Understanding learning disabilities in children
Meet “Megan”
Megan is an 8-year-old girl of average intelligence. She is pleasant and cooperative in her third grade class. She tries hard, but has great difficulty reading independently. She writes slowly, using simple statements and words that are easy for her to spell. Her writing is labored and does not accurately reflect her thinking. She struggles to read books that first graders are reading, and when she is finished she really can’t tell you what the story was about. Megan does just fine with her math problems and other assignments, especially art and music, or really with anything that doesn’t require reading. Megan is diagnosed with a learning disability.
What is a Learning Disability?
The term learning disability is used as an umbrella term to refer to the condition affecting a group of individuals with average or above-average intelligence who nonetheless have difficulties with academic tasks. The federal definition under Public Law (P.L.) 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), is as follows: “Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.” The definition further states that learning disabilities include “such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.” According to the law, learning disabilities do not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, mental retardation, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (Federal Register, 1977, p. 65083).
In simpler terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person’s brain is “wired.” Children with learning disabilities are as smart or smarter than their peers. But they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling, and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves, or if taught in conventional ways.
Not all learning problems are necessarily learning disabilities. Many children are simply slower in developing certain skills. Because children show natural differences in their rate of development, sometimes what seems to be a learning disability may simply be a delay in maturation. To be diagnosed as a learning disability, specific criteria must be met.
Did you know that Albert Einstein couldn’t read until he was nine? Walt Disney, General George Patton, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had trouble reading all their lives. Whoopi Goldberg, Charles Schwab, and many others have learning disabilities which haven’t affected their ultimate success.
What Causes Learning Disabilities?
There are many conflicting theories about what causes learning disabilities. The specific causes remain unknown, but are generally believed to be associated with brain function or central nervous system dysfunction. Three major factors – organic, genetic, and environmental – have been hypothesized as possible causes.
Incidence
Children with learning disabilities comprise the largest single category of students with special needs (U.S. Dept. of Education, 1996).
• Approximately 4.3% of all school-age children are classified as having learning disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2002a), or 49.2% of the children requiring special education services in the schools.
• About twice as many males as females are identified as having learning disabilities (Oswald, Best, Coutinho, & Nagle, 2003).
• 15% of the U.S. population, or one in seven Americans, has some type of learning disability, according to the National Institutes of Health.
• Difficulty with basic reading and language skills are the most common learning disabilities. As many as 80% of students with learning disabilities have reading problems.
• Learning disabilities often run in families.
• These problems may mildly, moderately, or severely impair the learning process.
Characteristics
Learning disabilities are characterized by a significant difference in the child’s achievement in some areas, as compared to his or her overall intelligence. Many schools previously required the presence of a discrepancy between ability (as measured by an IQ test) and achievement (i.e. as measured by individual reading test scores) to support identification of a learning disability. According to the most recent IDEA amendments, though, states may no longer require schools to use discrepancy criteria. Instead, schools are encouraged to determine whether students respond to resegarch-based intervention (Wright & Wright, 2005).
Students who have learning disabilities may exhibit a wide range of traits, including problems with reading comprehension, spoken language, writing, or reasoning ability. Other traits that may be present include a variety of symptoms, such as uneven and unpredictable test performance, perceptual impairments, motor disorders, and behaviors such as impulsiveness, low tolerance for frustration, and problems in handling day-to-day social interactions and situations.
Learning disabilities typically occur in the following academic areas:
• Spoken language: Delays, disorders, or discrepancies in listening and speaking;
• Written language: Difficulties with reading, writing, and spelling;
• Arithmetic: Difficulty in performing arithmetic functions, or in comprehending basic concepts;
• Reasoning: Difficulty in organizing and integrating thoughts;
• Organization Skills: Difficulty in organizing all facets of learning
Accurate identification of where the specific deficit lies within each area is critical to accommodating the specific learning disability. Hyperactivity, inattention, and perceptual coordination problems are frequently associated with learning disabilities. Early identification and appropriate accommodation can significantly minimize both the short and long term effects of the learning disability. There is a high degree of interrelationship and overlapping among the areas of learning. Therefore, children with learning disabilities can exhibit a combination of characteristics.
• Learning disabilities should not be confused with other disabilities such as autism, intellectual disability, deafness, blindness, and behavioral disorders. None of these conditions are learning disabilities. In addition, they should not be confused with lack of educational opportunities such as frequent changes of schools or attendance problems. Also, children who are learning English do not necessarily have a learning disability.
Educational Implications
A team approach is important for educating the child with a learning disability, beginning with the assessment process and continuing through the development of an Individual Education Program (IEP). Close collaboration between parents, regular class teachers, special class teachers, therapists, and others can facilitate the overall development of a child with learning disabilities.
Megan receives assistance with her reading and writing in the resource room four days a week. Mrs. Blue, Megan’s teacher, has adapted Megan’s class assignments. She does not require that Megan read or write independently to participate in class activities. For example, in science class, when the class is given an assignment to read parts of the textbook, Megan is allowed to read together with a classmate. The classmate reads questions from the assignments aloud, and Megan is allowed to write simple answers to the questions or to dictate longer answers to her partner. Mrs. Blue uses clear, structured directions to maximize Megan’s understanding of the lessons. Finally, Megan’s performance is continuously monitored to ensure that she is learning adequately and to see if further adaptations are needed.
The label “learning disability” describes a syndrome, not a specific child with specific problems. The label assists in classifying children, not teaching them. Parents and teachers need to concentrate on the individual child. They need to observe both how and how well the child performs, to assess strengths and weaknesses and develop ways to help each child learn. Parents and educators can help children with learning disabilities achieve such success by encouraging their strengths, knowing their weaknesses, understanding their educational needs, and learning about strategies for dealing with specific difficulties. Some learning experts report that the following strategies have been effective with children who have learning disabilities:
• Provide high structure and clear expectations;
• Use short sentences and a simple vocabulary;
• Provide opportunities for success in a supportive atmosphere to help build self-esteem;
• Allow flexibility in classroom procedures (e.g., allowing the use of tape recorders for note-taking and test-taking when students have trouble with written language);
• Make use of self-correcting materials, which provide immediate feedback without embarrassment;
• Use computers for drill and practice, and teaching word processing;
• Provide positive reinforcement of appropriate social skills at school and home;
• Recognize that children with learning disabilities can greatly benefit from the gift of time to grow and mature.
If you have a child with learning disabilities, please visit our website for more information at whs.org or make an appointment with WHS Children’s Therapy.