Learning disabilities
Overview
A learning disability affects the way a person learns new things throughout their life.
Causes
We do not always know why a person has a learning disability. Sometimes it is because a person's brain development is affected, either before they are born, during their birth or in early childhood. This can be caused by things such as: the mother becoming ill in pregnancyproblems during the birth that stop enough oxygen getting to the braingenetic changes, sometimes passed on from the baby's parents, that make having a learning disability more likelyillness, such asmeningitis, or injury in early childhoodcertain health problems, such asspina bifida, that affect a baby's development There are some health conditions where you may be more likely to have a learning disability. For example, everyone withDown's syndromehas some level of learning disability, and so do many people withcerebral palsy. Some people withepilepsyalso have a learning disability and so do many autistic people.