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Jossey-Bass TeacherJossey-Bass Teacher provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. We offer classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or vet-eran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best.
From ready-to-use classroom activities to the latest teaching frame-work, our value-packed books provide insightful, practical, and compre-hensive materials on the topics that matter most to K–12 teachers. We hope to become your trusted source for the best ideas from the most experienced and respected experts in the fi eld.
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The Complete Learning Disabilities HandbookReady-to-Use Strategies & Activities for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilitces
Third Edition
Joan Harwell Rebecca Williams Jackson
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Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by Jossey-Bass
A Wiley Imprint
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
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Printed in the United States of America
THIRD EDITION
PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgments xv
About the Authors xvii
About This Book xix
1 An Overview of the Field of Learning Disabilities 1
History of Learning Disabilities 2
Causal Factors 6
Incidence 8
Primary Characteristics of Learning Disabilities 8
Comorbid or Co-occurring Conditions 9
Attention Defi cit Hyperactivity Disorder 9
Conduct Disorder 10
Tourette Syndrome 10
Prognosis 10
Programs and Settings for the Learning Disabled 11
Facts About Learning Disabilities 12
Summary 14
List of Major Organizations for the Learning Disabled 14
Periodicals on Learning Disabilities 15
2 Research in the Field of Learning Disabilities 17
Overview of the Brain, Biology, and Behavior 17
Brain Injury 20
Structural Brain Differences 22
Biochemical Infl uences 25
Research on Memory 27
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vi Contents
Research on Metacognition 28
Research on Phonological Processing Problems 42
Research on Maturation and Retention 43
Research on Communication Problems 45
Research on Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, and Self-Effi cacy 45
Research on Teachers’ Perceptions 46
Research on Social Competence and Social Skills Training 46
Summary 47
3 Understanding the Laws 48
Parental Rights 50
Parents as Advocates 53
Student Rights 53
Teacher Rights and Obligations 53
Behavioral Goals and Behavioral Improvement Plans 54
Student and Parental Rights Regarding Suspension or Expulsion 56
Summary 57
4 Early Childhood Education for At-Risk Students 58
Special Education Services from Birth Through Age Two 62
Special Education Services for Children Ages Three Through Five 63
Assessment of Young Children 64
The Components of an Effective Early Childhood Education Program 65
Maturation and “Readiness” for Kindergarten 66
Summary 67
5 The Student Study Team Process 68
The Case for Early Intervention 69
Recognizing the Need 69
Talking with Parents 69
Parent and Student Preparation for the Student Study Team (SST) 71
Predictable Parental Feelings and Reactions 74
Initiating a Request for a Student Study Meeting 74
The Student Study Team Process 74
The Roles of the SST Members 76
Digital Classroom Accommodations 83
Sensory Accommodations 85
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Contents vii
6 Formal Assessment and Identifi cation of the Student with Learning Disabilities 86
The Multidisciplinary Team Process 86
Roles of the Members of the Multidisciplinary Team 87
Guidelines for Assessment 88
Intellectual Assessment 89
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) 89
Visual Perception 91
Auditory Perception 93
Memory 94
Academic Assessment 94
Commonly Used Tests 95
Classroom and Playground Observations 96
Time-on-Task Assessment 100
Language Assessment 102
Health Assessment 103
Behavioral Assessment 103
Summary 104
7 Planning for the Student with Learning Disabilities 110
Eligibility Issues 111
The Discrepancy Model 113
Exclusionary Criteria 114
Assessment Scores and Their Implication for Learning 115
Eligible or Not Eligible? Developing the Individual Education Plan (IEP) 117
Choosing the Appropriate Educational Setting (“Least Restrictive Environment”) 117
Determining the Number of Hours 118
Writing Appropriate, Measurable Objectives 119
The Purpose of Goals 119
Dissenting Opinions 120
Reviews of the IEP 120
The Annual Review 120
The Triennial Review 120
Special Reviews 120
Due Process 120
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viii Contents
8 Classroom Management for Teachers 127
Creating an Attractive and Useful Classroom 127
Planning the First Week’s Activities 128
Behavioral Management Considerations 129
Positive Reinforcement 129
Rules 130
Settling Students After a Recess 132
Projecting a Positive Feeling 132
Finding Better Ways to Talk to Students 133
Preventing Misbehavior 134
Keep the Environment Consistent and Structured 134
Help Students Succeed 134
Use Rewards, Contracts, Tokens, and Reinforcers 135
Rewards 135
Contracts 136
Lotteries 136
Token Economies 136
Handling Misbehavior 138
“Ball in Your Court” Technique 139
Timeout 139
Crisis Management 140
Four Types of Challenging Students 140
Record Keeping 143
Using the Classroom Aide Effectively 144
Twenty Tips for Successful Classroom Management 144
Sample Approaches to Handling Inappropriate Behaviors 146
Summary 149
9 Academic Management Considerations 150
Curriculum, Setting, and Students’ Needs 151
Getting to Know Your Students’ Academic Needs Quickly Through Informal Testing 152
Goal Setting and Effective Lesson Design 152
Planning the School Day 155
Planning for Flexibility 156
Scheduling and Pacing 156
Using a Variety of Activities 156
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Contents ix
Grouping Students 156
Allowing Students Some Choice in Assignments and Rewards 156
Transforming Passive Students into Participatory Students 157
Overcoming Failure Syndrome 157
Planning Cooperative Learning Tasks 158
Suggestions for Maximizing Educational Results 159
Improving Lesson Results Through Feedback 160
Improving Learning Through Specifi c Teaching Techniques 161
Tests That Teach 161
Story Mapping, Advanced Organizers, and Webs 162
Mnemonics 164
Use of Higher-Level Thinking Activities 164
Issues of Grading and Evaluation 165
Tips for Academic Management 166
10 Interventions for Specifi c Problems 168
Visual Perceptual Defi cits 169
Auditory Processing Defi cits 172
Spatial Awareness Defi cits 174
Conceptual Defi cits 175
Memory Defi cits 177
Students with Poor Work Habits 180
Interventions for Other Common LD Classroom Problems 182
Students with Poor Social Relationships or Behaviors 185
Students with Dyslexia 191
Sample History Assignment 193
Students with ADD or ADHD 194
Medical Treatment of ADD and ADHD 194
Behavioral Considerations for Students with ADD or ADHD 196
Tips for Classroom Teachers 197
11 Reading and the Student with Learning Disabilities 199
Who Will Have Trouble Learning to Read? 200
Elements of a Balanced Literacy Program 200
Phonemic Awareness 201
Sample Phonemic Awareness Lesson 1: Kindergarten–Grade 1 202
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x Contents
Sample Phonemic Awareness Lesson 2:Kindergarten–Grade 1 203
Sample Phonemic Awareness Lesson 3: Grades 1–2 (Instructional Level) 205
Sample Phonemic Awareness Lesson 4: Any Grade to High School 206
A Step-by-Step Guide for Teaching Reading to Students with Learning Disabilities 207
Letter Recognition and Sound Knowledge 210
Working with the Nonreader 211
Working with the Emergent Reader 216
Materials for Beginning and Emergent Readers 218
Working with the Guided Reader 220
Tips for Teaching Reading 228
12 Writing, Spelling, and Speaking 256
Printing 259
Teaching the Mechanics of Writing 260
Sample Interactive Writing Lesson (Instructional Level 1.3) 262
Sample Writing Lesson (Instructional Level 2.5) 265
Spelling for Young Students with Learning Disabilities 266
Materials 266
Methods 267
Speaking Activities for Young Students with Learning Disabilities 270
Handwriting Skills for Older Students with Learning Disabilities 271
The Mechanics of Writing for Older Students with Learning Disabilities 274
Letter Writing 277
E-mails and Digital Communication 278
Report Writing 278
Journal Writing 279
Spelling Activities for Older Students with Learning Disabilities 280
Speaking Opportunities for Older Students with Learning Disabilities 285
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Contents xi
Sample Lesson: Recognizing Nouns 286
Sample Lesson: Recognizing Verbs 288
Writing Activities 290
My Accident 291
Title of My Story 292
13 Teaching Mathematically Challenged Students 297
Diagnosing a Student’s Diffi culties 297
Teaching Techniques 299
Levels of Understanding: Concrete, Representational, and Abstract 299
Incorporating Reading into the Math Curriculum 303
Teaching Specifi c Skills 305
Counting Symbols and One-to-One Correspondence 305
Beginning Addition 306
Counting and Understanding the Numbers 0–100 307
Recognizing and Counting Coins 309
Place Value: Ones and Tens Place 309
Counting by Fives 311
Time—by the Hour 312
Time—by Hour and Minute 312
Beginning Subtraction 314
Doing and Undoing: Plus and Minus 314
Building Numbers 316
Addition and Regrouping 317
More and Less 317
Simple Story Problems 318
Subtraction With and Without Regrouping 318
Rounding Numbers to the Nearest 10 or Nearest 100 320
Recognizing and Spelling Number Words 320
Place Value—Through Thousands 323
Linear Measurement 323
Simple Multiplication Techniques 324
Simple Division Techniques 327
Doing and Undoing (Multiplication and Division) 327
Liquid Measurement 328
Fractions 328
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xii Contents
Estimating 331
More Complex Story Problems 331
More Complex Division 332
Relating Fractions to Decimals 332
Making Change 333
Summary 333
14 Adolescents and Adults with Learning Disabilities 335
Understanding the Changing Needs of the Adolescent 335
School Changes 335
Physical Changes 336
Efforts to Engage the Junior High Student in the Educational Process 337
Departmentalization (School Within a School) 337
Personal Efforts of Individual Teachers 338
Curriculum for the Junior High School 339
Basic Skills 340
Strategies to Increase Metacognition and Learning 341
The Art of Counseling Adolescent Students 341
Teaching Students to Be Their Own Advocates 343
Transition IEPs 346
Understanding the Needs of the High School Student with Learning Disabilities 346
Work-Study Program 347
Continuation Schools and Independent Study Programs 348
Life and Social Skills 348
Understanding the Needs of the Young Adult with Learning Disabilities 348
Services Available to Students Going to College 350
Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Learning Disabled 351
Adult Education Opportunities 351
15 The Role of the Family 352
The Role of Parents—as Parents 352
The Home Environment 353
Providing Worthwhile Activities 354
The Role of Parents—as Teachers 354
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Contents xiii
Supervision of Homework 354
Helping at School 356
The Role of Parents—as Advocates 356
Tips for Helping Your Child 357
16 Education in the New Millennium 359
Increased Mainstreaming 359
Increased Use of Technology 360
Class Size 361
Teacher Preparation Trends and Issues 362
Professional Salaries and Working Conditions 362
Conclusion 363
References 365
Further Reading 373
Index 377
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xv
Bill Jackson, my fi rst and foremost supportive partner and computer specialist, is an excellent editor, English professional, and computer instructor, all specialties that helped me get this book fi nished.
Rebecca Smith, my illustrator, worked on a tight deadline, produced beautiful work, and literally drove through snowstorms to help me.
Catherine Elgin, my Harvard adviser. Kate was the fi rst adviser who told me to write and keep writing, that my work would be published. I will always be grateful for that.
Margie, my editor, has been supportive from the start. She has faith-fully guided me through the steps of publishing and offered good advice and opportunities all the way around.
Nancy Mindick has been instrumental in providing information on visual processing and has been a sounding board for many of my ideas.
Dr. Rachel M. Williams has offered advice from a medical perspective and helped me work through the medical approach to learning disabilities.
St. Mary ’ s School teachers helped preview the book and give feedback during the writing process.
St. Peter ’ s School teachers helped gather information and let me look over student work to help solidify concepts and work samples.
Riverview School teachers reviewed the book and offered their feedback and support in rewriting this text.
Tiffany Winters graciously offered help in structuring the legal debates occurring in the fi eld of special education and school districts.
I want to thank my family for all their support and belief in my writ-ing: my husband and my daughter, Victoria; Mom, Dad, Rachel, Adam, Edward, Eric, Mary, Elizabeth, and Josh. Gratitude goes to Mary and Edward Milanowski and Kay and Paul Williams, my grandparents, who have spread the word about my book and work.
—RWJ
Acknowledgments
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This is dedicated to my daughter Jakki, who encourages me.—JH
I dedicate this book to my family, my rock.—RWJ
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xvii
Joan Harwell has more than 40 years of experience as a regular classroom teacher and a special education teacher for students with learning disa-bilities in San Bernardino, Calif. She was also a special education mentor teacher. After retirement from full-time teaching, she served as a fi eld work supervisor for student teachers and intem.
Rebecca Williams Jackson is an educational specialist who received her master ’ s degree in education from Harvard University. She has guided parents and students for over ten years, in the classroom and in private practice. She currently works as an educational consultant and advocate.
About the Authors
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The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook, Third Edition, covers the fi eld of learning disabilities from research to practice, including summaries of important laws, recent research in the fi eld, and dozens of reproduc-ible worksheets. This book is a collaboration of two experts in the fi eld of education: a master teacher with over forty years of experience and an educational specialist who graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The book covers many aspects of working with children with learning disabilities, from causes and assessment to classroom manage-ment and lesson planning.
Equally useful for special educators or general education teachers, the book includes practical information that all teachers need in order to address the increasingly diverse needs of the students in their classroom.
Topics covered include the following:
An overview of learning disabilities
Tips for teaching at - risk students
Classroom management strategies
Solutions to specifi c problems (including attention defi cits, dyslexia, poor social skills, low self - esteem, and other common classroom prob-lems related to learning disabilities)
Guidelines for interventions in specifi c academic areas
Advice for working with learning disabled adolescents and adults
Tips for successful collaboration with parents
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•
About This Book
xix
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Chapter 1
1
An Overview of the Field of Learning Disabilities
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Italian sculptor, painter, architect, engineer
Was believed to be learning disabled; used “ mirror writing ”
Contributions: Painting: Last Supper
Mona Lisa
The Adoration of the Magi
Drawing: Illustrated his anatomical observations; designed helicopters, bicycles, pumps, and military
weaponry
Learning disability (LD) is a term currently used to describe a group of neu-rological conditions that interfere with a person ’ s learning. Under the um-brella called LD, there are disorders related to listening, speaking, reading, reasoning, and mathematical calculation. Individuals with LD have intelli-gence in the near average, average, or above - average range. Because these individuals do not appear to be different, diffi culties are not expected. The impact of the conditions may range from mild to severe. As we expand our knowledge of learning disabilities, we have come to realize that learning disabilities may also include an attention - defi cit component, a socioemo-tional component, and perhaps emotional issues.
Unlike physical disabilities, learning disabilities are not so obvious and have been referred to as the “ hidden handicap. ” Sometimes these disabili-ties go unrecognized by parents, teachers, and physicians. As a result, indi-viduals with learning disabilities may be thought of as “ underachievers, ” “ lazy, ” or “ weird. ”
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2 The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook
Learning disabled individuals have to work harder to succeed. They receive more negative feedback regarding their work. They may experi-ence feelings of frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and worthlessness.
Individuals with LD need early identifi cation, sound remedial teach-ing appropriate to their needs, personal and family counseling, continuous training in social skills, vocational guidance, and on - the - job coaching.
History of Learning Disabilities The fi eld of learning disabilities is relatively young. Historically, the learning disabled person may not have been singled out in school; perhaps those with learning diffi culties dropped out of school or went to work. With the tech-nological revolution of the 1950s came a demand for an educated workforce that is adept at working with technology, machinery, and scientifi c study. Geographic mobility, an increase in international exposure, and the sudden spurt in technology are among many factors that have changed the scope of the education and work prospects for people with learning disabilities.
Dynamic social changes in society are putting pressure on schools to do a better job educating all students, especially as different tracking sys-tems and measurement agents have demonstrated the numbers of students graduating from high school and other schools. Numerous studies point to the fact that almost a quarter of students who enter high school don ’ t graduate.
Prior to 1937, there was no recognition of learning disabilities. In 1937, Samuel Orton, a neuropathologist, used the term “ strephosymbolia ” to describe a problem he had observed in children with reading diffi cul-ties, namely, the reversals of symbols, such as b and d, or words, such as saw and was. He thought that this might be caused by the failure of one hemisphere of the brain to establish dominance over the other, which he assumed resulted in mirror images of words and symbols. He noted that there seemed to be a continuum of reading disability ranging from mild cases to severe cases. The Orton Dyslexia Society was named for him.
The look - say method of learning to read in the early 1940s resulted in a high degree of failure to acquire reading skills. Samuel Orton, Anna Gillingham, Bessie Stillman, Romalda Spalding, and Grace Fernald respond-ed to the need by developing alternative methods to teach students who couldn ’ t learn to read by memorizing sight words. Despite their pioneer-ing efforts from 1940 to 1960, most students with learning disabilities were thought to be slow learners. It was rare that they received any special help. If they did, they were usually put into classes for the educably retarded.
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An Overview of the Field of Learning Disabilities 3
Research fi ndings in the 1960s were disturbing. Many children who had been classifi ed as retarded were found to have normal intelligence when tested in a nonverbal format. William Cruickshank suggested that their progress was being hindered by defi cits in perception and defi cits in attention.
A group of concerned parents of children who had diffi culty reading met in Chicago in 1963 to discuss the needs of their children. At that time, doctors referred to these children as being “ minimally brain damaged ” (MBD). These parents objected to the use of that label. Samuel Kirk, who was at this meeting, suggested a new term, “ learning disabled. ” The par-ents adopted the new term and established the parent organization Associ-ation of Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) and began to demand services for their children.
Shortly thereafter, the International Council for Exceptional Children created a division of the organization to address the needs of children with learning disabilities. By the late 1960s, education responded. Special edu-cation resource rooms were opened. Students were grouped for instruc-tion according to their needs. Special educators tried to work on children ’ s perceptual defi cits and to help them reduce their distractibility. Research in animal and human behavior by B. F. Skinner and others led to a very different approach, behavior modifi cation, which became very popular in education during the 1960s.
Attempts to classify learning disabilities into LD subtypes began in the 1970s with the works of Elena Boder, Byron Rourke, and Linda Siegel, and have continued since. The most signifi cant event of the 1970s was the pas-sage of Public Law 94 - 142 (the Education of All Handicapped Children Act) by Congress in 1975. It guaranteed that each handicapped child, age three to twenty - one, would receive a “ free and appropriate ” education in the “ least restrictive environment ” possible. This law became known as the “ mainstreaming ” law. Children with LD were to be educated in regular classrooms unless the nature and severity of their disability was so great that it could be demonstrated that they could not make progress in regular classes. Each school was given the services of a resource specialist.
Public Law 94- 142 had one enormous shortcoming: it did not provide school districts with adequate monies to provide the services it mandated. At the time of its passage, it was presumed that approximately 2 percent of schoolchildren would require services. By 1987, almost 5 percent of school-children qualifi ed for services under the LD category.
Early in the 1980s, educational endeavors changed focus. Less effort was devoted to remediating perceptual defi cits, and the focus shifted to skills
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4 The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook
development. About the same time, there was resurgence in research inter-est in learning disabilities. New technologies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), were making it possible, for the fi rst time, to map electrical activity and blood fl ow in the brains of living subjects as they performed various educational tasks.
In the late 1980s, the Regular Education Initiative (REI) encouraged spe-cial education and regular education to join resources. The initiative said that students who had been served in pullout programs would be better served by their general education teachers in regular classrooms, if their teachers had help from special education personnel. “ Inclusion ” was the buzzword. In classes where inclusion was a success, it attests to the fl exibility and cooperation of the two teachers involved, because this is truly team teach-ing. Resource specialists were encouraged to spend more time with regular teachers consulting and collaborating about students ’ special needs.
Late in the 1980s, researchers suggested that the true causes of reading disability were defi cits in phonological awareness, phonological encoding, and phonological retrieval abilities. (See the work of J. K. Torgesen and Paula Tallal.) This research states that training in phonemic awareness and syste matic phonics instruction are necessary for at - risk and reading disabled students.
In 1990, Public Law 94- 142 was retitled and expanded. It is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Public Law 101 - 476. IDEA further refi ned the defi nition of a learning disability:
“ Specifi c learning disability ” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calcula-tions. This term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
(U.S. Offi ce of Education, Federal Register)
This defi nition refl ects the historical development of the fi eld. The defi -nition also states who is included and who will be excluded from special education services under the label “ learning disabled. ”
Many educators argue that the excluded child is being unfairly deprived of essential services. For example, there are children whose IQs fall between 75 and 85 who desperately need and would benefi t from more
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An Overview of the Field of Learning Disabilities 5
help, but do not get it because they do not fall into any category of special education. Likewise, the child whose parents move every few months is in desperate need of remedial help, but many schools have no programs available to address such needs.
Although IDEA requires that a child fi t a standard profi le in order to receive additional services, Section 504, a civil rights act, was designed to help students who might not qualify under IDEA regulations. (See Chapter Three for a more in - depth discussion of legislation.)
Nationwide, school performance statistics are mixed. Arguing for con-tinued funding, the September 2007 NCLB Report Card to Congress indicat-ed “ continued growth and gains by America ’ s schoolchildren, particularly among younger and minority students. ” The report lists increased reading scores for fourth graders and higher math scores for both fourth and eighth grades. However, the report does not detail, or even address, students with special needs. In fact, the researcher must be clever and diligent to fi nd government data for the learning disabled child. For instance, in 2005 the Department of Education ’ s testing arm (the National Assessment of Educa-tional Progress) published the NAEP 2004 Trends in Academic Progress: Three Decades of Student Performance in Reading and Mathematics. This report fol-lows reading and math scores since the early 1970s. Their fi ndings, again not breaking out learning disabilities, show a relatively fl at line of scores: “ the average reading score at age 9 was higher in 2004 than in any previous assessment year [9 points higher on a 500 - point scale]. The average reading score at age 13 was not signifi cantly different in 2004 from the average score in 1999 (the most recent previous assessment year), although it was higher than the average score in 1971. At age 17, there was no statistically signifi cant difference between the average score in 2004 and the average score in 1971 or 1999. ” (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005, data added.)
Other key points indicate the need for serious attention:
Only 70 percent of students in the United States graduate from high school in four years.
One in ten schools fail to graduate 60 percent of their entering freshmen.
50 percent of adults who had below - basic reading skills were unem-ployed in 2003.
The status of education in the United States was the subject of a govern-ment report titled A Nation at Risk, published in 1983. Following this report, parents blamed teachers, and teachers blamed parents. The length of the school day and school year were slightly increased, but achievement scores continued to be poor through the 1990s.
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6 The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook
At the turn of the century, a number of distinct trends have emerged:
Reexamination of our educational theories and practices. One example of this is the movement toward combining the Whole Language read-ing approach with phonemic awareness training and phonetic skills development into a program called Balanced Literacy.
A proposal for the development of a uniform, national achievement testing program.
Stricter credentialing standards for teachers.
An end to the practice of social promotion and tightening of the stand-ards for promotion and graduation.
Recognition by industry that it has a responsibility to provide parents with more family leave time, child care on work premises, and com-pensated time off for parents to help in their children ’ s classrooms.
The demand for reduction in class size has begun to be translated into action.
Questions about the wisdom of the “ severe discrepancy clause, ” which prevents earlier remediation for all students who need it.
A growing awareness that we need to provide more vocational training services in high schools for students who do not wish to pursue aca-demic goals or cannot meet the standards for promotion.
In the year 2000, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation was intro-duced to help hold schools accountable for their governance practices and levels of student performance. Schools now must submit yearly “ progress reports ” to government entities to demonstrate that they are performing at an acceptable level. NCLB legislation allowed the government to step in and take action if a school does not show adequate yearly performance. If a school continues to fl ounder, the NCLB legislation allows the government to remove funding for the school or take over its leadership and govern-ance by appointed personnel.
Causal Factors Current literature and research reveal that a number of causes of learning disabilities are under study. Among them are the following:
1. There is a strong familial factor. It is not uncommon to fi nd that several members of the same family have the condition. LD can be inherited.
2. The incidence of learning disabilities increases when there is a diffi cult pregnancy or delivery, or prematurity.
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An Overview of the Field of Learning Disabilities 7
3. Certain prenatal conditions can harm the fetus, including any condition that interferes with the fetus receiving adequate oxygen or nutrition, and maternal use of cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol during pregnancy.
4. Postnatal or birth trauma, such as high and sustained fever, head trau-ma, or near - drowning, may cause learning problems.
5. Early childhood exposure to lead, aluminum, arsenic, mercury, and oth-er neurotoxins have been linked to and, in some cases, shown to cause learning impairment. In fact, recent data show a defi nitive link between lead and a host of learning disorders. Exposure to even low levels of environmental lead and cigarette smoking during pregnancy can cause ADHD (Braun, Kahn, Froehlich, Auinger, and Lanphear, 2006).
Research shows that what happens during the years from birth to age four is critically important to later learning. The role of infant stimulation and cultural deprivation is being studied. We know that early in life, the brain starts to pare away brain cells that are not being used. We have learned that for language to develop properly, young children, birth to age three, need to be sung to, talked with, and read to. In many homes, there is little interactive conversation (soliciting and receiving both a verbal and physical response), which may contribute to phonological awareness defi cits. This lack of interactive communication may in turn lead to reading failure.
Congress passes P.L. 94-142The Education of All Handicapped Children Act 1975
Formation of Association for Children withLearning Disabilities (ACLD) 1963
Congress passes Individuals withDisabilities Education Act (IDEA) which
extends/refines services to disabled 1990
IDEA reauthorized 1997
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Medical research limited to studying thefunctioning of brain-injured persons.Terms used: • Minimal brain damage • Minimal brain dysfunctionIf served at all, LD students were put inclasses for the educably retarded.
Medical research wanes.Terms used:DyslexiaDyscalculiaDysgraphiaLD students served in resourcerooms.
Medical research has renewed interest inlearning disabilities as a result of theavailability of new technologies that allowfor measurement of blood flow andelectrical activity in living subjects. Geneticstudies begin.Terms used: • Reading disability • Math disability • Writing disabilityLD students served in a variety of settings.
History of Learning Disabilities Timeline
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8 The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook
Incidence How many people have learning disabilities? We really don ’ t know. Esti-mates range from 5 percent to more than 30 percent. It depends on whom you count. According to the U.S. Offi ce of Education, 5 to 15 percent of the school population is identifi ed as being LD, but data from twenty - six countries show that the incidence of dyslexia ranges from a low of 1 percent in Japan and China to a high of 33 percent in Venezuela. In the United States, 20 percent or more of students have trouble learning to read. Many children are evaluated and found to have a learning disability, but they do not qualify for special education services because they do not show a severe discrepancy between ability (intelligence) and performance. What constitutes a severe discrepancy varies from state to state — a child can qual-ify for service in one state but not qualify in another state. Even with such variation across states, national incidence rates break down as follows:
Between 3 and 8 percent of children in the United States have ADHD.
Approximately 1 in 150 children have autism, and 1 in 94 boys is diag-nosed with autism.
Currently, more boys than girls are identifi ed as being LD. The ratio is about 3 to 1. Many explanations have been offered for this, including that males seem to be more susceptible to brain damage, both prenatally and post-natally, and that males may be more disruptive in the classroom and therefore garner more attention from the teacher than females.
Primary Characteristics of Learning Disabilities One indication of a learning disability is a perceptual defi cit, and they are very common. Perceptual defi cits are not caused by defi cits in visual or hearing acuity. While glasses and hearing aids will help with acuity prob-lems, they do not help persons who have perceptual problems. Perceptual defi cits occur because the brain misinterprets sensory information. (Symp-toms of perceptual defi cits are discussed in Chapter Ten , and suggestions are given for helping students to cope with these defi cits.)
Eighty percent of students identifi ed as being LD have problems in the area of reading. It appears that defi cits in phonological processing underlie diffi culties learning to read. Research has shown that children who do not develop phonemic awareness will have reading diffi culty later. (See the works of Stanovich, 1988, and Mann, 1991.) It has also been found that intervention programs that provide instruction in phonemic awareness and supply ample opportunities for decoding practice have been success-ful with at - risk and reading disabled children.
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