Learning Disabilities

In 1859 Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, wrote that "Beautiful objects and brilliancy of colour are actual means of recovery." Modern practitioners of art therapy agree, and ...

Ritalin belongs to a class of drugs related to amphetamines called stimulants. These drugs are not addictive and do not make the child feel high. They help children to focus and function better ...

Autism is a lifelong condition, which is apparently an intrinsic part of the brain's hard wiring and although it seems unlikely that a cure will ever be found, some types of treatment may be very ...

Learning to read is crucial for every child in our literacy driven society and poor reading ability reduces the chance of a productive and fulfilling life for a child with otherwise normal ...

The generally accepted theory is that people with autism lack a "theory of mind". They fail to grasp that other people have minds that motivate them to act. This does not refer to a profound grasp ...

In ancient Egypt and Greece sound and healing were seen as both sacred and intimately connected. The Greek deity Apollo was believed to concern himself with both music and medicine. Nowadays, there ...

Have you ever had the nagging feeling that you've left the gas on or forgotten to lock the door, and felt that you have to go back and check, even if you're already far from the house? Once you'd ...

The underlying idea behind play therapy is that children express themselves best through the language of play. Most forms of adult psychotherapy involve talking, but children in the playroom may ...

When Dustin Hoffman starred in the 1989 Hollywood movie Rain Man the "autistic savant" was suddenly transformed from being a rare disability that few people had heard of into a familiar household ...

Winston Churchill was rather proud of his slight stutter, which didn't prevent him from achieving his goals in life, including becoming a renowned politician and orator. According to him, ...

In 1885, a French neurologist called Dr Georges Gilles de la Tourette described a case of an 86 year old French noblewoman who suffered from repeated twitches, jerks and vocalizations. This was ...

This article addresses three examples of the many situations in which family therapy has been shown to have positive results: schizophrenia, families traumatised by violence in Belfast and anorexia. ...

Autism has been a mysterious condition for years. Parents and doctors have always been baffled and horribly distressed when a young child who has previously seemed quite normal, begins to withdraw ...

Dyslexia runs in families, and is caused by abnormalities in the part of the brain that processes speech and writing. Hearing problems many contribute and it is commonest in English speakers due to ...

ADHD is a common disorder that can be disruptive to the whole family. The article describes causes, explains how diagnosis is made, what other disorders must be ruled out and refers to the broad ...

"A dash of autism" is how Uta Frith, an eminent psychologist and an expert on the subject, has described this condition. It's the highest functioning end of the autistic spectrum, and was only ...

Autism can take on many different forms, but the common underlying thread is a difficulty in making sense of the world. "Classical autism" is the most common of a group of developmental disorders ...

Dyslexia is a common condition, where reading, writing and spelling are difficult to acquire despite normal intelligence. The characteristic mistakes may appear once the child first encounters ...