SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES MANIFESTATION IN CHILDREN WITH AVERAGE INTELIGENCE AND CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Introduction: Children with specific learning difficulties represent a significant number of the population. It is necessary though to make a distinction between learning difficulties in children with typical development and problems in learning in children due to their intellectual disabilities. Aim: The goal of this research is to present the manifestation of the specific learning difficulties in 48 children with average intellectual abilities and 32 children with intellectual disability. Corresponding address: Natasha Chichevska-Jovanova Blvd. Goce Delchev 9A, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia e-mail: natasac@fzf.ukim.edu.mk SPECIAL EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC ISSUES 8 ДЕФЕКТОЛОШКА ТЕОРИЈА И ПРАКТИКА 2018; 19(3–4):7–24 Методологија: Во примерокот беа опфатени вкупно 80 деца на возраст помеѓу 5 и 10 години (62 машки и 18 девојчиња). Беа применети дескриптивниот и клиничкиот метод, а од техниките: анализа на документација и тестирање, со батерија тестови. Резултати: Oд вкупниот број на деца со тешкотии во учењето кои биле евидентирани, најголем број манифестирале тешкотии во совладување на техниката на читање, а во однос на пол, превладуваат машките испитаници. Кај повеќе од половина испитаници со тешкотии во учењето се јавува и несоодветно однесување во однос на возраста. Заклучок: Со оглед на големото животно и општествено значење на учењето, се наметнува барањето, прашањата и проблемите поврзани со учењето задолжително да добијат општествен приоритет. Потребно е да се воведат семејно-ориентирани сервиси за рана интервенција кои се базираат на ресурси на национално ниво. Клучни зборови: специфични тешкотии во учењето, лоцирани нарушувања, латерализација, интелектуална попреченост


Introduction
Nowadays, in this dynamic world which changes quite rapidly due to the scientific and technological development, the area of learning becomes significantly important, on a social as well as on a personal level. Teaching of reading has become more defined, precise and more regulatory, with a proliferation of practices that distinguish between those who make satisfactory progress and those who require further attention (1). The solving of all of people's existential problems depends on the ability for learning and the knowledge of manners of successful learning. The IDEA definition for specific learning difficulties reads (2): • In general -The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder of one or several basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.

Research subject
The research subject was to point out the differences in the manifestation of the learning difficulties in children with average intellectual abilities and children with intellectual disability. The research subject leads to the purpose of this research which is to discover children with learning difficulties and to establish whether these problems occur more in children with intellectual disability in comparison with their peers without intellectual disability. Also the goal of this research is to establish whether the length of the treatment influences the improvement of the academic skills (reading, writing and math skills) and to determine any associated problems which occur in children with learning difficulties. The research was a combination of the qualitative and quantitative approach. It was also a retrospective and interdisciplinary study.

Sample
We processed the data from the files of a total of 80 children aged between 5 and 10 years of both sexes, 62 males and 18 females who manifest difficulties in learning at school age or psychomotor and speech disorders in preschool age. All of them required professional help and were diagnosed and treated at the Institute of Mental health of Children and Youth in Skopje (the only institution for the treatment of children with developmental disabilities) in the period from 2013 to 2016. Respondents were divided into groups according to their intellectual abilities, and there were 32 children with intellectual disabilities and 48 children with average intellectual abilities. According to the calendar age respondents were divided into two groups, preschool age group including children 5 and 6 years old, and school aged, 7-10 years. Looking more detail into groups there are 10 children with 5 years, aged six -11 children, seven years -15 од 5 години, 11 деца на 6 години, 15 деца на 7 години, 17 деца на 8 години, 17 деца на 9 години и 10 деца на возраст од 10 години.

Procedure
The manifestation of learning difficulties in the examinees was analyzed according to the following variables: • Changes in behavior and occurrence of similar or identical difficulties in parents or members of the closer family. In order to gain the necessary data, we applied a descriptive and clinical method. We used the techniques of testing and analyses of documentation. During use of the technique, with the purpose to gain an insight of the overall functioning of the child, we made analyses of the following documents: • Records; • Family anamnesis within the records; • Special education and rehabilitation findings and pedagogical findings for the purpose of evaluation of the problem; • Analyses of the documentation of the findings of different profiles (doctorsa psychiatrist or a pediatrician, special educator or rehabilitator, speech therapist, pedagogue, social worker); During the research we used the following tests: (1) IQ test; (2) WISC scale for assessment of manipulative and verbal abilities; (3) Battery of tests created for the needs of the Institution for mental health: • Test for assessment of the psycho-motor development; • Tests for assessment of graphic and motor maturity; • Tests for assessments of the ability for reading and proper writing of the text (assessment of the reading speed, punctuality, intelligibility; comprehension); Проценката на усвоеност на училишни знаења ги извршува педагогот од Заводот за ментално здравје, со помош на батерија на тестови. Евалуација се врши на секое дете коешто е вклучено во третман на секои шест месеци и врз основа на тие резултати добиваме оценка за нивото на усвоеност на училишни знаења.

Резултати
Од секојдневната клиничка пракса знаеме дека е сè поголем бројот на деца кои манифестираат тешкотии во усвојувањето на училишни знаења. Врз основа на податоците претставени на Табела бр. • Test for assessment of the writing problems; tests for assessment of the ability for calculus. The assessment of comprehension is done by the pedagogue from the Institution of mental health, by application of battery of tests. The evaluation is done for every child that's included in the treatment, every six months and based on these results we rate the level of comprehension of academic knowledge.

Analysis and processing of data
The data and results that we gained with this research are statistically processed with application of descriptive and analytical statistic methods. From the descriptive methods we used absolute numbers of the examined phenomena, their percentage structure and they were shown with tables. The analytical and statistical processing of data was done with the χ² test. As a degree for statistical significance we used p < 0,05.

Results
From our everyday clinical practice, we can conclude that the number of children that manifest difficulties in the comprehension of academic knowledge is getting bigger. Based on the data shown in table 1, we can conclude that from total of 80 examinees with learning 22 (27,5%) of the examinees have adopted academic knowledge, from which 8 (25%) have intellectual disability, while 14 (29,2%) have an average IQ. 33 (41,3%) examinees have partially adopted academic knowledge, from which 12 (37,5%) are with ID and 21 (43,7%) have average IQ. Students that didn't adopt any academic knowledge were 25 in total (31,3%) from which 12 (37,5%) have ID, and 13 (27,1%) have average IQ. With the statistical analysis of the data we didn't discover any statistically significant difference regarding the adoption of knowledge between both groups of examinees. With a statistical processing of the data we determined that there is a statistical significance between the learning difficulties and the accompanying disorders like the speech disorders, difficulties in the psychomotor development as well as other associated symptoms. In children with ID, there is statistically more speech and psycho-motor disorders, while in the children with NIS the most common are other associated symptoms from which the most common are emotional and psychosocial problems. The data we gained point that some of the examinees show all types of difficulties, that is they show speech disorders associated with difficulties in the psychomotor development and other associated symptoms. On a younger age from 5-7 years more common are the speech disorders associated with a delayed psychomotor development. On the age from 8-10 years most common are other associated symptoms from which the most common are the emotional and psychosocial problems.
In the general population there is a domination of the right hand use preference. Regarding the difficulties in learning we didn't find a statistically significant difference, but an interesting point is the percentage prevalence of left-handed persons in the sample in relation to the prevalence of left-handed persons in the general population. In the world population, 12% are left-handed, while in our sample of 80 examinees, 15 persons (18,8%) are left-handed. In addition to our findings are the results from the study of Saigal, Rosenbaum, Szatmari and Hoult (14). The prevalence of the left-handed and mix lateralization of 31% in the targeted group regarding the 19% in the control group, suggested a connection between the neurological injuries and the left-handed dominant lateralization. In our research we determined that from a total of 80 examinees, 42 (52,5%) express an inappropriate inhibited or hyperactive behavior. With statistical analyses of the data we got a statistically significant difference regarding the hypothesis. Some researches point to the connection of hyperactivity with learning difficulties. Kouichi Yoshimasu at all in their research (15) determined an incidence of writing difficulties in children with hyperactive behavior. In a five years' period a total number of 5718 subjects were evaluated thru medical files, school files and interviews with the parents. The research showed that the learning difficulties occur in a larger number in children with ADHD in comparison with the other subjects. In 64,5% of the male children with ADHD there were language and reading difficulties and in 16,5% of the female children with ADHD, unlike the others that didn't show any signs of a hyperactive disorder. The research determined that ADHD is strongly associated with an enhanced risk of occurrence of reading and language difficulties.
IQ is irrelevant regarding the definition of learning difficulties. It was proven that the IQ score measures the learning of facts, expressive speech abilities and the short term memory among other skills. Because children with learning difficulties have deficits in these areas, their results can be falsely low. Also the research showed that some of the children with low IQ are good readers which means that the low IQ does not have to result with reading difficulties. Empirical data shows that weak readers with a different level of IQ show similar reading, writing, and speech and memory deficits. According to Saigal, on a logical and empirical basis, IQ test results are not necessary for defining learning difficulties (17). Meirav Hen, Marina Goroshit and coworkers in their study (18) examined the relationships among academic procrastination, emotional intelligence (EI), and academic performance as mediated by academic selfefficacy in 287 LD and non-LD students. Results indicated that the indirect effect of EI on academic procrastination and GPA was stronger in LD students than in non-LD students. In addition, results indicated that LD students scored lower than non-LD students on both EI and academic self-efficacy and higher on academic procrastination.

Заклучоци
Со оглед на големото животно и општествено значење на учењето, се наметнува барањето, прашањата и проблемите поврзани со учењето задолжително да добијат општествен приоритет. Врзано со резултатите од нашето истражување, каде од вкупниот број деца со тешкотии во учењето кои биле евидентирани во Заводот за ментално здравје на деца и младинци, најголем број од децата манифестирале тешкотии во совладувањето на техниката на читање. Исто така утврдивме и придружни нарушувања кај децата со phenotype which is defined as a person with learning difficulties (22). Despite their ascertained neurobiological origin, specific learning disorders (SLD) often have been found to be associated with some emotional disturbances in children. The study of Paola Bonifacci and Michele Storti (23) was aimed at evaluating the psychological profile of parents and children and the relationships between their measures, they included parents of children with SLD (17 couples, 34 participants) and parents of children with typical development (17 couples, 34 participants) and they were administered questionnaires assessing parenting styles, reading history, parenting stress, psychopathological indexes, and evaluations of children's anxiety and depression. Results showed that parents of children with SLD have higher parental distress, poorer reading history, and different parenting styles compared to parents of children with TD; there were no differences in psychopathological indexes. The SLD group also rated their children as more anxious and depressed.

Conclusions
Regarding the large life and social meaning of learning, the issues and problems related to learning should receive a social priority. Related to the results of our research, from the total number of children with learning difficulties evidenced in the Institution of Mental Health of Children and Adolescents, the largest number of the children manifested difficulties in the adoption the reading technique. We also determined some associated disorders in children with learning difficulties in both groups as the speech disorders, psycho-motor development and other associated symptoms, like inappropriate behavior regarding age, emotional and psycho-social problems. All of this points to the conclusion that there is a necessity for an organized form of early intervention for prevention, removal or alleviation of the developmental difficulties and support of the child and the family as well as the тешкотии во учењето и во двете групи, како што се нарушувањата во говорот, психомоторниот развој и други асоцирани симптоми, меѓу кои несоодветно однесување во однос на возраста, емоционални и психосоцијални проблеми. Сето ова нè наведува на заклучокот дека е неопходна организирана форма на рана интервенција заради превенција, отстранување или ублажување на развојните тешкотии и поддршка на детето и семејството, како и подобрување на условите во редовната настава, обезбедување адекватни материјални, организациони услови за инклузивно образование.
improvement of the conditions in the regular curriculum, provision of adequate material and organizational preconditions for inclusive education.