Does child abuse affect the child's learning abilities?

Sadly the two can overlap. Kids are in a captive audience in the school system and things go on normally, that dealing with an adult audience, would be laughed out of court! Kids can be subjected to various forms of physical( corporal) punishment that would be unthinkable outside of say the B-Block in the Big House. Imagine getting Knuckle soup for a parking violation! There are some things called status offenses ( Hooky, underage smoking,etc) that would not even be considered CRIMES if done by adults. Finally there are certain academic situations that are virtual hot-beds for child abuse, such as music classes. Practice rooms are usually sound=proofed and often in basements well away from Windows. Kids usually have these classes on a personal basis- no witnesses! really a sour chord.