Reed

1
Language and Children with Learning Disabilities

• Chapter 4
• Reed

2
LABELS AND TERMINOLOGY

• Some terms reflect description or etiology
• Term first used in the 1960s
• Learning Disabilities
• Definitions page 135
• Clinical-inferential approach to
  subclassification
• Statistical analysis for subclassification
• Historical approach to subclassification

3

• Dyslexia (Reading Disabilities)
• Specific problem is learning to read
• Developmental language perspective
• Underlying problem is language, not perceptual
  difficulties

4

• Learning disability should not be confused with
  low or underachievement.
• Low Achievement
• Failure to learn due to other causes that
  learning disability
• Underachievement
• Failure to learn up to expected cognitive ability

5

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Definition
• Children who are hyperactive have difficulty in
  directing and sustaining attention. This impairs
  the ability to learn/especially for formal
  instruction
• Symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsiv
  ity
• See chart page 138
• ADHD and learning disability are estimated to
  co-occur in 20 to 50 percent of cases

6

• Phonological Processing Disorder
• Double meaning
• Difference in speech
• Difference in processing phonological information
  in the brain
• Metalinguistic difficulties
• Development Apraxia of Speech

7

• Central Auditory Processing Disorder
• Still controversial as related to diagnosis
• Not well bounded clinically
• Diagnosis includes an audiologist
• http//www.ldonline.org/article/8056

8

• Minimal Brain Dysfunction
• Archaic term today

9
Prevalence

• Largest number of children receiving special
  education services
• 2.1 percent of girls grades 1-12
• 4.5 percent of boys grades 1-12
• See USDE statistics
• http//www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/2003
  /25th-vol-1-sec-1.pdf

10
Risk factors

• ADHD
• Hearing Loss
• Heredity

11
History

• Features change over the life of the individual

12
Linguistic Issues Relevant to Learning Disability

• Metalinguistic skills
• Differences between spoken and written language
• Differences between home and school language
• Differences in developmental expectations for
  language knowledge and use