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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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
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Alison’s story is the perfect example of what many families must go through when faced with the possibility of having a child diagnosed with a learning disability. Alison was not diagnosed with visual and auditory dyslexia until the summer before entering college. However, while still a toddler, her symptoms had been brought to her mother’s attention by her sister’s teacher. Alison’s mother then noticed her habits in repeating words incorrectly and how Alison would need tactile clues to follow directions. At the recommendation of her kindergarten teacher, Alison was tested for learning disabilities and the results from the school psychologists were that she was acting stubborn or disobedient. Her family did not stop with the school’s diagnosis. They had private testing completed that confirmed Alison did not have a specific learning disability. The final word came from a relative that happened to be a psychologist. He insisted Alison would grow out of her difficulties. So Alison continued on with her entire elementary, middle and high school journey as a student and daughter with an undiagnosed learning disability.
As societal pressures for higher education increase, more emphasis has been placed on the importance of a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. This has led to the increased enrollment of students with learning disabilities over the past decade. According to a recent survey from the National Clearinghouse on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, one in eleven full-time first-year students entering college in 1998 self-reported a disability. This translates to approximately 154,520 college students, or about 9% of the total number of first-year freshmen, who reported a wide range of disabilities, ranging from attention deficit disorder to writing disabilities (Horn).
Bryant, D. P., Smith, D. D., & Bryant, B. R. (2008). Teaching Students with Special Needs in
A learning disability is defined as any one of various conditions that interfere with an individual's ability to learn, resulting in impaired functioning in language, reasoning, or academic skills. The National Center for Learning Disabilities explains it as a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive process, store and respond to information. Basically, among people with learning disabilities there is a noticeable gap between their level of expected achievement and their actual achievement. Doctors and professionals agree there is no way to pin-point any specific causes for learning disabilities. The NCLD says some possible causes may include heredity, problems during pregnancy or birth, head injuries or nutritional deprivation after birth, and exposure to toxic substances.
Cloran (n.d.) suggest teachers need to have a broad understanding of giftedness and learning disabilities, a variety of identification measures and the ability to modify the curriculum and implement differentiated teaching strategies to meet the unique needs of all students. A graduate teacher recognises that students learn in their own way and should understand and be able to identify a number of teaching strategies to differentiate and meet the learning needs of all students. They may create groups based on previous assessment results and set clear or modified instructions for each group based on ability or learning styles. To address the specific learning needs of all student abilities, multi-sensory strategies using charts, diagrams, outside lessons and videos, as well as posters around the room or information on the desk could be used. Tomlinson (1999) suggests that differentiated instruction aims to build on student’s strengths and maximize their learning by adjusting instructional tasks to suit their individual needs. Ensuring teaching and instructions are clear, revising and prompting students during lessons and providing templates and assisting student in breaking down tasks into achievable, systematic chunks are some additional examples. Lucas, (2008) suggests highlighting key vocabulary within the text to focus students on the central concepts within the text. Quick finishing students should be provided with the opportunity to extend themselves with extension tasks that have a specific purpose and
Santa Barbara, CA: Learning Works, 1996. Print. The. Girod, Christina M. Learning Disabilities. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2001. Print.
Pisano, Leonard. (2004). How to Support Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Online. 1-8. Retrieved November 2, 2004, from the LD Online database.
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...
In today’s educational environment, all students expect to receive the same level of instruction from schools and all students must meet the same set of standards. Expectations for students with learning disabilities are the same as students without any learning difficulties. It is now unacceptable for schools or teachers to expect less from one segment of students because they have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, discipline problems, or come from poor backgrounds. Standardize testing has resulted in making every student count as much as their peers and the most positive impact has been seen with the lowest ability students. Schools have developed new approaches to reach these previously underserved students while maintaining passing scores for the whole student body. To ensure academic success, teachers employ a multi-strategy approach to develop students of differing abilities and backgrounds. Every student is different in what skills and experiences they bring to the classroom; their personality, background, and interests are as varied as the ways in which teachers can choose to instruct them. Differentiated instruction has been an effective method in which teachers can engage students of various backgrounds and achieve whole-class success. When using differentiated instruction, teachers develop lesson strategies for each student or groups of students that provide different avenues of learning but all avenues arrive at the same learning goal.
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
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...
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).
Definition of Learning Disabilities – A neurological disorder that make academic and social skills difficult for students are called Learning Disabilities. This disorder affects the brain’s ability to process and receive information as well as respond and store it. A Learning Disability is not a result of poor intelligence or laziness. Learning Disabilities will vary on how they affect different children and adults.
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.