Understanding Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities

Understanding Dyslexia and Other Learning

Disabilities

Linda SiegelUniversity of British Columbia

Vancouver, CANADA

linda.siegel@ubc.ca

Specific Learning Disabilities Defined

• Problem in an academic area – reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, mathematical problem solving

• Normal intelligence

Learning Disabilities and Mental Health

• Children with learning disabilities are at risk for mental health problems

• Anxiety, depression, oppositional/defiant and conduct disorder may be a result of learning disabilities

• It is important to identify and treat learning disabilities

Identifying Learning Disabilities Is Important

• 82 % of the street youth in Toronto had undetected and unremediated learning disabilities

• All the adolescent suicides in a 3 year period in Ontario had undetected and unremediated learning disabilities

• 75-95% of the people in prisons have unidentified and unremediated learning disabilities

Prison Costs - Canada

• $75,000 per year to keep one person in prison

• $75,000 per year – the cost of a special education teacher

• Where should we spend the money?– Prisons– Special Education teachers

What To Look For In The Classroom

• Decoding, Word Recognition Difficulties

• Poor Spelling - dictation

• Poor Handwriting

• Difficulty with Number Facts

• Difficulty with Multiplication Tables

• Behaviour problems

Types of Specific Learning Disabilities

• Dyslexia (Reading Disability)

• Mathematics Disability (Dyscalculia)

• Writing Disability (Dysgraphia, Developmental Output Disorder

• Non-verbal Learning Disability

Dyslexia

• Dyslexia = Reading disability

• Difficulty in the speed and accuracy of word reading and spelling– Unlike popular belief, dyslexia does

not mean that a child reverses letters

Reading Test

the

and

sit

when

book

anacampersote

mithridatism

qualtagh

ucalegon

groak

Interpretation of the Reading Test

Characteristics Of Dyslexia

Difficulty with:

• Recognizing the sounds in speech

• Knowing the sounds of the letters

• Finding the right word

• Grammar

• Memory

Characteristics Of Dyslexia

Strengths

• Music

• Sports

• Art

• Visual-Spatial Skills

• Mechanical Skills

Block Rotation

•The student is required to identify which of 2 patterns represent the target that has been rotated in 3D space

Professions

• Photographer• Architect• Pilot• Mechanic• Air traffic controller• Film maker

• Carpenter• Engineer• Welder• Designer• Animator

Mathematics Disability(Dyscalculia)

Challenges• Computational Arithmetic• Working Memory• Handwriting• Spelling • Fine-Motor Coordination• Learning a foreign language

Mathematics Disability

• Problems with Computational Arithmetic

• Short-term Memory• Handwriting• Spelling • Fine-Motor Coordination

Characteristics Of A Mathematics Disability

Strengths

• Verbal Skills• Ability to make Inferences• Problem solving• Logical Reasoning• Drama• Humor

Non-Verbal Learning Disability

Non-Verbal Learning Disability

• Like mathematics disability but with a component of problems with social skills.

Non-Verbal Learning Disability

• Like mathematics disability but with a component of problems with social skills.

Non Verbal Learning Disability

• You and Tom are friends. You have been assigned to work together on a science project in school and only have two days to finish the project. You meet after school and you say you want to start the project right away, but Tom wants to play football first.

Non-Verbal Learning Disability

• less likely to recognize emotions in themselves and others,

• had trouble understanding the viewpoint of the other people in the story,

• more likely to see others as hostile and mean.

Writing Disability

• Sloppy handwriting• Can tell good stories but has trouble

writing them down• Poor fine motor coordination• Poor working memory for words and

numbers• Problems with spelling• Poor organization when writing

Group activity

• Think of a student with whom you have had contact and describe his/her specific learning disability.

• Is the student receiving help?• Is the student officially diagnosed with a

SPLD?• If so, how long did the diagnosis take?• If not, why not? What are the barriers?

How should people be assessed for a learning

disability?

Assessment Of Ld

READING

Word Reading-Accuracy & Speed

Pseudoword Reading-Accuracy & Speed

Reading Comprehension

SPELLING

Dictation

MATHEMATICS/ARITHMETIC

Computation/Problem Solving

WRITING

INTERVIEW

Assessment of Reading

• Word Recognition (Identification)

• Pseudoword Reading

• Phonological Processing

• Reading Fluency

• Reading Comprehension – timed and untimed

Reading

catsee

bookshouldfingerglutton

emphasisintrigueusurp

idiosyncrasy

WOODCOCK WORD ATTACK

dee

plip

laip

cigbet

bafmotbem

monglustamer

Age 9

Age 15

Age 15

Age 15

Beery Test of Visual Motor Integration

• Copying shapes

• Not timed

• Erasures not allowed

Age 9

Age 9

What happens when difficulties are found

What support should be provided?

• Remediation

• Accommodations

• Building self esteem

• Identify and treat other conditions, such as emotional difficulties or ADHD

What is Remediation/Intervention?

• Remediation and intervention are direct teaching addressed specifically to a problem. The terms have very similar meanings.

Intervention/Remediation

• Phonological Awareness programs – Firm Foundations

• Multisensory programs, e.g. Wilson system, Orton Gillingham, Lindamood-Bell

• Build self esteem and advocacy skills

ABRACADABRAand ePEARL

• Computer software designed to help develop reading and writing skills

• Available for free to download on a school server

• Demonstration available on the web

• http://grover.concordia.ca/abra/current/

Children can “read” our books

Alphabetics development

Comprehension development

Writing development

ABRA helps with writing development

Built-in devices to help with planning- con’t

ABRA can capture and report student activity when using software

What are accommodations?

• Accommodations are changes in the usual manner of teaching that help the special education student

ACCOMMODATIONS

• High interest, low vocabulary books

• Screen reader

• Textbooks & Books on Tape

• Computer– Training – Keyboarding, Spelling, Grammar

Check, Thesaurus

– Speech Recognition System

• Find Strengths

ACCOMMODATIONS

• Tape Recorder for Lectures• Computer to Take Notes in Class• Note Taker• Calculator • Extended Time for Exams• Exams in Point Form

What about the IQ?

Discrepancy Definition

• The so-called discrepancy definition is the most commonly used definition of a learning disability

• In this definition, there must be a “significant” difference between the IQ score and the achievement score

• This definition is come under increasing criticism and is now considered invalid

• Provincial requirements for diagnosis and accommodation continue to rely on the discrepancy definition

Study of the IQ test with 3 groups

• Normal readers

• Dyslexics – have a discrepancy between IQ and reading score

• Poor Readers – sometime called low achievers – have no discrepancy between IQ and reading score

FULL SCALE IQ

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

Mea

n IQ

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

VERBAL IQ

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

Mea

n V

erb

al IQ

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

PERFORMANCE IQ

70

80

90

100

110

120

Mea

n P

erfo

rman

ce IQ

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

WRAT READING

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

GFW – Pseudoword Reading

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

Woodcock – Pseudoword Reading

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

WRAT – Spelling

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

PIAT– Spelling

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

Pseudoword Spelling

0

10

20

30

40

50

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

Stanford – Reading Comprehension

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Mea

n P

erce

nti

le

Normal Readers

Dyslexics

Poor Readers

Reading Group

Why not the IQ?

• There is no difference between the dyslexics and the low achievers in reading on basic reading and spelling skills

• An IQ test does not tell you how to help the child.

• An IQ does not predict the ability to benefit from remediation.

• There are no differences, as a function of IQ, in the response to remediation.

Using IQ

• IQ should not be done routinely but may help out in certain cases where retardation may be an issue.

• The multiple intelligences model is more valid.

Intervention and IQ

• Vellutino, F. R.,Scanlon, D. M.,Sipay, E. R.,Small, S. G.,Pratt, A.,Chen, R.,Denkla., Vellutino, F.R., et al., Cognitive profiles of difficult-to-remediate and readily remediated poor students: Early intervention as a vehicle for distinguishing between cognitive and experimental deficits as basic causes of specific reading disability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1996. 88(4): p. 601-638.

 • Vellutino, F., D. Scanlon, and G. Lyon, Differentiating between

difficult-to-remediate and readily remediated poor readers: More evidence against the IQ-discrepancy definition of reading disabiliy. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2000. 33(3): p. 223-238.

•  

The Individual Education Plan

• A description of the students current functioning in all areas, including strengths

• A description of what should be done to help the student with areas of difficulty

• A description of what will be done in the classroom to help the student

• A description of what resource people will help the student and in what areas

• A tanulási zavarok általános, összefoglaló kifejezés a különbözõ  képességdeficitekkel küzdõ heterogén csoport megjelölésére. Ilyenek a figyelmi funkciókban, beszédkészség, olvasási, írási és számolási készségek elsajátításában és használatában akadályozottak, de nem a képességhiányok hagyományos kategóriáiba (vakság, süketség és értelmi fogyatékosság) tartozók csoportjai. Bár a tanulási zavar más deficitekkel (pl. érzékszervi gyengeség, érzelmi zavarok) vagy negatív környezeti hatásokkal (pl. hátrányos szociokultúrális háttér, nem megfelelõ oktatás) együtt is jelentkezhet, azoknak nem egyenes következménye (Yewchuk & Lupart, 1993).

Understanding Dyslexia and Other Learning

Disabilities

Linda SiegelUniversity of British Columbia

Vancouver, CANADA

linda.siegel@ubc.ca