Service Learning Research and Reflection paper

Each school, because of government mandate, has to provide services for exceptional students. The textbook Human Diversity in Education defines exceptional students as “those eligible for special educational services” (Cushner, McClelland & Safford, 2011). There are several categories for exceptional student but they all fall under the Ability/Disability continuum. Some of the categories for exceptional students are the: intellectually gifted, specific learning disability, emotionally handicapped, hearing impaired, visually impaired, mentally handicapped, and physically handicapped. In this paper the specific type of students that will be discussed, fall under the disabled side of the continuum. As one can see from the list above there are various types of disabilities that can affect students. One of the disabilities that affect many students in schools today is known as the Learning Disability (LD). Students with learning disabilities, also known as specific learning disabilities, tend to be of at least average intelligence. Of at least average intelligence is the key phrase. A learning disability is defined as “a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information” (National Center for Learning Disabilities,). Learning disabilities can affect students in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, writing and spelling, reasoning, and mathematics. A student that has a learning disability can at times suffer for a social anxiety. Though social anxiety can be something minor, for students with this disability 2011it can cause major problems. Their social anxiety is caused by fearing that they will not fit in because they are unable to understand or process the information a...

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...have to repeat things for him, find another way to word it, or demonstrate something for him so he could understand. These experiences plus a few more help me realize that becoming an educator is something I truly want to do.

Resources

NCLD. (2011). National center for learning disabilities/ ld.org. Retrieved from http://www.ncld.org/

Cushner, K., McClelland, A., & Safford, P. (2011). Florida edition, human diversity in education. (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.

National dissemination center for children with disability .Learning disabilities. (2011). Retrieved from http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/ld

Carter,E.W., Swedeen, B., Moss, C.K., & Pesko, M.J, (2010). “What are you doing after school?”Promoting extracurricular involvement for transition-age youth with disabilities. Intervention In School and Clinic, 45(5), 275-283