Some of the world’s most famous persons have suffered from a similar disability，such as Albert Einstein，the mathematician；Thomas Edison，the inventor；Auguste Rodin，the artist．What disabled these three highly-intelligent men? Strange as it may seem，they all suffered from learning disabilities，the name given to a number of related learning disorders．
Persons with learning disabilities are of normal or higher intelligence (聪明) Yet they have great difficulty learning to read，write or use numbers．
Almost always，there is a problem with one of the mental processes (过程) needed to understand or use written signs or spoken language．A learning-disabled child sees and hears perfectly well．Yet he or she is unable to recognize differences in sizes，shapes or sounds that are easy for others to recognize．
Learning disabilities are very common．They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children．Four times as many boys as girl .
Since about 1970，new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better．Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things．There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result form differences in the way the brain is organized．
You can not look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability．There is no outward sign of the disorder．So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong．
In one study，researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person who had died in an accident．They found two unusual things．One involved cells in the left side of the brain，which control language．These cells normally are white．In the learning-disabled person，however，these cells were grey．The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been．The nerve cells were mixed together．

一些世界上最著名的人物都经受过一种类似于能力丧失症的折磨。例如数学家爱因斯坦、发明家爱迪生和艺术家罗丹。这三位极具才华的人物得的是什么能力丧失症呢？这似乎很奇怪，他们三位全都得的是学习功能丧失症。很多出现学习功能紊乱的人都有这种毛病。
患有学习功能丧失症的人一般智力正常甚至极其聪明，但他们在学习读、写或运用数字等方面却产生了极大的困难。
几乎可以肯定，问题出在某项智力运用过程中，这个过程需要对书写的符号或讲述过语言进行理解或运用。患有学习功能丧失症的孩子其视力和听力都十分好，但他/她对大小、形状或声音的不同之处却无法辨别，而这些方面对其它孩子来说却十分容易。
患有学习功能丧失症的人非常普遍，有10%的孩子都会受这种症状的影响，受这种症状影响的男孩是女孩的4倍。
大约从1970年开始，新的研究成果已使大脑科学家对这种病症有了更进一步的了解。科学家们现在知道了许多不同类别的学习功能丧失症状，并知道这些症状会引发多种不同的问题。现在再也不会有人认为患有学习功能丧失症的人是因为其大脑的构造与别人不同了。
你不可能看到一个孩子就能说出他/她是否患有学习功能丧失症，因为这种症状没有任何表面迹象。因此为了了解问题之所在，一些研究人员又开始将眼光放在大脑上。
在一次研究中，研究人员检查了一位死于意外的患有学习功能丧失症的人，他们发现了两个不寻常的现象。一个涉及到大脑左半部主管语言功能的细胞，这些细胞通常是白色的，但患有学习功能丧失症的人的那些细胞却是灰色的。这些研究人员还发现，那人的许多神经细胞并不是按照细胞应该排列的那种方式所排列，而是相互交织在一起。