A Case Control Study on Learning Disabilities and the Family History of Learning Disabilities Among Schoolers

Background: Learning disabilities can affect one's ability to read, write, speak, spell, compute math, reason and also affect a person's attention, memory, coordination, social skills and emotional maturity.

Methods: The descriptive research design would be carried out on 30 purposively selected schoolers who were residing in Pallakkapalyam, Namakkal District to assess the association between learning disabilities and the family history of learning disabilities among schoolers. The observational checklist on learning disability was used.

Results: The result showed that the 40% of schoolers were with no disabilities, 43.3% had mild learning disabilities and 16.7% had severe learning disabilities, the schooler with family history of learning disabilities 3% had no disabilities, majority (24%) had mild learning disabilities, and 13% had severe learning disabilities. In the schooler without family history of learning disabilities majority (37%) had no disabilities, 20% had mild learning disabilities, and 3% had severe learning disabilities. The odds ratio shows that a risk of having the learning disability for schooler with the family history of learning disability was 17.28 times higher than those who do not having the family history of learning disability.

Conclusion: The result confirmed that there was an association between learning disabilities and the family history of learning disabilities among schoolers, this helps to conclude that the hereditary is one of the main risk factor for learning disabilities among children.