As many as 1 in 5 kiwis have a learning difficulty and until their Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD or Dyspraxia is identified and dealt with literacy programmes are of little benefit to them. 'People with learning difficulties have an inability to retain information or process it quickly, so much of their learning is lost,' said Dore Centre General Manager, David Conroy. The Dore Centre is a specialist treatment programme for people with learning difficulties like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADD & ADHD and has clinics in Auckland, Wellington & Christchurch.
New Zealand has a very low rate of diagnosis so we don't have exact numbers of people affected but 2006 Census qualifications data backs up the estimate that up to 20% of the population may have a learning difficulty. A very common symptom is a general reluctance to learn something new. It's usually an avoidance technique to prevent having to attempt something that is extremely hard & stressful, eg: remembering sequential tasks, retaining complex information, reading instruction manuals, writing reports, analysing numbers or sitting exams.
