Introduction
During my intermediate school years, one of my classmates was studying all the time even during breaks and recesses. Daily, all the students were playing, chatting, and enjoying their time with their friends except this girl who had no one to hang out with other than her books. Regardless of her consecutive hard work and perseverance, she was eventually getting low scores, and she was always failing. At that time, the schools at my country were not paying full attention to learning disabilities. However, if she has been diagnosed with LD, she would not have been blamed for not trying and would have overcome her problems.
Learning disability is not a disease but a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s functions in receiving, processing, analyzing, and saving information. People with learning disabilities have a difficulty learning in a typical manner, and usually the reason behind such a difficulty is undetermined. Admittedly, it has nothing to do with the quality of teaching, the intelligence of the person, or any other factor. Thus, regardless of the reasons, LD might impact the person’s skills in reading, writing, spelling, listening, speaking, thinking, or doing mathematical problems. This imperfection in using or understanding the language, spoken or written, is not the same as intellectual disabilities or other disorders (“What are learning disabilities?” n.d.).
Jason Kane stated five misconceptions about learning disabilities that people mistakenly believe. First, “the term ‘learning disability’ is interchangeable with other disorders. (2012)” Although the term learning disability involves perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasi...
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...entice Hall. Retrieved from: http://www.education.com/reference/article/primary-characteristics-students/
Steele, M.M. (2005, April 30). Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities: Constructivism Or Behaviorism? Current Issues in Education [On-line], 8(10). Retrived from: http://cie.asu.edu/volume8/number10/
Successful strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities. (n.d.). The Division for Learning Disabilities (DLD). Retrieved from: http://www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/understanding/strategies.asp
What are learning disabilities? (n.d.). The National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved from: http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/what-is-ld/what-are-learning-disabilities#comment-632855762
Types of Learning Disabilities | Education.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Disabilities_2/
Students with disabilities who are in self-contained classrooms struggle with many issues pertaining to independence. In their classrooms they become more dependent on their teachers and classroom peers (Jones & Hensley, 2012). This is the opposite of what is needed for these students (Jones & Hensley, 2012). Learning is a full circle process, which encompasses more than academics. In order for students with disabilities to obtain a complete education, inclusion in social dynamics should be an integral part of their learning environment (Arnon, Shamai, & Ilatov, 2008).
Will, M. (1986, November). Educating students with learning problems-a shared responsibility. Washington, DC: Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
When children do not seem to learn in school, some edifiers and parents may cerebrate the child is just imbecilic or does not have a desire to learn. What they fail to realize is there child has a learning disability. A learning disability can make a person feel like it takes over their lives. But with the right assistance and hard work it will not affect their future success.
Registering for classes is just the beginning for learning disabled students. Kyle Turin, a freshman with Dyslexia, at Northeastern University is dismayed at the lack of attention he feels he is getting. Turin was diagnosed at a young age. He was never officially tested for a learning disability, but he was put into a specialized reading class until he went to high school. Kyle learned how to compensate for his difficulties but felt he slipped through the cracks in the system.
Students with learning disabilities in the regular classroom may have challenges that require special attention. If the teacher is able to identify the disabilities and the features associated with them then the teacher can tailor the lessons to meet the needs of the students. These may include differentiated instruction and facilitating an inclusive classroom which will see inclusive strategies employed that will cater to the needs of students with learning disabilities. These inclusive strategies can range from individualized learning programs to team and co-teaching. In some cases, the teacher can arrange for a special education teacher or arrange for a pull out program to assist students who have learning disabilities. Strategies that will also cater to learning disabilities may also include the use of technology. According to Ford 2013 ‘In some situations it may be best for students with LD to be taught in separate pull out classrooms with a teacher who can provide targeted skill instruction in areas where a student is struggling.’ ‘When provided appropriate support within this setting, many of these students can achieve academically and develop positive self-esteem and social skills. (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 1991). They also recommend that schools should ‘require in-service programs for all school personnel to give them the knowledge and skills necessary to provide education for students with learning disabilities in the regular education classroom.’ Schools should include activities to help participants learn strategies to meet individual needs of students, foster attitudes conductive to educating students with learning disabilities in the regular education classroom, and promote
The field has not quite reached consensus on definitions of LD, and there are professionals as well as members of the public who do not understand them or believe they exist. For example, in a Roper (1995) survey of 1,200 adults, 85% associated LD with mental retardation 66% with deafness, and 60% with blindness. In Rocco's (1997) research, faculty "questioned the existence of certain conditions or if they existed, the appropriateness of classifying the condition as a disability" (p. 158). However, most definitions describe learning disabilities as a group of disorders that affect the ability to acquire and use listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or math skills (Gerber and Reiff 1994; National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center 1995a; National Center for Learning Disabilities 1997). These difficulties vary in severity, may persist across the lifespan, and may affect one or more areas of a person's life, including learning, work, and social and emotional functioning.
Students with learning disabilities can learn; each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Educators must continue to focus on the strengths of each student and building on them, creating a stronger student and person. Identifying the weakness is at the core of getting a student help with their learning disability, but after this initial identification and placement, the focus should shift to the strengths and adjusting the student’s schoolwork to reflect these strengths. For instance, if a student is weak in reading but has wonderful group interaction skills and is good with his or her hands, the students' reading tasks should then be shifted to reflect these st...
Pisano, Leonard. (2004). How to Support Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Online. 1-8. Retrieved November 2, 2004, from the LD Online database.
The impact of having a learning disability are lifelong. A student with a learning disability may always need extra help to get through certain aspects of life after they graduate high school. If the student is going to college accommodations and specific learning strategies will need to be used to help them through their courses. Their personal lives may also be affected due to a learning disability. “For example, Johnson and Blalock found that, of the 93 adults studied in an LD clinic sample, 36% continued to receive counseling or psychotherapy for low self-esteem, social isolation, anxiety, depression, and frustration.” (1987) The difficulties associated with learning disabilities can affect them daily and their past experiences with it can follow them into adulthood and bring up unhappy memories of struggling with learning disabilities as a child.
specific learning disabilities in the United States of America. The Journal of International Association of Special Education, 10(1), 21-26.
Many students struggle with learning disabilities. Two common disabilities are Dyslexia and Dysgraphia. “According to the latest dyslexia research from the National Institutes of Health, Dyslexia affects 20 percent of Americans” (“What is Dyslexia?”) Dysgraphia is difficulty with writing that sometimes accompanies Dyslexia. Students that have Dyslexia and Dysgraphia will struggle with vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation, but there is help.
Goldstein, S. and Mather, N. (2001). Learning Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
During the late 1980’s and 1990’s the number of children with learning disabilities receiving special education services grew rapidly, but during 1998 and 2007 the number of children classified as having a LD has declined by 7% (Cortiella, 2009). “In 2007, 59% of students with LD spent 80% or more of their in-school time in general education classrooms. In 2000, that figure was just 40%” (Cortiella, 2009). In addition, students with disabilities are spending more time with students in traditional classroom settings. According to the Department of Education, “approximately 6 million children (roughly 10 percent of all school-aged children) receive special education services” (Pardini, 2011).
Before developing an opinion on the matter of inclusion, one must first fully comprehend what a learning disorder is. According to the National Center for Learning Disabilities (2009), a Learning Disorders (LD) is a “specific neurological disorders that affect the brain's ability to store, process or communicate information”. To understand this, Kemp, Segal & Cutter (2010) used the example of a landline telephone. If the phone has faulty wiring, one has trouble communicating with someone they are trying to reach. If there is faulty wiring in the brain, the normal lines of communication are disrupted therefore making it difficult to process information. LDs vary in severity in each individual situation and effect everyone differently. Although LDs are often connected with other disabilities, it’s important to not get LDs confused with other disorders, like autism and down syndrome. Just because a child has a learning disability, one can not assume...
Education is a profession which requires a teacher to be able to communicate with a multitude of students on a variety of levels. There is not a class, or student for that matter, that is identical. Therefore, teachers must be able to identify and help educate students from all different types of backgrounds and at different levels. Teaching a singular subject presents difficulties, but teaching students with disabilities should not be one. There are three main teaching areas that need to be focused on when teaching a student with a learning disability. Teachers need to focus on the strategies that will assist students with reading comprehension skills, writing skills, and maintaining appropriate behaviors in a classroom setting.