Does My Child Have a Learning Disability? A Parent’s Screening Checklist

4 min read

Let’s Get Started

Please read each statement and decide which option best applies to your child over the last 3 months. There are no right or wrong answers. Do not spend too much time on any statement.

Disclaimer: This quiz is intended as an educational tool and does not diagnose any type of health or mental health condition.

If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, please call 911, go to your nearest emergency room, or call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

1. Does your child have a short attention span?

2. Does your child have a poor memory?

3. Does your child have trouble following instructions?

4. Does your child struggle with planning or staying organized?

5. Does your child have issues with restlessness or impulsivity?

6. Does your child have hard-to-read handwriting or write slowly?

7. Does your child struggle with hand-eye coordination?

8. Does your child find it difficult to tell the difference between certain letters, numbers, or sounds?

9. Does your child tend to place letters or numbers in the wrong order? (e.g. recIEve instead of recEIve)

10. Does your child have trouble sounding out words?

11. Does your child have difficulty understanding words or concepts when reading?

12. Does your child jump letters, skip words, or lose your place while reading?

13. Does your child tend to reverse or flip letters? (e.g. writing d instead of b)

14. Does your child make frequent spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors?

15. Does your child have a hard time memorizing basic math concepts?

16. Does your child make frequent careless mistakes in basic math?

18. Does your child find it difficult to count money?

19. Does your child tend to reverse or flip numbers? (e.g. writing E instead of 3)

20. Does your child have inconsistent performance on a day-to-day basis?

21. Does your child have a family history of learning difficulties?

22. Has your child repeated a grade or fallen behind in school?

23. Does your child put a lot of effort into studying but not see this effort reflected in grades?

🛒 Resources for Learning Differences and Focus

PILPOC theFube Fidget Cube — tactile sensory tool for students and adults with learning differences; supports focus through controlled sensory input

View on Amazon →

ADHD Planner for Focus & Productivity — structured daily planning tool well-suited to learners managing attention, organisation, or executive function challenges

View on Amazon →

Retrain Your Brain: CBT in 7 Weeks — CBT workbook that addresses the anxiety, frustration, and low confidence that commonly accompany learning difficulties

View on Amazon →

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability subject to change.

The Screening Checklist That Helps Parents Decide When to Seek an Evaluation

If you’ve noticed persistent patterns in how your child reads, spells, or organizes their thoughts — despite real effort and support at home — a structured screening checklist can help you put language to what you’re seeing and decide whether a formal evaluation is worth pursuing.

My pick: Helps my child stay focused during the screening process and observation — PILPOC theFube Fidget Cube on Amazon →

What works

  • Provides concrete, symptom-specific language that helps you describe your child’s struggles to teachers, school counsellors, or clinicians—moving beyond vague frustration to specific observations.
  • Normalizes the experience by showing how learning differences present across reading, writing, memory, and attention domains, reducing shame for both you and your child.
  • Offers a realistic foundation for deciding whether formal psychoeducational testing (which is gold-standard but expensive and time-consuming) makes sense for your child.

What doesn’t

  • Cannot diagnose or rule out a learning disability—only a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation by a licensed neuropsychologist or educational psychologist can do that.
  • Doesn’t account for the complexity of overlapping conditions (ADHD, anxiety, trauma history) that can mimic or mask learning difficulties, which is why professional interpretation matters.

I sometimes worry that screening tools can feel falsely definitive to parents who are desperate for answers, so treat this as a conversation starter with your child’s teacher or pediatrician, not a conclusion. View on Amazon →

Related reading: Do I Have a Learning Disability? Free Quiz for Adults

PILPOC theFube Fidget Cube

When my kid fidgets during assessments, this lets me see their actual attention patterns instead of fidget-driven distraction.

Check Price on Amazon →

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.