A child who reads slowly, reverses letters at age eight, writes messy pages despite effort or panics at numbers is often called careless or lazy. A learning disability assessment in Delhi can show what is really happening, so that your child gets the right support instead of more pressure. At Adhyayan Inclusive Learning Centre (AILC), our team assesses reading, writing, maths, attention, language and thinking skills, and then gives you a clear report and a practical plan.
This page explains what a specific learning disability is, who should be assessed, what the assessment involves, what the report contains, how it can help at school and how to book.
What Is a Learning Disability?
A specific learning disability is a difference in how the brain handles reading, writing or maths. It is not caused by low intelligence, poor teaching or lack of effort. Children with learning disabilities often have average or above-average intelligence, which is exactly why their struggles are misunderstood.
- Dyslexia: difficulty with accurate and fluent reading and spelling
- Dysgraphia: difficulty with handwriting, spelling and organising written work. See our guide to dysgraphia in children
- Dyscalculia: difficulty with number sense, calculation and maths reasoning
Specific learning disabilities are recognised among the disabilities listed in India's Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which supports access to education and reasonable accommodation.
Signs Your Child May Need an Assessment
Reading and spelling
- Reads slowly or guesses words from the first letter or picture
- Confuses similar letters such as b and d, or reads words backwards beyond the early years
- Spells the same word differently on the same page
- Avoids reading aloud or dreads reading tests
Writing
- Hard-to-read handwriting, uneven spacing or letter sizes
- Tires quickly or complains of hand pain while writing
- Knows the answer orally but cannot get it onto paper
Maths
- Struggles to learn number facts, tables or telling the time
- Mixes up signs, place value or the order of steps
- Cannot estimate or understand word problems despite trying hard
General signs
- Intelligent in conversation but behind in written work
- Low confidence, school avoidance or stomach aches before tests
- A family history of reading, writing or maths difficulties
Read more in our guides to understanding dyslexia and the learning disability centre in Delhi.
When Is the Right Age to Assess?
Formal learning disability assessments are usually most reliable once a child has had around two years of schooling, often from age 6 or 7 onward. Earlier, we can look at language, attention and pre-reading skills and begin support without a formal label. Older children, teens and even college students can also be assessed, particularly before board exams.
What the Assessment Involves
Parent and teacher information
We start with a detailed history: birth and development, language, health, vision and hearing, family history, school progress and the child's own view of what is hard. Bring school notebooks, report cards, teacher feedback and any earlier reports.
Cognitive assessment
A psychologist uses standardised tests to understand your child's thinking skills, such as verbal reasoning, visual reasoning, working memory and processing speed. This tells us your child's strengths and what may be interfering with learning.
Academic skills testing
We test reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, spelling, handwriting and written expression, and number skills and maths reasoning, and compare them with expectations for age and class.
Attention, language and sensory screening
Because learning disabilities often occur together with ADHD, language delay or sensory and motor difficulties, we screen for these. Where needed, our team recommends further evaluation. See our psychometric evaluation service for details.
Feedback session
We explain the findings to parents in plain language, answer your questions and discuss next steps. Children receive age-appropriate feedback focused on strengths.
What Your Report Includes
- A summary of your child's strengths and difficulties
- Test results with a clear explanation of what they mean
- A diagnosis or impression where criteria are met
- Recommendations for therapy, remedial support and home strategies
- Suggestions for classroom accommodations and exam concessions
Many boards and schools accept a report from a qualified professional when considering concessions such as extra time, a reader or scribe, or exemption from a second language. Rules differ by board and change over time, so always check the current requirements with your school or board before applying.
Support After the Assessment
Special education and remedial teaching
Children with learning disabilities learn best with structured, step-by-step, multisensory teaching, short practice and plenty of feedback. Our special education programmes build reading, writing and maths skills at your child's level.
Occupational therapy
For handwriting, motor planning and sensory needs, our occupational therapy team can help your child write more comfortably and keep up with classwork.
Counselling
Years of struggle can lower confidence. Our counselling service helps children and families rebuild motivation and manage exam stress.
School liaison
With your permission, we share recommendations with teachers so that classroom strategies match what we do in sessions.
How Parents Can Help at Home
- Read together every day and let your child choose books they enjoy
- Praise effort and strategies, not only marks
- Break homework into short blocks with breaks
- Use colours, objects and drawings to explain maths ideas
- Let your child answer orally sometimes, so that knowledge is not hidden behind writing
- Talk openly about the difficulty so that your child knows it is not about intelligence
How to Prepare Your Child for the Assessment
- Tell your child that this is a "learning check" to find the best way for them to learn, and that there is no pass or fail
- Make sure your child has slept well, eaten and wears glasses or hearing aids if prescribed
- Avoid last-minute extra tuition or practice, since the aim is to see how your child usually works
- Carry recent notebooks, test papers and any earlier reports so that the team sees real examples of the difficulty
What Makes a Good Learning Disability Assessment?
Not all assessments are equal. Before you choose a centre, ask these questions:
- Is the assessment carried out by a qualified psychologist or a team with the right training?
- Does it use standardised, age-appropriate tests and also consider attention, language and emotional factors?
- Will I receive a detailed written report, and will the findings be explained in person?
- Does the report include practical recommendations for school and home, not just a label?
- Is support available afterwards, such as remedial teaching or therapy, so that you are not left with a report and no plan?
Be careful with any service that offers a diagnosis after a short online quiz or a single brief meeting, or that promises that your child will be "cured" in a fixed number of weeks.
Common Myths About Learning Disabilities
- "My child will outgrow it." Learning disabilities are lifelong, but with early support children learn strategies that make school and work much easier
- "Extra tuition will fix it." More of the same teaching rarely helps. Children need methods matched to the way they learn
- "A concession is an unfair advantage." Accommodations such as extra time level the field so that marks reflect knowledge, not the disability
- "Labels will hurt my child." Understanding the difficulty usually relieves shame, since children learn that the problem is how they learn, not how smart they are
Why Families Choose AILC
- A multidisciplinary team of psychologists, special educators, occupational therapists and speech therapists
- Over 30 years of experience with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism and developmental delay
- Clear written reports that parents and schools can use
- Support beyond the report with remedial teaching, therapy and counselling in the same centre
- Convenient location in South Extension, serving South Delhi and Delhi NCR
Book a Learning Disability Assessment
Our centre is at E-17, 2nd Floor, South Extension Part 1, New Delhi 110049. To ask about an assessment for your child, book a consultation or call +91 98100 52388.