Also referred to as Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) affect the way information is learned and processed. They are neurological (rather than psychological), usually hereditary and occur independently of intelligence. They can be a hidden disability if has a significant impact on the individuals day to day life.  Learning difficulties include:

• Dyslexia
• Dyspraxia or Development Co-ordination Disorder
• Dyscalculia

• Attention Deficit Disorder
  

A learning disability affects the way a person understands information and how they communicate. Around 1.5m people in the UK have one. This means they can have difficulty:  

• understanding new or complex information
• learning new skills 
• coping independently

A learning disability can be mild, moderate or severe. Some people with a mild learning disability can talk easily and look after themselves, but take a bit longer than usual to learn new skills.

Providing support and opportunities for a learner to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a way which is fair and equitable.  This approach  does not create an ‘unfair advantage’.

The set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language, and the range of texts, which society values and finds useful.

(Curriculum for Excellence)

Reading and writing circle developed by the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit working group. The circles aim to support teachers understanding of literacy skills and identify areas of strength and difficulties in a learner with whom they are working.

The ability to communicate by reading, writing, and listening and talking.

Logographic script is characterised by alphabets that contain a large number of signs or pictorial symbols.

In Scotland a  child is looked after when he or she is:

(a) Provided with accommodation by a local authority under section 25 of the 1995 Act; or

(b) subject to a supervision requirement made by a children's hearing, in terms of section 70 of the 1995 Act; or

(c) Subject to an order, authorisation or warrant made under Chapter 2, 3 or 4 of Part II of the 1995 Act, and according to which the local authority has responsibilities in respect of the child. These include a child protection order, a child assessment order, an authorisation from a justice of the peace to remove a child to a place of safety or maintain a child in a place of safety, removal to a place of safety by a police constable, or a warrant to keep a child in a place of safety made by a children's hearing or a sheriff; or

(d) Living in Scotland and subject to an order in respect of whom a Scottish local authority has responsibilities, as a result of a transfer of an order to it under the Children (Reciprocal Enforcement of Prescribed Orders) etc. (England and Wales and Northern Ireland) (Scotland) Regulations 1996. These 1996 Regulations were made under section 33 of the 1995 Act; or

(e) Subject to a permanence order made after an application by the local authority under section 80 of the 2007 Act.