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How the Special Needs Brain Learns

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How the Special Needs Brain Learns David Sousa By ... Interior Parts of the Brain (pp. 8-12) Mirror Neurons (p. 12) Mirror Neurons (cont.) Mirror Neurons ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: How the Special Needs Brain Learns


1
How the Special Needs Brain Learns
  • David Sousa
  • By
  • Dr. Paul A. Rodríguez 11
  • Introduction,
  • Chapters 1 2

2
Who are the special needs students?
  • Those diagnosed and classified with having
    specific learning problems, including speech,
    reading, writing, math, emotional behavioral
    disorders
  • Those enrolled in supplemental instruction
    programs for basic skills, such as Title 1
  • Those not classified but still struggling with
    problems affecting their learning

3
Who is not covered in Sousas book?
  • Those students with learning problems resulting
    primarily from hearing, visual, or physical
    handicaps

4
Focus of Sousas book
  • Brain research how it can help teachers reach
    special needs learners
  • Common difficulties disorders that teachers are
    likely to encounter
  • Practical applications/strategies
  • Not to be used for diagnoses!

5
Something to Think About
  • As we gain a greater understanding of the human
    brain, we may discover that some students
    designated as learning disabled may merely be
    schooling disabled. Sometimes, these students
    are struggling to learn in an environment that is
    designed inadvertently to frustrate their
    efforts

6
Something to Think About (cont.)
  • Just changing our instructional approach may be
    enough to move these students to the ranks of
    successful learners. (Sousa, p. 4)

7
The Brain and Learning (chapter 1)
8
Exterior Parts of the Brain(pp. 5-8)
  • Four lobes in each hemisphere each lobe tends
    to specialize for certain functions
  • Motor cortex and somatosensory cortex
  • Cerebellum

9
Interior Parts of the Brain(pp. 8-12)
  • Brainstem
  • Limbic area thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus,
    amygdala
  • Cerebrum
  • Brain cells related parts neurons, glial
    cells, dendrites, axon, myelin, sheath, synapse,
    synaptic vesicles, neurotransmitters

10
Mirror Neurons (p. 12)
  • Clusters of neurons in the premotor cortex fire
    just before person carries out a planned movement
  • Also fire when see someone else perform the
    movement (reach for ball or cup)
  • Scientists believe mirror neurons help us decode
    the intentions predict the behavior of others

11
Mirror Neurons (cont.)
  • Structures in the limbic area that activate
    during ones own pain also activate during
    empathy
  • See look of disgust, pain, happiness, etc. on
    someone elses face triggers that feeling in us

12
Mirror Neurons (cont.)
  • Mirror neurons might explain young childrens
    mimicry, yawning when someone else does, etc.
  • New idea People with autism may have a deficit
    in their mirror-neuron system, which would
    explain why they have difficulty inferring the
    intentions and emotions of others

13
Learning and Retention
  • Learning is the process by which we acquire new
    knowledge skills
  • Memory is the process by which we retain
    knowledge skills for the future
  • Retention is the process by which long-term
    memory preserves learning so that the memory can
    be located, identified, retrieved accurately in
    the future

14
Retention (cont.)
  • Retention requires building conceptual frameworks
    that have personal meaning to the student
  • This relevancy is especially important for
    students with special needs, as they may have
    trouble focusing for very long

15
Rehearsal(pp. 14-15)
  • Time is needed for initial and secondary
    rehearsal for information to first enter
    working memory and for the brain to make sense of
    that information add details
  • Rote rehearsal remember store (often seen as
    boring to students with learning disabilities)
  • Elaborative rehearsal associate new learning
    with prior learning

16
Rehearsal (cont.)
  • Students with learning disabilities often find
    rote rehearsal boring
  • They need more time guidance through
    elaborative rehearsal seeing relationships,
    finding meaning/relevance

17
Something to Remember
  • Rehearsal only contributes to, but does not
    guarantee, information transfer into long-term
    storage. However, there is almost no long-term
    retention without rehearsal. (p. 15)

18
Learning Motor Skills(pp. 15-16)
  • Too much conscious attention focused on learning
    a new motor skill can reduce the quality of the
    output
  • Attention awareness are necessary for learning
    a new skill, though
  • Deep sleep time help skill become more
    automatic (requiring less direct thinking)
  • Continued practice helps

19
Learning Difficulties Motor Skills
  • Low motor ability does not necessarily mean low
    perceptual or intellectual ability
  • Sometimes can be related developmental dyslexia
  • ADD may not be able to focus long enough to
    learn new motor skills get person to focus
    externally

20
Todays Brains
  • Differences in environment of past present
    see pp. 16-18
  • Brain seeks novelty if classroom is too
    predictable in its stimuli, then the brain will
    look inward for novel sensations
  • Even using technology in the classroom may not be
    novel enough depends on how it is used

21
Something to Think About
  • What some teachers see as a learning disability
    may jus be alienation from school due to lack of
    engagement, relevance, novelty (Sousa, p. 18)
  • We must adjust our schools even more to keep up
    with the changing brains

22
When Learning Difficulties Arise(Sousa chapter 2)
23
Prenatal Development(p. 19)
  • Defective apoptosis (purposeful destruction of
    extra neurons) may prune more than it should,
    such as photographic memory
  • Maternal drug alcohol use can interfere with
    growing brain cells fetal addiction mental
    defects

24
Infancy(p. 19)
  • 20 hours of sleep each day energy for rapid
    brain development neuron connections
  • A richer environment more connections made
    faster learning with more meaning

25
Approaching Puberty(pp. 19-20)
  • Neuron connection pace slows
  • Useful connections become permanent
  • Non-useful connections are eliminated (apoptosis)
  • All decisions based on experience
  • These processes continue throughout life, but are
    most intense during ages 3-12

26
Possible Causes of Learning Disabilities (pp.
20-27)
  • Genetics
  • Maternal use of tobacco, alcohol, other drugs
  • Problems during pregnancy or delivery
  • Toxins in the childs environment
  • Stress in the childs environment

27
Possible Causes of Learning Disabilities (cont.)
  • Gender differences (p. 25)
  • More boys than girls
  • Foreign body response?
  • Testosterone?
  • Genetic mutations on the X chromosome?

28
Most Effective Forms of Instruction(p. 25)
  • Combine direct instruction with teaching students
    learning strategies (memorization study skills)
  • Use of technology
  • Control of task difficulty small group work

29
Misconceptions about Learning Disabilities
  • Look at chart on p. 26
  • Which misconceptions do you have?
  • Which misconceptions do you hear most often from
    others?

30
Gifted Students with Learning Disabilities (p. 27)
  • Twice-exceptional
  • 2-5 of student population
  • Tend to fall through the cracks
  • Often labeled lazy see Levine

31
Responsiveness to Intervention(pp. 27-31)
  • Many variations, but all follow basics
  • Use data
  • Multi-tiered interventions

32
Helping Students Become Strategic Learners (pp.
31-35)
  • Cognitive metacognitive strategies (p. 34)
  • Students with learning disabilities may have
    problems with learning due to being overwhelmed,
    disorganized, frustrated, unable to follow
    directions, etc.
  • They may have perception or processing problems
  • Lack of prior success lack of confidence
  • They may not see connection with information

33
Helping Students Become Strategic Learners (cont.)
  • Therefore, students with learning disabilities
    need to learn strategies for how to learn
  • Some of these strategies include note taking,
    outlining, asking questions, rereading, asking
    others to edit work, making up mnemonic devices
  • See even more strategies on p. 33

34
Something to Remember
  • Learning and retention are more likely to occur
    when students can observe, engage in, discuss,
    reflect upon, and practice new learning. (Sousa,
    p. 34)

35
Importance of Self-Esteem(pp. 35-36)
  • Students with learning disabilities often have
    negative feelings about learning
  • They feel that they cannot learn, because they
    could not in the past
  • School-based interventions to raise self-esteem
    do show success
  • Word of caution Not all of our perceptions about
    self-esteem appear to be correct (bullies, drug
    users, etc.)

36
Strategies to Consider
  • Break into 5 groups
  • Each group (or individual) will take one of the
    Strategies to Consider (pp. 37-47) summarize
    the ideas as quickly as possible
  • You will have 5 minutes to do that, then 1 minute
    to present your summary

37
Final Discussion
  • What are the main ideas that you will take away
    from Sousas introduction and chapters 1 2 that
    we just went over?
  • How will you apply those ideas in your classroom
    beginning immediately?
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