Understanding Learning Disabilities: Definitions, History, and Key Characteristics

1. Introduction to Learning Disabilities Prepared by: CiciliaEviGradDiplSc, M. Psi

2. Brief History • Foundation phase: 1800s • 1920-1930  Samuel Orton called it: dyslexia • 1930s  Helen Davidson found a persistent letter ‘reversals’  b, d, p, q, g • The term Learning Disabilities was introduced by Prof. Sam Kirk at a meeting of parents and professionals in Chicago on April 6, 1963 • Marianne Frostig: if visual perception enhanced  improve reading abilities  could NOT be validate

3. Definition • Hard to reach agreement … • Learning disabilities describes a condition of unexpected underachievement – in which academic performance significantly below what would be predicted from the individual’s talents and potential shown in other areas (Smith & Tyler, 2009) • The official name: specific learning disabilities

4. LD? • Different with difficulties that we have in daily situation  which is infrequent • For LD, the difficulties are common situations • Therrien & Kubina (2006)  particular difficulties including: • achieving reading fluency (able to read quickly and correctly) • developing reading proficiency (reading efficiently with understanding)

5. Points of Similarity • Neurological dysfunction  to some extent, other factors at school/home may exacerbate this condition • Difficulty in academic tasks  reading, writing, math or spelling, or listening, speaking or thinking

6. Points of Similarity (2) • Discrepancy between achievement and potentials  normal intelligence, but having academic problems  2 years behind expected grade level • Exclusion of other causes  mental retardation, emotional disturbances, hearing/visual impairments, or social/cultural disadvantage

7. IQ/Achievement Discrepancy • Students have to wait  sometimes for years. Usually diagnosed at 3rd grade • Reliance on IQ score • Size of special education category  it is still large, due to education service • Uniqueness and individual patterns of learning  heterogeneous group of learners  no single treatment, explanation or accommodation is uniformly effective

8. Unexpected Underachievement • Problems not due to their intelligence capacity • Can’t achieve academically like their classmates without disabilities • Face challenges in almost every academic area • Key features of LD: cognitive problems, poor motivation, along with insufficient instructional response to instruction • LD reflects deficits in the ability to process information or remember it (Torgensen, 2002)

9. Reading/Learning Disabilities • Student’s reading ability are significantly below those of classmates without disabilities • Significantly below what is expected on the basis of the student’s other abilities • Also have written communication problems • Called dyslexia • Started with difficulties to decode words and gain information from printed pages • Complexity of tasks ↑ - harder to keep the pace

10. They are dyslexic …

11. Math/Learning Disabilities • 5-8 percent of all students (Kunsch, Jitendra & Sood, 2003) • Many students who have reading disabilities, also have math disabilities  both have their roots in an inability to master core, foundation skills during preschool (Chard, dkk, 2008) • Solving multistep problems (borrowing and long division) and solving word problems

12. Resistant to Treatment • Called as ‘nonresponders’ (Fuchs & Deschler, 2007) • Do not profit from typical instruction used in the general education classes • Require intensive, individualized instruction

13. Characteristics • Holding negative attributions • Being nonstrategic • Being unable to generalize or transfer learning • Processing information inefficiently or incorrectly • Possessing poor social skills

14. Negative Attributions • Motivation  inner drive to be succeed • Attributions  self-explanations about the reasons for one’s success or failures • Years of being unsuccessful  convince them that there is nothing they can do  learned helplessness • Stop asking Qs, seek help, read materials  believe in external power: luck, others • Need to have understanding of effort and accomplishment

15. Nonstrategic • Being organized  efficient and effective learning • Thinking skills : • Chunking  by groups • Associating  using relationships among and between facts, ideas, different knowledge bases • Sequencing  sequencing units or information along a dimension

16. Inability to Generalize • Difficulty to transfer their learning to novel situations or extend their learning of one skill to similar skills • Borrowing vs Zero in the tens coloumn

17. Faulty Information Processing • Human brain = computer (Janet Lerner) • Input processing output • LD have difficulty in either one of the process or simply, they do it differently than typical learners • Identify the differences on how students can understand the task  to improve academic performances

18. Poor Social Skills • 75% of LD  influence self-concept, ability to make friends, interactions, schoolwork • Why? • Relationships: among LD  language impairments  social competence (ability to perceive and interpret social situations, generate appropriate social response and interact with others) • Downward spiral: academic failure  positive peer relationships

19. Causes and Prevention • Still hard to document • One assumptions: neurological, may be brain damage  caused by lack of oxygen before, during, after birth • Many LD reports they have relatives with similar problems  genetic link • Prevention?

20. Overcoming Challenges • Effective instruction (example of DB cases) • Target the right skills, set goals and expectation high, use validated instructional procedures, and support their LD students to meet their goals • Educators have to be creative!

21. Homework • Find an article from magazine, internet or any kind of sources that you can find about the family of children with LD. • Make sure that you read the article • Identify the problems, difficulties, strategy and intervention that they have • Share with the class next week