A "forgotten learning disability".

In the May issue of the journal Pediatrics, Dr. Slavica K. Katusic discusses a learning disability less recognized than ADD and dyslexia, which nevertheless may strike a significant number of children--the inability to write properly, or written-language disorder. Katusic, an epidemiologist from the Mayo Clinic, stresses that the ability to write is "a critical skill that [children] need to have for academic success and social well-being," and explains that children who lag in this area may suffer long-term personal and economic consequences. Specialists define written-language disorder as the inability to write near the level expected based on a person's age, intelligence, and education. People with the condition may have problems with grammar, spelling, paragraph organization, and handwriting. Katusic and her colleagues looked at school and medical records of 5,718 students in Rochester, Minnesota, and found that between 6.9 percent and 14.7 percent of the children had the condition, depending on the formula used. Boys were two to three times more likely to have the condition than girls. Read more at: www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2009/05/05/hscout626417.html. See an abstract of the study at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/5/1306