Who We Are

Part of the National Federation of SPELD Associations, AUSPELD, SPELD NSW is a non-profit-making association of parents and professional persons interested and involved in advancing the education and general well-being of children and adults with Specific Learning Difficulties / learning disability.

Specific Learning Difficulties - Definition

SPELD NSW believes that difficulty learning can be generated by external circumstances (family, communities, opportunities, experiences) and/or internal circumstances (inherent, sensory, physical, neurological). The circumstances which SPELD NSW defines as being characteristic of Specific Learning Difficulties, or learning disability:

1. are considered to be intrinsic to the individual,
2. can cause a person to learn differently,
3. are not linked to intellectual impairment (except incidentally),
4. may coincidently exist with problems in self-regulatory behaviours, attention, social perception and social interaction,
5. are life-long,
6. result in difficulty accessing the curriculum unless identified early and educational adjustments appropriate to individual need are provided, to prevent failure.

Specific Learning Difficulties affects the learning of about 7% of all people. Dyslexia is the most common Specific Learning Difficulty.