Autism and learning disabilities: what is the difference?
People often confuse learning disabilities with autism. Though these two may appear to overlap, there are actually clear differences between them. Many children with autism have difficulty with spoken language and may not be able to develop speech at all. They may also have difficulty comprehending what others are saying to them. In contrast, a child with learning disabilities typically has no trouble with spoken language, although they might face difficulty with reading or writing. Some children might be diagnosed with one, while others might have both a learning disability and autism.
With over 7 lakh adults and children suffering from autism in the UK, which is approximately 1% of the population, most people are likely to know someone who is autistic.
In this article, we will be looking into the difference between learning disabilities and autism in detail.
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a lifelong neurological condition that affects a person's ability to learn new information, develop new skills, and live an independent life. However, it has nothing to do with their intelligence, motivation, or poor parenting. There is a difference in how information is received and processed in the brain. Children with learning disabilities:
1. Struggle with school learning and independence skills such as self-care and managing money.
2. Learn far more slowly than their peers.
3. Low thinking skills and daily living skills
4. May require some support during adulthood.
The severity of learning disabilities differs from person to person, as children with mild learning disabilities will be able to communicate and learn, but at a slower pace than their peers. On the other hand, people with a severe learning disability will have very limited language and other skills.
What is autism?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not a learning disability, but it can affect a person's ability to learn, just as it can affect a person's language skills, both listening and speaking. Children with autism:
1. Can be very intelligent or find academic learning difficult.
2. Find it difficult to comprehend others' actions, facial expressions, feelings, and behaviour.
3. Many have different ways of communicating.
4. Tends to prefer following the same routines and may do the same thing over and over again.
5. May focus on things that interest them.
6. May be good at following rules and paying attention to details.
7. Can be over- or under-sensitive to sensory stimuli such as noise, light, and taste.
What is the difference between learning disabilities and autism?
There are various differences between learning disabilities and autism, including:
1. Area of impairment:
Normally, it is hard to identify a child with a learning disability from that of their peers until they are assigned some academic problem that meets their disability criteria. However, a child with autism may be simpler to identify in a group of peers due to his or her "quirky" behaviour. They may have a hard time communicating with people and are likely to be stuck on a single topic. Children with autism may not have difficulty with academics when presented with material in a concrete, visual, and easy-to-understand manner.
In contrast, children with a learning disability will experience persistent difficulties with reading, writing, maths, and other school subjects throughout their school years. A person with learning disabilities performs significantly below average in several or all academic disciplines.
Autism is a broad spectrum that encompasses individuals with mild to severe symptoms. Their impairments include difficulty with social communication, language, and behavioural and emotional damage.
2. Social deficits and maladaptive behaviours:
This is one of the primary differences between the two, wherein individuals with autism typically show a lack of the appropriate social skills needed to interact with other individuals. These skills might not be typically taught but rather observed. However, students with learning disabilities can acquire these skills through observation alone and without explicit instruction.
Additionally, individuals with autism often display restrictive and repetitive behaviours, stereotypy, and very restricted interests. More severe cases of autism can also include aggressive behaviour, nonverbal communication, and self-injurious behaviour. Individuals with learning disabilities frequently have substantial deficits in one or more academic content areas, but do not exhibit the maladaptive behaviours described above.
3. Daily living skills:
People with learning disabilities will acquire daily living skills much more slowly than their peers, such as self-care skills and money management skills. Thus, they might find it hard to live independently in adulthood.
Despite having ordinary IQ, many autistic children can have difficulty with daily life skills. Independence skills include practical problem-solving and flexibility, such as knowing what to do if the bus is late, which can be challenging for autistic children.
4. Sensory sensitivities:
Everyone diagnosed with autism has sensory differences. They may be over- or under-sensitive to sensory information compared to others. This means that in order to feel secure, they avoid or seek out particular sensations. Thus, it is essential to keep this in mind when communicating with them.
Sensory sensitivities are not typically part of a learning disability. Nevertheless, sensory sensitivity can be observed in children with significant learning disabilities.
5. Social interactions and communications:
The main challenges for those with autism involve social interactions and communication, but this is not necessarily the case for those with learning disabilities. If so, these difficulties are a result of learning challenges, such as receptive language or nonverbal processing disabilities. That is, children with learning disabilities develop their communication skills much slower than those of their peers. Their communication abilities will develop according to a typical pattern, though more slowly.
Children with autism will have communication skills that develop differently from those of their peers. This is part of the autism thinking style, wherein they will have a very literal understanding of the language and can find it hard to understand phrases like "born with a silver spoon in the mouth". Occasionally, autistic children can communicate in unusual ways, such as by replicating phrases, inventing words, or using accents. They may find it hard to read body language and facial expressions and to use these themselves.
In both cases, others will need to adapt to their communication at times to support their understanding.
6. Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition:
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition wherein an autistic person may have social and communication differences when compared to a non-autistic person. It is also common for some autistic people to develop learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, intellectual disabilities, etc. However, it is noted that at least half of people with autism have no learning differences at all. Most autistic people may have different ways of thinking and communicating than non-autistic people, and sometimes they might need social and communication support but don't require special education or learning support.
If you are looking for a learning disability care agency in the UK, consider Nurses Group Homecare in Yeovil. We have the best carers who are trained to work with children who have learning disabilities.