Neuropsychological Characteristics Of Children With Learning Difficulties Discussed

Many researchers stated that learning disabilities are a group of disorders related to the abnormity of central nervous system.Recent years,researchers increasingly use the neuropsychological method to study the neuropsychological characteristics of learning disabilities and have obtained some valuable results.However, the researches have some limitations and lack of comprehensive descriptions of learning disabilities' neuropsychological characteristics.A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY) is a comprehensive instrument based on the clinical methods of Luria and on more recent traditions of child neuropsychology. This instrument can assess neuropsychological development in preschool and school-age children exhaustively and western studies have confinned its validity in evaluating learning disabilities.The study selects 81 children in the third,forth and fifth grade and the subjects are divided into two groups according to their academic achievements, which include learning disabilities and normal controls.The study first explores the NEPSY's cross-cultural applicability, and then investigates the children's neuropsychological development and its impact on children's academic achievements.In addition, the study compares the performance and the specific differences of the neuropsychological characteristics between the two groups of students.The results show that:the NEPSY can evaluate children's neuropsychological development and identify learning disabilities'character effectively. As a whole, children of the 3-5th grade show stable neuropsychological development.The neurocognitive development is rapid in the age range before 9 years old and more moderate in the older age range. However, the ability of attention still has great development.Children's neuropsychological abilities are positively related to their academic achievement and have good prediction. On the one hand, the neuropsychological abilities have the same impact on children's Chinese and math achievement,which means that the attention can predict children's Chinese and math performance.On the other hand,while the fine motor movement and rapid naming abilities have profound effect on the Chinese scores,visual-spatial and verbal comprehension abilities have great effect on math scores.Learning disabilities have broad neuropsychological defect, which includes the defect of attention, planning and executive function;the defect of speeded naming and verbal comprehension abilities; the drawback of fine motor movement;the defect of visual-spatial and visual-motor integration abilities;the deficiency of visual memory and verbal learning disabilities.In addition,learning disabilities show the character of imbalance between the function of left and right brain.Therefore, teachers and parents should place emphasis on children's early education.In the primary school education, we should pay attention to the differences of subject character and improve children's neuropsychological abilities intentionally in order to enhance their academic performance.