Specific Learning Disabilities

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Specific Learning Disabilities

• Overview

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• IDEA defines a specific learning disability as
• The term means a disorder in one or more of the
  basic psychological processes involved in
  understanding or in using language, spoken or
  written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect
  ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,
  spell, or to do mathematical calculations,
  including conditions such as perceptual
  disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain
  dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

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Learning Disability

• Disorders not included. The term does not include
  learning problems that are primarily the result
  of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of
  mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or
  of environmental, cultural, or economic
  disadvantage.

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Learning Disability

• Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education
  Improvement Act 2004 the definition of a
  specific learning disability is unchanged.
  However, Section 1414(b)(6) IDEA 2004 states that
  schools shall not be required to take into
  consideration whether a child has a severe
  discrepancy between achievement and intellectual
  ability in oral expression, listening
  comprehension, written expression, basic reading
  skill, reading comprehension, mathematical
  calculation, or mathematical reasoning.

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Learning Disabilities

• Learning disabilities can be characterized by a
  discrepancy between a students ability and his
  or her achievement in areas such as reading,
  writing, mathematics, or speaking. This option is
  up to the individual school, or agency doing the
  assessment.

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Learning Disability

• Discrepancy Formula
• EGE year in school x IQ
• 100 1.0
• EGE MA CA Grade Age / 3 5
• SD CA IQ
• 300 .17 2.5

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Causes

• learning disabilities. Learning disabilities are
  presumed to be disorders of the central nervous
  system and a variety of factors may contribute to
  their occurrence. Learning disabilities may be
  due to

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Causes

• Heredity. Learning disabilities tend to run in
  families. It is not unusual to discover that
  people with learning disabilities come from
  families in which other family members have
  reported similar difficulties.

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Causes

• Problems during pregnancy and childbirth.
  Learning disabilities may be caused by illness or
  injury during or before birth. Learning
  disabilities may also be caused by the use of
  drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, RH
  incompatibility with the mother (if untreated),
  premature or prolonged labor or lack of oxygen or
  low weight at birth.

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Causes

• Incidents after birth. Head injuries, nutritional
  deprivation, poisonous substances, (e.g., lead),
  and child abuse can contribute to learning
  disabilities

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Characteristics

• Students who have learning disabilities may
  exhibit a wide range of traits, including
• problems with reading comprehension
• spoken language
• writing
• reasoning ability
• Hyperactivity
• Inattention
• perceptual coordination problems may also be
  associated with learning disabilities.

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Characteristics

• Other traits that may be present include a
  variety of symptoms, such as
• uneven and unpredictable test performance
• perceptual impairment
• motor disorders

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Characteristics

• behaviors such as impulsiveness
• low tolerance for frustration
• problems in handling day-to-day social
  interactions and situations
• inconsistent school performance

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Characteristics

• difficulty remembering today what was learned
  yesterday, but may know it tomorrow
• short attention span (restless, easily
  distracted)

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Characteristics

• letter and number reversals (sees "b" for "d" or
  "p", "6" for "9", "pots" for "stop" or "post")
• poor reading (below age and grade level)
• frequent confusion about directions and time
  (right-left, up-down, yesterday-tomorrow)

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Characteristics

• personal disorganization (difficulty in following
  simple directions/schedules has trouble
  organizing, planning, and making best use of
  time frequent loss or misplacement of homework,
  schoolbooks, or other items)

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Characteristics

• impulsive and/or inappropriate behavior (poor
  judgment in social situations, talks and acts
  before thinking)
• failure on written tests but high scores on oral
  exams (or vice versa)

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Characteristics

• speech problems (immature language development,
  trouble expressing ideas, poor word recall)
• difficulty understanding and following
  instructions unless they are broken down to one
  or two tasks at a time
• seems immature and has difficulty making friends

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Characteristics

• trouble remembering what someone just told him or
  her
• poor coordination (in gross motor activities such
  as walking or sports and/or in fine motor
  activities such as tying a shoelace, holding a
  pencil, or handwriting - inconsistent, slow,
  messy, or illegible)

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Characteristics

• difficulty interpreting body language, facial
  expression, or tone of voice
• difficulty with development of sound/symbol
  correspondence

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Learning Disabilities

• Learning disabilities may occur in the following
  academic areas
• Spoken language Delays, disorders, or
  discrepancies in listening and speaking
• Written language Difficulties with reading,
  writing, and spelling

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Learning Disabilities

• Arithmetic Difficulty in performing arithmetic
  functions or in comprehending basic concepts
• Reasoning Difficulty in organizing and
  integrating thoughts and
• Organization skills Difficulty in organizing all
  facets of learning.

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Learning Disabilities

• Some of these problems can be found in all
  children at certain stages of development. When a
  child has a cluster of symptoms that do not
  disappear as she/he gets older, you might suspect
  learning disabilities.

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Common Types

• I-Dyslexia - a language-based disability in which
  a person has trouble understanding words,
  sentences, or paragraphs.

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Symptoms of Dyslexia

• Symptoms in preschoolersSome of the symptoms of
  dyslexia or SLD in a preschooler could include
• Delayed speech.
• Problems with pronunciation.
• Problems with rhyming words and learning rhymes.
• Difficulty with learning shapes, colors and how
  to write their own name.
• Difficulty with retelling a story in the right
  order of events.

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Symptoms of Dyslexia

• Symptoms in primary school childrenSome of the
  symptoms in a primary school age child could
  include
• Problems with reading a single word.
• Regularly confuses certain letters when writing,
  such as 'd' and 'b' or 'm' and 'w'.
• Regularly writes words backwards, such as writing
  'pit' when the word 'tip' was intended.

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Symptoms of Dyslexia

• Problems with grammar, such as learning prefixes
  or suffixes.
• Tries to avoid reading aloud in class.
• Doesn't like reading books.
• Reads below their expected level.

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Symptoms of Dyslexia

• Symptoms in high school childrenSome of the
  symptoms in a high school student could include
• Poor reading.
• Bad spelling, including different misspellings of
  the same word in one writing assignment.
• Difficulties with writing summaries.
• Problems with learning a foreign language.

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Types

• II-Dyscalculia - a mathematical disability in
  which a person has a difficult time solving
  arithmetic problems and grasping math concepts.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Normal or accelerated language acquisition
  verbal, reading, writing. Poetic ability. Good
  visual memory for the printed word. Good in the
  areas of science (until a level requiring higher
  math skills is reached), geometry (figures with
  logic not formulas), and creative arts.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Difficulty with the abstract concepts of time and
  direction. Inability to recall schedules, and
  sequences of past or future events. Unable to
  keep track of time. May be chronically late.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face
  retrieval. Substitute names beginning with same
  letter.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Inconsistent results in addition, subtraction,
  multiplication and division. Poor mental math
  ability. Poor with money and credit. Cannot do
  financial planning or budgeting. Checkbooks not
  balanced. Short term, not long term financial
  thinking. Fails to see big financial picture. May
  have fear of money and cash transactions. May be
  unable to mentally figure change due back, the
  amounts to pay for tips, taxes, etc

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• When writing, reading and recalling numbers,
  these common mistakes are made number additions,
  substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and
  reversals.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Inability to grasp and remember math concepts,
  rules, formulas, sequence (order of operations),
  and basic addition, subtraction, multiplication
  and division facts. Poor long term memory
  (retention retrieval) of concept mastery- may
  be able to perform math operations one day, but
  draw a blank the next! May be able to do book
  work but fails all tests and quizzes.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• May be unable to comprehend or "picture"
  mechanical processes. Lack "big picture/ whole
  picture" thinking. Poor ability to "visualize or
  picture" the location of the numbers on the face
  of a clock, the geographical locations of states,
  countries, oceans, streets, etc.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Poor memory for the "layout" of things.  Gets
  lost or disoriented easily. May have a poor sense
  of direction, loose things often, and seem absent
  minded. (Remember the absent minded professor?)

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• May have difficulty grasping concepts of formal
  music education. Difficulty sight-reading music,
  learning fingering to play an instrument, etc.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• May have poor athletic coordination, difficulty
  keeping up with rapidly changing physical
  directions like in aerobic, dance, and exercise
  classes. Difficulty remembering dance step
  sequences, rules for playing sports.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Difficulty keeping score during games or
  difficulty remembering how to keep score in
  games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of
  whose turn it is during games, like cards and
  board games. Limited strategic planning ability
  for games, like chess.

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Types

• III-Dysgraphia - a writing disability in which a
  person finds it hard to form letters or write
  within a defined space.

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Generally illegible writing (despite appropriate
  time and attention given the task)
• Inconsistencies mixtures of print and cursive,
  upper and lowercase, or irregular sizes, shapes,
  or slant of letters
• Unfinished words or letters, omitted words

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Inconsistent position on page with respect to
  lines and margins.
• Inconsistent spaces between words and letters
• Cramped or unusual grip, especially
• Holding the writing instrument very close to the
  paper, or
• Holding thumb over two fingers and writing from
  the wrist

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Strange wrist, body, or paper position
• Talking to self while writing, or carefully
  watching the hand that is writing

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Dyscalculia-Symptoms

• Slow or labored copying or writing - even if it
  is neat and legible
• Content which does not reflect the student's
  other language skills

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Types

• IV-Dysorthographia Individuals with this
  disorder have difficulties utilizing clues from
  several sources that aid in deciding on the
  correct spelling of a word. It is a specific
  learning disability that involves an inability or
  delay in learning to properly spell words from
  letters

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Dysorthographia-Symptoms

• Dysorthographia involves persistent problems with
  symbol recognition and ordering that are
  essential for proper spelling.

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Dysorthographia-Symptoms

• People who are poor spellers typically have
  trouble analyzing the sounds, syllables, and
  meaningful parts of words in both spoken language
  and written language.

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Dysorthographia-Symptoms

• . In addition, they often have trouble learning
  other types of symbolic codes such as math facts
  and math operation signs

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Types

• Auditory and Visual Processing Disabilities -
  sensory disabilities in which a person has
  difficulty understanding language despite normal
  hearing and vision. HANDOUT

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Prevalence

• As many as 1 out of every 5 people in the United
  States has a learning disability. Almost 3
  million children (ages 6 through 21) have some
  form of a learning disability and receive special
  education in school.

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Prevalence

• In fact, over half of all children who receive
  special education have a learning disability

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Gender Differences

• LD is twice as common in males as in females,
  Males are significantly more likely than females
  to fall within each major disability group.

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Co-morbidity

• Co-morbidity means that certain diseases and
  disorders tend to occur together
• In 25 of the cases of Learning disabilities, a
  co-morbid condition is Attention
  Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder-AD/HD

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Educational Implications

• Supports or changes in the classroom (sometimes
  called accommodations) help most students with
  LD.

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Educational Implications

• Specifically, technology can help individuals
  with disabilities become more efficient and
  effective learners

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Other Facts

• Learning disabilities should not be confused with
  other disabilities such as mental retardation,
  autism, deafness, blindness, and behavioral
  disorders.

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Other Facts

• New statistics indicate that about 47.5 of the
  disability population are individuals with
  learning disabilities

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Other Facts

• Approximately 85 of all individuals with
  learning disabilities have difficulties in the
  area of reading.

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Other Facts

• 44 of parents who noticed their child exhibiting
  signs of problems with learning waited a year or
  more before acknowledging their child might have
  a serious problem.

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Other Facts

• 35 of children with learning disabilities drop
  out of high school. This is twice the rate of
  students without learning disabilities. Of those
  who do graduate, less than two percent attend a
  four-year college, despite the fact that many are
  above average in intelligence.