Teaching%20Reading%20to%20Limited%20English%20Proficient,%20Learning%20Disabled,%20Elementary%20Students:%20Best%20Practices

1
Teaching Reading to Limited English Proficient,
Learning Disabled, Elementary Students Best
Practices

• By
• Jorge Eliécer Zuluaga Urrea
•   

• CAROLINA TESOL CONFERENCE
• WINSTON SALEM, 2007

2
Specific Learning Disabled children in NC public
schools

• Hispanics 4,439
• Asian 556
• Multiracial 1,267
• Black 20,083
• White 36,590
• American Indians 998

3
NCDPI,2006. http//149.168.35.67/WDS/tableviewer/t
ableviewaspx
4
ESL students with disabilities

• An estimated 184.000 of the nations 2.9 million
  ESL students have disabilities
• Zehr,Mary Ann 2001, Editorial Projects in
  Education. Vol.21 Number 10

5
LEP, SLD

• What happens when there is a student who is
  limited English Proficient (LEP) and has another
  disability?
• Are teachers prepared to deal with this
  population?

6
Objectives of the study

• To identify main issues affecting the academic
  performance of the specific learning disabled
  children who are limited English proficient.
• To identify current trends to overcome literacy
  difficulties in specific learning disabled
  children who are limited English proficient.

7
Research question

• What are the best practices used by Regular,
  English as a Second Language and Exceptional
  Education elementary teachers in Lee County
  Schools, to overcome reading difficulties in
  Limited English Proficient, Learning Disabled
  Students?

8
Questionnaire

• A questionnaire to Regular, English as a Second
  Language and Exceptional Education teachers asked
  about their techniques, methods and approaches to
  teach LD, LEP Children.

9
The Questionnaire

•  
• The purpose of the survey was to identify the
  main approaches used by educators in order to
  teach reading to Limited English Proficient
  speakers who are Learning Disabled.

10
Organization of the questionnaire

• Identification
• Teaching methods and techniques
• Reasons for the difficulties to read among LEP,
  LD students
• Materials used to teach reading to LEP, LD
  students
• Recommendations to teach reading to LEP, LD
  students

11
Exceptional Education Law

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Act (IDEA),
• Public Law 101-476 (1997)
• provides the following definition

12
Specific Learning Disability
A disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding
or in using language, spoken or written, which
may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to
listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do
mathematical calculations
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), 1997.
13
Specific Learning Disability Cont
This term includes such conditions as perceptual
handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain
dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), 1997.
14
Specific Learning Disability cont

• The term does not include children who have
  learning problems which are primary the result of
  visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental
  retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of
  environmental, cultural, or economic
  disadvantage.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), 1997.
15
What are Learning Disabilities?
Neurologically-based processing problems that
interfere with learning

• Basic Skills
• Reading
• Writing
• Math

• Higher level skills
• Organization
• Time planning
• Abstract reasoning

Learning Disabilities of America,2004 Retrieved
from http//ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/understa
nding/print_types.asp
16
Characteristics of Learning Disabilities
Learning disabilities may be caused mainly by
deficits in

• Perception.
• the brain misinterprets the information from the
  sensory channels.

• Phonological processing
• Lack in the ability to hear each phoneme of a
  word. (phonological awareness).

Learning Disabilities of America,2004 Retrieved
from http//ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/understa
nding/print_types.asp
17
Other Characteristics That Coexist With LD
Children with learning disabilities have a lot of
academic failure and may develop

• Low self esteem
• Poor motivation
• Withdrawal
• Feigned illness

• Absenteeism
• Anxiety
• Over dependence

18
Limited English Proficient Students

• Some have have changed geography, climate,
  economic situation, social status, culture of
  schools
• Some come to have a better living, but others
  have to leave their countries out of fear for
  their lives.

• Come from different cultures
• Speak various languages
• See the world in a different way

Law, B. Eckes, M. (2000). The more than
just-surviving handbook ESL for every classroom
teacher. Winnipeg Portage Main Press.
19

• ESL student with a disability
• Physiological reasons
• Difficulty forming social relationships
• Communicative competence may be affected in both
  languages
• May have speech disorders in articulation,
  voice, fluency and receptive and expressive
  language.

• ESl student without a disability
• Adaptation difficulties
• Behavioral problems related to acculturation
• Communicative competence may be affected due to a
  lack of ability in the second language
• Grammar and sentence structure appropriate for
  his age

20

• ESL student with a disability
• First language skills not appropriate for age and
  level in areas like vocabulary, word finding,
  following directions, sentence formulation and
  pragmatics
• Disorganized thoughts.
• May have difficulties learning the second
  language.
• Significantly below grade level.
• Verbal and non verbal abilities are inconsistent
• Significant discrepancies between different areas
• Difficulties with directions, transitions, coping
  and following instructions.

• ESL student without a disability
• May not know specific vocabulary, but may be
  familiar with the item or concept.
• May demonstrate a loss of receptive and
  expressive language skills in first language

21
What readers need

• LD, LEP persons need a variety of instructional
  approaches in order to read
• They need
• Decoding
• Translating written material into a spoken word
• Comprehension skills
• Reading for factual information
• Follow the events and details of the text
• Comparing and evaluating the material
• Derive main ideas from a text and isolate its
  organizing idea or thesis.

22
How?

• Using a variety of methods including
• Phonics approach
• Linguistic method
• Multisensory approach
• Neurological Impress Technique
• Language Experience approach
• Reading comprehension support.

Learning Disabilities of America , 1998. LDA News
briefs. Vol. 38, No.4. Retrieved from
http//www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/teaching_r
eading on 7/1/2004.
23
Conclusions

• To improve their reading, learning disabled
  children who are Limited English proficient need
• Attention from their regular teacher, their ESL
  teacher and their Exceptional Education teacher.
• Hands on instruction.
• Explicit code emphasis developmental reading
  methods Phonics, linguistic, multisensory
  approaches.
• Teachers who effectively and systematically alter
  various methods to meet their needs.

24
What LD, LEP children need to improve their
reading

• Formal instruction in the target language, and
  culture.
• Use their previous knowledge, experiences and
  strengths as a base to start building literacy.
• Recursive teachers who identify childrens
  weaknesses and strengths in order to plan
  systematic and organized remediation programs.

25
What LD, LEP children need to improve their
reading

• Implementing and including Phonics and phonemic
  awareness based tasks with ESL methods like
• The Cognitive Academic Language Learning
  Approach (CALLA).
• Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)
• Total Physical Response (TPR)
• Language Experience Approach (LEA)

26
What LD, LEP children need to improve their
reading

• Have access to high-quality instruction to help
  them meet high expectations.
• Teachers who use strategies known to be effective
  with English learners such as
• Drawing on their previous knowledge.
• Providing opportunities to review previously
  learned concepts and teaching them to employ
  those concepts.
• Organizing themes or strands that connect the
  curriculum across subject areas
• Providing individual guidance , assistance, and
  support to fill gaps in background knowledge

27
Sources
Baca, L De Valenzuela, J.S. (1994).
Reconstructing the Bilingual Special Education
Interface. ncela Program Information
Guide Series, Number 20, Fall 1994. Retrieved on
03/06/2005 from http//www.ncela.gwu.edu/p
ubs/pigs/pig20.htm Bowe, F. G. (202).
Enhancing reading ability to prevent students
from becoming Low-functioning deaf as
adults. American Annals of the Deaf. 147, 22-27.
Retrieved on July 2nd 2003, from
Proquest.Umi.com via NCLive. www.nclive.org. Case
, R. E. Taylor, S. S. (2005) Language Difference
or Learning Disability? Answers from a
Linguistic Perspective. The Clearing House.
Washington Jan/Feb 2005. Vol. 78. Lss3
retrieved on 3/6/05 from http//nclive.lib.unc.ed
u2074/pqdweb?index0did797063031SrchMode1sid
1Fmt4VInstPRODVTypePQDRQT309VNamePQDTS
1110752095clientId15094 Chamot, A.U.
OMalley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA handbook
Implementing the cognitive academic
language learning approach. New York
Addison-Wesley. Cummins, J. 2003. BICS and CALP
Retrieved on 03/12/2005 from
http//www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/bicscalp.html
Cummins, J. (1989). A theoretical framework for
bilingual special education. Exceptional
Children, 56 (2), 111-119.
28
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R. Hyams, N. (2003) Ch. 8.
Language acquisition. In An introduction to
language (7th. Ed.). Boston Heinle. Harwell,
Joan M. 2001. Complete Learning disabilities
handbookNew edition. Paramus, NJ The
center for Applied Research in Education. Krashen
, S. (2002). Not soft science. Retrieved July 27,
2004 from http//www.azusausd.k12.ca.us/bil
ingual/pdf5CKrashen19.pdf Law, B. Eckes, M.
(200). The more than just-surviving handbook ESL
for every classroom teacher. Winnipeg
Portage Main Press. Learning Disabilities of
America, 1998. LDA News briefs. Vol. 38, No. 4.
Retrieved July 1, 2004 from
http//www.ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/teaching_r
eading. Learning Disabilities of America, 2004
Retrieved July 1,2004 from
http//ldanatl.org/aboutld/teachers/understanding/
print_types.asp. Lopez-Reyna, N. (2002).
Instructional strategies for English language
learners with disabilities. In Serving
English language learners with disabilities a
resource manual for Illinois educators.
Retrieved March 05, 2005, from http//wwwisbe.stat
e.il.us/spec-ed/PDF/BMChapter 7-7-12.pdf National
Institute of Child, Health Human Development.
(n.d.) Report of the National Reading Panel
Teaching Children to Read. Retrieved July 27,
2004 from http//www.nichd.nih.gov/publicati
ons/nrp/findings.htm
29
NCPublicSchools.org. Dropout data Report
2001-2002. Gender and race, Retrieved July 29,
2003, from http//www.ncpublicschools.org/
schoolimprovement/dropoutreport02/11genderrace.ht
ml NCPublicSchools.org.(2004) (SLD in NC)
Retrieved June 10, 2004, from
http//149.168.35.67/WDS/TableViewer/tableView.asp
x?ReportId11 One Hundred Fifth Congress of the
United States of America (1997) Individuals with
disabilities education act amendments of
1997. Retrieved July 25, 2003 from
http//www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/policy/IDEA/IDEA.p
df Ochoa, T. A. (2003) Bilingual Education. In
C. J. Ovando, V.P. Collier, M.C. Combs,
Bilingual education and ESL classrooms Teaching
in multicultural context. New York McGraw
Hill. Reed, B. Railsback, J. 2003. Strategies
and resources for mainstream Teachers of
English Language Learners. Norwest Regional
Educational Laboratory. Portland, OR
Retrieved on 03/12/2005 from
http//www.nwrel.org/request/2003may/textonly.html

30
Wiese, A.M. Garcia, E. (1998). The bilingual
education act Language minority students and
equal education opportunity. Bilingual Research
Journal, 22, 1-13. Retrieved July 25, 2003,
from http//brj.asu.edu/v221/articles/art1.html
Skrtic, T.M. (1988) The crisis in special
education knowledge. In E.L. Meyen, and T.M.
Skrtic (Esds.), Exceptional children and
youth (3rd ed.). (415-447). Denver, CO Love
Publishing Wrigley, P.G. (2005) Language
difference or disorder? Strategies for Assessing
English Language Learners Suspected of
Having a Disability. Senior IV Comprehensive
Center/ESCORT.