Working with Students with Learning Disabilities

Working with Students with Learning Disabilities

Learning Disabilities: Incidence

• 5 – 20% of the general population

• That’s 5 – 30 million adults

• Variance due to misidentification

• African Americans and Hispanics are often inappropriately diagnosed with learning disabilities

What a Learning Disability Is Not

• Not mental retardation

• Not a homogeneous group of disorders

• Not the result of:

Poor or intermittent academic background

Emotional disturbance Lack of motivation Socio-economic deprivation Visual-hearing acuity English as a second language Physical disability

What a Learning Disability Is

• Inconsistent

• Permanent

• A pattern of uneven abilities

• Only present if the individual has average to above average intelligence (not necessarily “measurable” average to above average intelligence)

Learning Profile

Listening Speaking Reading Writing Reasoning Math Spelling0

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Student w/Learning Disabilities Average Student

Slow Learner Developmental Student

Learning Disabilities

• 5 main issues

– Take information in through one or more of the senses (Input)

– Figure out what information means (Process)

– File information into memory (Storage)

– Pull information out of memory (Retrieve)

– Use what was learned (Output)

Abstract Reasoning Disorder

Functional Limitations

1) Difficulty/Inability to make inferences

2) Difficulty/Inability to generate creative solutions

3) Difficulty/Inability to transfer generalization

4) Difficulty/Inability to understand relationships

5) Difficulty/Inability to work algebra

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Auditory Processing Disorder


1) Difficulty/Inability to take information in through the sense of hearing and/or in processing auditory information

2) Difficulty/Inability to take notes

3) Difficulty/Inability to discriminate between similar sounds

4) Difficulty/Inability to spell correctly consistently

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Functional Limitations (Continued)

5) Difficulty/Inability to listen and remember information

6) Difficulty/Inability to hear sounds over background noises

7) Difficulty/Inability to learn foreign languages

8) Easily fatigued when listening to a lecture

9) Difficulty/Inability to hear sounds in the correct order

10)Has problems taking phone messages

Auditory Processing DisorderActivity

1) UKE ANT AN DELL TAT RUTH

2) LEE HONE ART DOUGH DOVE INCH HE

3) DOUGH FORD ELLA WEAR

4) HANG HERMAN IT MINT

5) SHATTER NOUGAT ANY SEA

6) ICE PEED GUN HEX SHUN


7) ha leep air he

8) june how hull ask her

9) plea sway tube ease heated

10) caress peak reamed hone huts

11) jaw nan bah beak hen eighty

12) skoal elastic hap tee tude taste


13) Poor Toe Reek Hoe

14) Hat Ten Shunned Deaf Asset Hoarder

15) Sayer Hutches Hiccup Ark Her

16) Plea Center Europe As Ward

17) Huge Act Men

18) Oz Tin Tech Sass

Auditory Processing DisorderActivity - Key

1) You can’t handle the truth2) Leonardo Da Vinci3) Dover, Delaware4) Anger Management5) Chattanooga, Tennessee6) High-speed connection7) Halle Berry8) Juneau, Alaska9) Please wait to be seated

Auditory Processing DisorderActivity - Key

10) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts11) John and Bobby Kennedy12) Scholastic Aptitude Test13) Puerto Rico14) Attention Deficit Disorder15) Sarah Jessica Parker16) Please enter your password17) Hugh Jackman18) Austin, Texas

Constructional Dyspraxia


1) Difficulty/Inability to sequence letters, numbers, words, sentences, paragraphs, steps, etc.

2) Difficulty/Inability to construct written papers in the correct order

3) Poor speller

4) Difficulty/Inability to work math problems in the correct order

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Constructional DyspraxiaActivity

The flashback. Tale the action story about years

of over eighteen place takes 1775 a ending a told

In Period as Two earlier in and place Some

of takes beginning a of Cities of in 1793.

Constructional DyspraxiaActivity Key

The action of A Tale of Two Cities takes place over a period of about eighteen years, beginning in 1775 and ending in 1793. Some of the story takes place earlier, as told in the flashback.

(A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide. McGraw-Hill, Inc.)

Dyscalculia: Math Disability


1) Difficulty with mathematical reasoning

2) Difficulty/Inability to understand numerical concepts

3) Difficulty/Inability to read and comprehend applied math problems (word problems)

4) Difficulty/inability to understand math terminology

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5) Difficulty/Inability to align numbers

6) Number reversals

7) Difficulty/Inability to process math facts rapidly

8) Difficulty with the concepts of time and money

Dyscalculia: Math DisabilityActivity

'r berthynas cyd-rhwng 'r feithder chan an adultâ€™s femur ( ar ddiesgyrna ) a 'r anterth chan 'r hoedolyn all bod agosaedig at 'r linear hafaliadau

Female y = 0.432x – 10.44Male y = o.449x – 12.15

'r berthynas cyd-rhwng 'r feithder chan an adultâ€™s femur ( ar ddiesgyrna ) a 'r anterth chan 'r hoedolyn all bod agosaedig at 'r linear hafaliadau

Dyscalculia: Math DisabilityActivity Key

The relationship between the length of an adult’s femur (thigh bone) and the height of the adult can be approximated by the linear equations

Female y = 0.432x – 10.44Male y = 0.449x – 12.15

An anthropologist discovers a femur belonging to an adult female. The bone is 16 inches long. Estimate the height of the female (College Algebra: Sixth Addition. R. Larson & R. P. Hostetler. Houghton Mifflin Company)

Dysgraphia: Hand Writing Disability


1) Extremely poor handwriting; handwriting frequently appears to be very immature

2) Difficulty with the physical act of writing

3) Will almost always print, since “cursive/script” writing requires a great deal more eye-hand control and coordination

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Dysgraphia: Hand Writing DisabilityExample



Dysgraphia: Hand Writing DisabilityActivity




Dyslexia: Reading Disability


1) Difficulty/Inability to perform any task in which reading is an essential function

2) Difficulty/Inability to interpret charts, graphs, and other visual aids

3) Slow reading rateInp

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4) Difficulty/Inability to decode (sound-out) new words

5) Poor comprehension and retention of reading material

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityExamples

Call me Ismael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I though I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially when my hypos get such an upper had of me, that requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityExamples

Iff reckleswere love ly, andday wasnight, and measleswerenice and a liewarn't a lie,life would be delight,--butth ingscouldn't go rightf orin suchas adplight I wou ldn't be I. ifearth w ashe avenand nowwas hen ce, and pastwas pre sent, andfalse w as true, the remig htbe somesense b utI'dbe insuspense foro nsucha pretense y ouwouldn'tbe yo u.e. e.cu mmi ngs

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityExample Key

If freckles were lovely, and day was night, And measles were nice and a lie warn't a lie, Life would be delight,-- But things couldn't go right For in such a sad plight I wouldn't be I. If earth was heaven and now was hence, And past was present, and false was true, There might be some sense But I'd be in suspense For on such a pretense You wouldn't be you. If fear was plucky, and globes were square, And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee Things would seem fair,-- Yet they'd all despair, For if here was there We wouldn't be we. (If by e. e. cummings)

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityExample

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityActivity

I susgect th at thechil b wi tha learn ing disadility mu stfre quent lyex ger i e n o e an alicein won berl an bex is ten ceof the wef in b tba tthe ymu st co ge wi tha n unsta dlew or lb in consistentabul tsa nd haphaza r b gerceg tio nsthey rec on Fuseb dyth erca zys ym dols we piv them gress ureb dy t he leng tho ft imei nwic hto b oi tamb frus tra ted dy regea teb fa ily resth eybo no tlear no hetra bit lon alw ayamb sow ern u stte achth embif Fere ntly.

Dyslexia: Reading DisabilityActivity Key

I suspect that children with learning disabilities must frequently experience an “Alice in Wonderland” existence. Often we find that they must cope with an unstable world, inconsistent adults and haphazard perceptions. They’re confused by crazy symbols we give them, pressured by the length of time in which to do it and frustrated by repeated failures. They do not learn the traditional way, so we must teach them differently.


Activity


Activity

…I was sitting on the verandah of my farm home in eastern Iowa when a voice very clearly said to me, “If you build it, he will come.”

(Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella)

Language Comprehension Disorder


• Difficulty with vocabulary

• Difficulty/Inability to answer factual questions

• Difficulty/Inability to concentrate during lectures

• Poor or low reading comprehension

• Difficulty with oral language

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6)Understands what he/she hears, but not necessarily what was said

7)Difficulty/Inability to use prior knowledge to perform activities

8)Poor written expression

9)Low knowledge in content areas

Language Comprehension DisorderExample

Two sets of the same book are stacked triangularly against opposite walls. Both sets must look exactly alike. They are twelve books high against the wall, and twelve books from the wall.

Which postulate proves that the two stacks are congruent?

A) SSSB) SASC) ASAD) It cannot be determined

Language Comprehension DisorderActivity

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sote the droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe course yronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open yë— So priketh hem Nature in hir corages— Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes; And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende, The holye blissful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

Language Comprehension DisorderActivity Key

When April with its sweet showers has pierced the drought of March to the root, bathing every vein in such liquid by which virtue the flower is engendered, and when Zephyrus with his sweet breath has also inspired the tender plants in every wood and field, and the young sun is halfway through Aries, and small birds that sleep all night with an open eye make melodies, their hearts pricked by nature, then people long to go on pilgrimages, and pilgrims seek foreign shores and distant shrines known in sundry lands, and especially they wend their way to Canterbury from every shire of England to seek the holy blessed martyr who has helped them when they were sick. (Beginning of the general Prologue from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - in Middle English)

Long-Term Memory Disorder


• Inconsistent when learning new information &/or facts (might remember one day and not the next)

• Difficulty remembering rote facts

• Difficulty/Inability to process and recall information through associations (events, related ideas and concepts, and names)

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Long-Term Retrieval Disorder


• Difficulty/Inability to recall information on tests

• Difficulty/Inability to retrieve words from memory

• Difficulty/Inability to pair, retain and retrieve visual and/or auditory information

• Difficulty/Inability to recite poems, speeches, plays, etc. from memory

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Processing Speed Disorder


• Slow and/or uneven automatic processing speed

• Difficulty/Inability to complete assignments within imposed timed constraints

• Difficulty/Inability to take timed tests

• Difficulty/Inability to make comparisons rapidly between and among bits of information

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Processing Speed DisorderActivity

www.archimedes-lab.org

Reasoning Disorder


• Trouble thinking in an orderly, logical manner

• Difficulty/Inability to prioritize and sequence tasks

• Difficulty/Inability to apply a learned skill to a new task

• Difficulty/Inability to figure out the “next step”

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Short-Term Memory Disorder


• Difficulty/Inability to remember steps in sequential order

• Difficulty/Inability to retain information and/or concepts long enough to understand them

• Difficulty/Inability to follow directions

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4)Difficulty/Inability to remember math processes and retain numerical information

long enough to work the problems

5)Difficulty/Inability to take notes during a lecture

6)Difficulty/Inability to answer oral questions

Short-Term Retrieval Disorder


•Difficulty/Inability to repeat back auditory information immediately after hearing the information

2)Difficulty/Inability to re-create visual information immediately after presentation of

the information

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3)Difficulty/Inability to retrieve information read at the beginning of a reading assignment

4)Difficulty/Inability to retrieve information during a lecture so that notes can be taken

Short-Term Memory/Retrieval DisorderActivity

Spatial Organization Disorder


– Problems perceiving the dimensions of space

– Difficulty/Inability to align number or letters on a page

– Difficulty/Inability to see things in the right order

– Trouble distinguishing left from right, north from south, up from down, ahead from behind, etc

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Spatial Organization DisorderExample

Can you Believe Your Eyes? J.R. Block & H. Yuker, Brunner-Routledge (1989). New York

Spatial Organization DisorderExample

The organizational culture – the values, beliefs, - - - commonly shared by the majority of thestrategic planning process and the strategic

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Spatial Organization DisorderActivity

www.archimedes-lab.org/poster0.html

Spatial Organization DisorderActivity

www.archimedes-lab.org, Italy

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Spelling Dyspraxia


1)Difficulty/Inability to spell words correctly on

a consistent basis

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Spelling DyspraxiaVisual vs. Auditory

Visual

• Will almost always spell words not stored in rote memory the same way each time – word may be phonetically correct

• Usually will not recognize correct spelling

Auditory

• Will almost always spell words not stored in rote memory differently every time

• Will usually recognize correct spelling

Visual Processing Disorder


1) Difficulty/Inability to take in information through the sense of sight

2) Difficulty/Inability to process visual information

3) Difficulty/Inability to fill-in computerized exam forms

4) Trouble/Inability to see a specific image within a competing background, such as picking a sentence out of a page of text

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4) Trouble/Inability to see the difference between two objects

5) Difficulty/Inability to copy information off the board or from PowerPoint slides or overheads

6)Difficulty/Inability to “see” mistakes

7)Difficulty/Inability to work math problems on

a scrap paper and then to transfer the numbers accurately to the exam sheet


8) Difficulty/Inability to comprehend maps, charts, graphs, etc.

9) Difficulty with geometry

10)Difficulty/Inability to align number or letters on a page

11)Fatigue when reading; often rubs eyes off and on while reading

12)Trouble/Inability to see how far away or near an object is

Visual Processing DisorderExample

Visual Processing DisorderExample

Visual Processing DisorderActivity




The Management Process

Global Strategic Planning: Cultural Perspectives for Profit and Nonprofit Organizations. M.I. Katsioloudes, Ph.D., Butterworth-Heinemann (2002). Woburn, MA

Writing Disorder


1)Difficulty/Inability to write sentences, paragraphs, and/or papers

2)Difficulty/Inability to sequence sentences and

paragraphs

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4) Difficulty/Inability to get thoughts on paper

5) Difficulty/Inability to spell words correctly on a consistent basis




Documents

Working with Students with Learning Disabilities