
[Mind] mistakes: wrong words, using
[Mind] slowness: calculation, in
[Mind] thoughts: vanishing of, writing while
[Mind] thoughts: wandering, writing while
[Mind] writing: aversion to
[Mind] writing: difficulty in expressing ideas, when
[Mind] answers: incoherently
Murphy’s Repertory
[Mind] mistake, general, calculating in
[Mind] dyslexia, reading in
[Mind] dyslexia, understanding in
[Mind] dyslexia, speaking in
Homoeopathic Therapeutics
- Dyslexia
- Baryta carb
- Developmental delay due to trauma, vaccination
- Children who show delayed intellectual abilities, have difficulty in making decisions and lack self-confidence.
- Milestones such as smiling, standing, walking are delayed, these difficulties remain to varying degrees as the child gets older manifesting in a variety of ways including poor concentration at school, decreased comprehension, dyslexia and behavioural abnormalities.
- They either cannot comprehend, cannot memorize or cannot maintain a thought and go over and over it and the mother wonders if that child is ever going to learn something.
- Memory deficient, forgetful, inattentive, child cannot be taught for he/she cannot retain.
- Calcarea carb
- Thoughts vanish, poor memory, misplaces words, answers easily but chooses a
Wrong expression.
- Brain seems paralyzed from the slightest effort.
- Poor recollection.
- Speaking and learning is slow at first but usually catches up pretty quickly.
- Dull, unadventurous and apathetic.
- Great enfeeblement is found in calcarea carb; they listen most of the time, but their intellect does not seem to absorb even a portion of what is heard; at times the mind becomes completely blank.
- Dysgraphia
- Lycopodium clavatum
- When writing omits or adds letters
- Uses wrong words and syllables
- Misspells words
- When writing, use wrong words, add too many letters, omit words and letters. For example, he speaks of plums when he means pears.
- He is unable to read, because he does not recognize letters; he sees and is able to copy them, but has no idea of their significance; he knows, for example, that z is the last letter of the alphabet, but has forgotten what it is called; he is able to write whatever he wishes, writes the proper letters, but cannot read what he has written.
- The child does not like to take up new tasks or do new things, the child has trouble paying attention during a conversation.
- Dyscalculia
- Ammonium carb
- Is effective for mathematical disability.
- Great absence of mind and weakness of memory.
- Tendency to make mistakes in speaking, in writing or in calculating.
- Forgetful, ill humoured, depressed with weakness of intellect.
- Sumbulus ferula
- Is effective for children having weak mathematical skills.
- A person with this condition generally makes mistakes while writing and while performing simple mathematical calculations, especially while adding numbers.
Conclusion
Learning disabilities have a strong miasmatic root at the core of their expression. The approach to treat such disorders should include a thorough history taking which encompasses the totality of symptoms of the patient along with his/her mental and physical disposition as well as the obstetric history of the mother. This should be followed by the administration of a constitutional remedy to the patient.
References
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- Hahnemann s, boericke w. Organon of medicine. 6th ed. New delhi: b. Jain; 2016.
- Banerjea subrata kumar. Miasmatic prescribing : its philosophy, diagnostic classifications, clinical tips, miasmatic repertory, miasmatic weightage of medicines & case illustrations. New delhi: b. Jain; 2016.
- Dhawale k, katawala m, tambitkar n, tamboli m, tamboli p. Use of homoeopathic remedies in the management of learning disabilities. Indian journal of research in homoeopathy. 2014;8(2):87.
- W boericke. Pocket manual of homeopathic materia medica and repertory and a chapter on rare and uncommon remedies. Wazirpur, Delhi, india: b. Jain publishers; 1998.
- JT Kent Lectures on homoeopathic materia medica. New delhi: b. Jain; 2015.
