Can you explain the difference between a mental disorder and a learning disorder?

Many tend to get confused and see them as interchangable.

Do you have a way of putting it in laymans terms?

colly - very good answer. Is that laymans terms? and I have to mention the fact that my husband has a genius I.Q. and he has a learning disability.

Collie's 'mental disorder' answer and 'learning disorder' are all actually 'mental disorders'. And some very highly intellectual people had a 'learning disorders' besides your husband, 3icys.

To name a FEW:
Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Gen. George Patton, John F. Kennedy, Leonardo da Vinci, Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Alexander Graham Bell, Woodrow Wilson, and Beethoven.

A learning disorder is just someone that learns at a different pace than most because they see it differently than we do. Or they have a problem learning to concentrate.

I believe 'we actually have the learning disorder' because A LOT of people with 'so called' learning disorders, 'were and are' high I.Q.ed or literal Geniuses!

My 8 year old grandson was recommended by the school to be placed in 'special Ed.'. The school claimed he was retarded and had attention deficit. And incapable of learning. But after being tested by real professionals, we found he was dyslexic, (like Albert Einstein and other intelligent people with learning disorders.)

(They proved their ability to learn and so did my grandson)

After a little over one year of private tutoring, he is now passing (18 months later) 3rd grade in school, in a regular class (not sp. ed.), with honors. (He mastered 3 years in 18 months).

It's harder for him to grasp new concepts. He has to have more one on one, but once he does get the concept, he's unbeatable .

a mental disorder involves emotions ( such as mood disorders i.e depression or mania), perceptions ( schizophrenia etc. )or cognitive functioning ( dementia etc). A learning disorder is an inability for the brain to process or lean new information past a certain level or i.q.