Is poor classroom performance a sign of a LD?
Not always. There are many reasons why some students do not do well in school. While someone with a LD may be experiencing difficulties in an academic setting, such as poor exam grades, students without LD often face the same difficulties. The opposite is also true. Students with LD graduate with honors, go on to medical school, become lawyers, scientists, and college instructors. Many times an instructor won’t even know a student has a LD. In fact, people with LD generally have above average to superior IQs, and one of the signs of a LD is a significant discrepancy between a person’s IQ and his or her performance on an achievement test. For example, a person with dyslexia may achieve perfect scores on graduate level exams but spell at an 8th grade level. The spelling isn’t due to lack of intellect but to a processing disorder. Thus, it can’t be assumed that every student with poor classroom performance has a LD.
