Symptom Tests

[Self-Test] Could My Child Have a Learning Disability?

As many as half of all children with ADHD also have a learning disability (LD). Learn more about the symptoms in the self-test below.

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 By ADDitude Editors Updated on February 7, 2021

If your child continues to struggle academically even after treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), he or she may be among the 30 to 50 percent of individuals with ADHD who also have a learning disability (LD). The symptoms in this self-test relate primarily to elementary school, which is when LD is most often identified. Complete this test and take the results to an education professional for evaluation.

This self-test is designed to determine whether your child shows symptoms similar to those with learning disabilities, but it is not a diagnostic tool. A trained educational psychologist can make a diagnosis of learning disabilities through clinical evaluation. This self-test is for personal use only.

From the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.

Does your child appear awkward or clumsy, dropping, spilling, or knocking things over a lot?

1 out of 18

Does your child have difficulty knowing where to begin a task and/or how to proceed from there?

2 out of 18

Does your child have trouble organizing what he or she wants to say or thinking of the word he or she needs when writing or in conversation?

3 out of 18

Did your child learn language late and/or have a limited vocabulary?

4 out of 18

Does or did your child have trouble with buttons, hooks, snaps, and zippers? Or with learning to tie his or her shoes?

5 out of 18

Does your child have difficulty understanding instructions or following directions?

6 out of 18

Does your child have trouble telling time or conceptualizing the passage of time?

7 out of 18

Does your child have trouble retelling a story in order (what happened first, second, third)?

8 out of 18

Does your child have a hard time understanding what he or she reads?

9 out of 18

Does your child struggle to express ideas in writing?

10 out of 18

Does your child have very messy handwriting or does he hold a pencil awkwardly?

11 out of 18

Does your child ignore the social rules of conversations, such as taking turns or standing a comfortable distance from his or her conversation partner?

12 out of 18

Did your child have trouble learning the alphabet, rhyming words, or connecting letters to their sounds?

13 out of 18

Does your child have trouble understanding humor, puns, comic strips, idioms, and sarcasm?

14 out of 18

Does your child have real trouble with spelling, remembering the sounds that letters make, or hearing slight differences between words?

15 out of 18

Does your child confuse math symbols and misread numbers?

16 out of 18

Does your child make mistakes when reading aloud, and/or repeat and pause? 

17 out of 18

Does your child mispronounce words or use an incorrect word that sounds similar?

18 out of 18

(Optional) Would you like to receive your learning disability symptom test results — plus more helpful resources — via email from ADDitude?

Can’t see the self-test questions above? Click here to open this test in a new window.

Learning Disability Symptoms in Children: Next Steps

1. Take This Test: Dyslexia Symptom Test for Children
2. Take This Test: Dyspraxia Symptom Test for Children
3. Take This Test: Dyscalculia Symptom Test for Children
4. Take This Test: Full ADHD Symptoms Test for Children
5. Take This Test: Executive Dysfunction Symptom Test for Children
6. Learn How LDs Are Diagnosed

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