You can not talk about learning without talking about the educational system. They are two realities that are intimately linked and that condition each other. A first element, certainly problematic, is in the name of slow learning. It is problematic because it defines an ideal speed parameter, but strictly referred to that education system.
A large part of the educational systems in the world is rigidly standardized. In other words, they define what, how and when each person must learn. They also define specific ways to analyze whether learning has been assimilated or not.
"Learn a lot does not feed on intelligence".
-Heráclito de Efeso-
It is from this system that what is slow and what is not is established. It is based on the idea that the system is correct and that, if the individual responds to what he demands, then it works properly. If it does not, then the individual has a deficit or a characteristic "to be corrected". It is at this moment that signs are formulated as "slow", "fast", "intelligent" or not. And the worst thing is that it is on this basis that a success or failure is built on the school route.
Slow learning or just different?
This is a real story. A primary school child started the school year with difficulty reading and writing quickly. His teacher often pointed him out as the worst student in the room. He had the habit of writing a text on the board so that the children could copy. The story boy always ended after his colleagues.
Since they could not wait for him, the teacher simply turned off the blackboard and asked him to set up the daily tasks by lending another colleague's notebook. One day, after that ritual, the teacher could not find the draft. The child had taken and hidden without anyone noticing. He finished copying, got up and turned off the blackboard.
The boy in our story was punished for his act. He "delayed" others and challenged the teacher's orders. She was only interested in making all children able to copy the text in the majority's time.
Learning rhythms and contexts
All teachers and the educational system preach that learning is an integral reality. It involves cognitive processes and also emotional, relational, symbolic, etc. At least that is what theoretically admits. However, the number of teachers takes into account the context of the child's life in which to establish the actual conditions that they are learning?
In Bogotá (Colombia) a standardized test of learning in a public school was carried out, the application of Piaget teaching methods. For this pedagogue, the content of the learning was not important, but the mental process involved. So this university degrees were eliminated, grades and subjects. There was a list of classes and each child entered the one he wanted. And they were never evaluated numerically by that.
The results were surprising. The children were very motivated. They could attend the same class several times if they wanted and were encouraged to do so. The performance increased significantly and the learning was much more effective. As they were not approved or disapproved, the children were more spontaneous when it came to asking what they did not understand. And they felt that school was their favorite place. Something similar happened with the so-called "Miracle of the School" in Barcelona.
Therefore, before categorizing patient as stigmatize or a child who has a slow learning, a deficit of attention, intellectual retardation, etc., we must also make a diagnosis about the educational system on the basis of which judge and letters.
It is also convenient to analyze what is the context of the child. Is something happening in your family or individual life that leaves you anxious or depressed? Does your medium facilitate learning? In addition to the neurological considerations, we still have a lot to discuss on this subject before classifying something as a slow learning pace.