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TEN TIPS FOR DISCERNING LEARNING DISABILITIES and GETTING HELP

What Should You Look For? Where Should You Turn?

Los Angeles, California, October 4, 2004 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

Everyone feels something when Back-to-School time arrives. Some recall good times, or a special teacher that made a difference in their lives. But some students, past and present, remember school with dread—because they may have a learning disability that makes reading difficult or impossible. Here are five tips to help you assess your child’s or student’s situation and five more tips to point you toward some help, should you need it.

• Do you spend hours reading the child’s homework aloud?
• Do you know how bright the child is but somehow reading just never makes sense to them?
• Does the child avoid reading when possible?
• Does the child lose orientation while reading or consistently reverse or invert letters?
• Have you or someone else in your family been diagnosed with a learning disability?

If some of these points ring true, you may want to have the child diagnosed by a school psychologist, special education teacher or educational therapist.

And now here are five reasons not to despair:

• Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic-LA (RFB&D-LA) provides audio textbooks for students with vision, physical or learning disabilities. RFB&D’s Learning Through Listening ® Programs are accessible for students of all ages, from Kindergarten through post-graduate levels.
• Your child can obtain an individual membership or membership through her school for a nominal fee to get the textbooks she needs on a CD or 4-track tape.
• RFB&D has more than 98,000 audio textbooks in their national library, with more being recorded in studios across the nation, every day.
• RFB&D-LA’s Educational Outreach Department works with students, parents and teachers to offer year-round support, on-site training sessions and helpful guides for using audio textbooks.
• Your child can learn to study independently while you can actually have time to prepare dinner or catch up on your own work!

RFB&D is a unique national nonprofit organization that records audio textbooks for students of all ages with vision, physical and learning disabilities. They have been offering their services for more than 50 years. RFB&D-LA serves approximately 2,300 students with print disabilities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Visit their website for further information at www.rfbd.org/LA or call them at (800) 732-TEXT. Do something positive to help make someone’s educational dreams become a reality.