What is a Learning Difficulty?
Learning Difficulties include the presence of:
- impaired intelligence, with
- impaired social functioning, which
- started before adulthood, with a
- lasting effect on development
It is estimated that 2% of the population have learning difficulties. Since the 1920s four ‘levels’ have been recognised and are linked approximately to Full Scale IQ scores.
- Mild·················· IQ Score between·· 50 - 69
- Moderate········· IQ Score between·· 35 - 49
- Severe············· IQ Scores between 20 - 34
- Profound·········· IQ Scores··········· below 20
(ICD-10 W.H.O. 1992)
People with mild or moderate learning difficulties may live independently with varying levels of support. There is a link with poverty and rates are higher in deprived, urban areas.
People with severe or profound difficulties will need significant help with daily living. There is uniform national distribution and across socio-economic groups.
In trying to see who might benefit from the ‘Learning Difficulty Service’, the ‘IQ’ or ‘Intelligence Quotient’ is an important measure. This is not the only measure, and a full “IQ Test” is not always needed, however it can help the service to understand people’s difficulties with more accuracy. In addition to understanding a person's intellectual abilities, an assessment of their daily living skills and social functioning is helpful in deciding whether an individual may or may not have a learning difficulty.
Learning Disability? / Learning Difficulty?
Historical usage and background of the term 'Learning Difficulties'
In 1992, people with learning difficulties in the Bristol area were asked by staff in Phoenix NHS Trust which term they preferred. They said they did not want to be labelled and that they were just people. But if there had to be a term, they preferred ‘learning difficulties’ and so this is the term currently used in Bristol, and it is also used in south Gloucestershire.
In other areas of the United Kingdom (UK) the term 'learning dissabilities' is used and this term is preferred by the Department of Health (DoH) who use the term 'learning difficulty' to refer to specific educational problems such as dyslexia. The term ‘intellectual disability’ is also used in some parts of the UK.
