It is not laziness or lack of ability: DSA depends on unique neurobiological structures. From dyslexia to dyscalculia, here’s how specific learning disabilities work.
Learning in school can be more complicated for some than for others. Codified by the World Health Organization, “specific learning disorders”, or DSA, do not have to do with low intelligence or a lack of desire to apply oneself, but depend on the particular neurobiological structures of those who have them, so much so that educational systems today provide personalized teaching plans. Below is a list of the main DSA, which (probably) many famous people have also experienced.
Dyslexia
Those with dyslexia struggle to read, struggling to decode written signs and confusing symmetrical letters such as “b/d” or “p/q”. It was the first ASD to be discovered, and was called “word blindness” by the German physician Adolf Kussmaul in 1877. In 1887 his compatriot Rudolf Berlin coined the term “dyslexia”. Today, to cope with this, we often resort to audiobooks. Among the famous hypothesized cases, that of the scientist Albert Einstein stands out, who only began to speak at the age of four and who was a very distracted student at school. His atypical mental connections nevertheless led him to obtain the Nobel Prize for Physics (1921).
Dysortography
This disorder concerns writing and manifests itself with errors, omissions and substitutions of letters, even in the presence of good reading. This characterized the writer Hans Christian Andersen, author of The Little Mermaid, who made several phonetic and spelling errors in his fairy tales, sometimes inventing new words.
Similarly, the statesman Winston Churchill peppered his themes with inaccuracies and struggled with grammar, but managed to shine in his oratory art (he won the Nobel for Literature in 1953). Even the queen of crime fiction Agatha Christie filled her manuscripts with spelling errors, thus preferring to dictate the plots to her secretaries.
Dysgraphia
Those with this disorder have executive and motor difficulties in writing, which is therefore irregular, imprecise and difficult to read. The disorder therefore does not concern language as a whole, but only the organization of the graphic gesture. According to many, even the genius manifested this characteristic Leonardo da Vinciwho in addition to writing from right to left made repeated linguistic errors, often resulting in incomprehensibility (though compensating with exceptional intelligence).
Dyscalculia
It is the disorder linked to calculation skills, which causes considerable difficulty in understanding numbers and arithmetic procedures, even in the case of very simple algebraic operations (to avoid this, students with dyscalculia are allowed to use the calculator frequently).
An emblematic case is that of the prolific inventor Thomas Edisonat school judged “slow” in arithmetic, but later capable of patenting over a thousand inventions (from the phonograph to the incandescent light bulb).
Mixed disorders (DMAS)
DSA can also occur in multiple forms, and in this case we speak of “Mixed Scholastic Skills Disorders” (DMAS), a condition which is also quite frequent. Among the famous people who had them, it was probably Pablo Picasso, a painter who could not stand school discipline and who showed difficulties in both reading and writing (he however found his own expressive language in art, thus transforming his characteristics into creative audacity).
“Extra disturbances”
In addition to the disorders listed, there are other conditions which, although not technically included among DSA, have similar characteristics. For example, “specific language disorder” (comprehension and production of oral language), “dyspraxia” (difficulty in coordinating movements, both fine and gross), “auditory processing disorder” (non-structural acoustic dysfunctions) and “non-verbal learning” (relating to the visuo-spatial and social sphere).
