Running head: A RESEARCH AWARENESS PROJECT

A Research Awareness Project

Learning Disabilities

Pamela Huffman

Arkansas Tech University

Russellville, AR

SECTION I

The term learning disability has been used since 1963, when first coined by Sam Kirk. Since then, many have discussed the true definition. As a result, students who qualify for special education services have to comply with the guidelines given in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

The current IDEA definition includes:

IN GENERAL: The term “special 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 disorder may manifest itself in imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.

DISORDERS INCLUDED: Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.

DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED: Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. 14001400 et seq., 1977).

This definition still concerns many professionals. In 1988, the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities adopted a more general definition:

Learning Disabilities is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities. These disorders are intrinsic to the individual and presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction, and may appear across the life span. Problems in self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction may exist with learning disabilities but do not themselves constitute a learning disability. Although learning disabilities may occur concomitantly with other handicapping conditions (for example, sensory impairment, mental retardation, serious emotional disturbance) or with extrinsic influences (such as cultural differences, insufficient or inappropriate instruction), they are not the result of those conditions or influences (National Committee on Learning Disabilities, 1994).

In brief, this definition says that there is no one condition that characterizes a learning disabled person. The condition will manifest itself differently with each individual.

Typically, children with learning disabilities are of average intelligence, but have a severe discrepancy between what should have been learned by their chronological age, and what they have actually learned. They can also have subjects in which they excel.

One of the most significant areas of learning disability and the focus of this paper is that of reading. Since most educational success is based on how well one reads, the reading disability is especially difficult.

Some students lack skills in phonological awareness, where one has difficulty recognizing sound segments in words when spoken. Other reading disabilities include word recognition error. The student may omit, insert, substitute, and/or reverse words when reading orally. Extreme reading problems are referred to as dyslexia. These individuals may have problems in reading, spelling, writing, speaking, or listening.

Many students who have reading disabilities often have handwriting problems as well. Reading and writing appear to go hand-in-hand. Difficulties with handwriting are referred to as dysgraphia.

SECTION II

I observed a nine-year-old student by the name of Larry. The criteria used for determining his placement in special education was a battery of tests performed by a private psychological examiner. The tests administered included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale of Children III (WISC-III) and the Wechsler Individualized Achievement Test (WIAT).

WISC-III has two separate sections. The performance section measures mathematical skills and the verbal section measures reading and written abilities. These were combined to give Larry’s IQ score. The WIAT was given to determine his academic abilities in reading, written language, and mathematics.

SECTION III

Visit 1: My first visit to Larry’s class was, to use the teacher’s words, “like a zoo”. The children were very distracted. Some were curious about my presence; others did not seem to notice. Larry noticed me, but tried to focus on the teacher’s instruction. This was difficult, however, because another boy at the table was extremely distracting for everyone. He was under the table, on top of the table, and when actually sitting in his chair, he pulled the hair of those close to him.

There were six learning disabled children in this literacy group. Four were boys and two were girls.

Constant redirection was necessary. The children were disrespectful to the teacher and one another. The teacher had to raise her voice to gain control.

The instructional time focused on the letter “y” as both a consonant and vowel. Contractions were also reviewed.

When math time came, four of the students left while two remained. Students were constantly going in and out of the room. The classroom was busy and the teacher had many different level projects occurring at the same time.

Visit 2: On my second visit, I was allowed to work with Larry on his oral reading and comprehension. As he read, I gave help as needed sounding out, but most of the time Larry corrected himself when he read something wrong. To check comprehension, I asked Larry questions about the story at the end of each page. This visit was much calmer than the first.

Visit 3: Students were in their literacy group again. The teacher was doing a lesson on coding vowels.

On this day, much time is spent on discipline. The Assistant Principal was required in the room for order to return.

Larry seems intent on getting his work completed. He does not want to miss any recess time. However, he was often distracted by the activities of the one autistic student in the room. I could tell Larry was mentally reminding himself to get back on task.

Visit 4: I read with Larry and another student, Blaine, on this visit. They appeared to try harder for me than for the aides. I felt as though this would not last long, though, if I were around more.

I helped Larry with a language worksheet. His writing was barely legible. The markings are big and broken. He seems to hold his pencil in an awkward manner.

Visit 5: Larry was not in class on this day. His regular classroom went on a field trip.

I helped a number of other students with reading and math. Various methods were used to perform addition and subtraction. One boy used a ruler; a girl used counting beads. Together, the student and teacher have chosen these methods.

Visit 6: Larry came into the special education classroom, gathered his supply box and walked over to the literacy group table.

A play was handed out to each student and they chose parts. Although reading the skit is difficult for all the students, they enjoy role-playing, and really get into their parts.

The students are able to enjoy this read-a-loud activity.

SECTION IV

Larry’s development in reading, writing, and language acquisition was delayed approximately two years from his chronological age. His speech was also delayed with a noticeable lisp.

Although Larry reads on a lower level, he usually reads fluently. However, his comprehension was not always accurate.

Larry’s IQ results were within the normal range. He simply has not learned everything that his IQ implies he can, a classic example of how learning disabilities manifest themselves.

My observation of Larry was hauntingly familiar. My own son is learning disabled in the area of reading, writing, spelling, and basic language acquisition. These visits have not necessarily been positive for me. The visits revealed the true atmosphere of the resource room. Before the observations, I thought of this class as a place where my son received, if not one-on-one attention, at least a small group, where emphasis could be placed on gaining skills he was lacking. Instead, I found a classroom with many discipline problems, major distractions, and inconsistent instruction. However, at least in the resource room, it is possible for them to study on a level more appropriate for their maturation.

I came away from these visits feeling uneasy about the effectiveness of resource rooms in regard to meeting the needs of the huge span of learners it serves. I am hopeful that my experience was the exception, and not the rule.

SECTION V

Summary: The earliest known recording of a reading disorder, related to brain trauma, was made by Johannes Schmidt. Schmidt was a Prussian doctor in Danzig in the 1600’s. In 1676, Schmidt described a patient who had suffered a stroke. After months of murmuring speech, and difficulty expressing his wishes, the patient gradually regained his health. Only one problem remained: he could not read any letters or words. The patient had not lost the ability to spell and write, but could not identify what he had written.

In 1872, Broadbent (1872) described ten patients with varying aphasias and reading and writing difficulties. He specified in his case study, areas of the brain and their influence on speech and reading. Later, Russmaul (1877) referred to this condition as word deafness in reference to patience with average intelligence that simply could not read. This was a major turning point in the area of developmental dyslexia (Fawcett; Nicholson, 2001) or simply dyslexia research. Both terms are used in professional discussions of reading disabilities.

Although most of the patience in these studies were stroke victims, a foundation had been laid for later research into reading disabilities (Anderson; Meier-Hedde, 2001).

Recent case studies have shown, in regard to writing projects, those difficulties experienced by dyslexics was similar to those experienced by non-disabled learners. However, the depth of the difficulty was experienced on different levels.

Supplying the dyslexic student with some simple tricks of the trade can be of great value. These strategies are task specific and consist of brief and simple steps. They employ a remembering system (Berninger, 2000).

A case study involving the methods of D.J. Bakker (1990) was conducted. This method concludes that those children who read quickly with mistakes and little comprehension are lacking the ability to correctly use the left hemisphere of the brain; thus, causing the right hemisphere to be over-tasked. Conversely, those students who read very slowly focusing on each letter and not comprehending are lacking the complete use of the right hemisphere and over-working the left hemisphere.

Bakker has introduced various remedies for remediating these delays. Some success has been reported, but not to the level that would cause one to employ his methods (Goldstein; Obrzut, 2001).

As the use of technology is growing in society, ways of helping the dyslexic by using technology has also been explored. Word processors can help the student with dysgraphia turn in homework that is more legible. Progress is still needed for those students with spelling problems. In general, spell checks are heavily biased toward the correction of simple errors and do not meet the needs of most dyslexics (Pedler, 2001).

Applications:

1. I will strive to know each of my students on an individual basis. This would include their family background, preferred culture, and learning style.

2. I will teach to the specific learning style of each of my students.

3. I will be caring, and praise my students for a job well done.

4. I will understand that learning disabilities are unique to the individual, and will treat each individual with dignity.

5. I will use more repetition of basic reading skills with students exhibiting learning difficulties with reading. These students need more practice.

6. According to the individual, less conventional methods of teaching may be required.

SECTION VI

References

Anderson, P. (2001). Early case reports of dyslexia in the United States and Europe. Journal of Learning Disabilities. [On-line]. Available: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

Berninger, V. (2000). Dyslexia the invisible, treatable disorder: the story of Einstein’s Ninja turtles. Learning Disability Quarterly. [On-line]. Available: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

Fawcett, A; Nicolson, R. (2001). Cerebellar tests differentiate between groups of poor readers with and without IQ discrepancy. Journal of Learning Disabilities. [On-line]. Available: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

Goldstein, B.; Orbrzut, J. (2001). Neuropsychological treatment of dyslexia in the classroom setting. Journal of Learning Disabilities. [On-line]. Available: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. (1994). Learning Disabilites: Issues on definition, a position paper of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. p.3-8. Austin, TX.

Pedler, J. (2001). Computer spellcheckers and dyslexics—a performance survey. British Journal of Education Technology. [On-line]. Available: http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org/

U.S. Department of Education. (1999). To assure the free appropriate public education of all children with disabilities: Twenty-first annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC.

SECTION VII

Special teaching provision made for Larry included 7.5 hours of small group time that focused on strengthening basic reading, writing, spelling, and grammar skills. He read materials, which were appropriate for his developmental level. Larry has also learned helpful techniques that allow him to function more normally in the regular classroom.

Lessening the number of questions Larry is required to answer modifies testing in the regular classroom. At other times, the questions on the tests are read to him. Larry excels in math, except when words are involved; therefore, the teacher occasionally reads math questions to him that involves excessive reading.

Larry could be challenged more in the resource room. He finishes his work very quickly and spends valuable minutes waiting for his time to be over. This time could be used more efficiently to further strengthen his basic language skills.

SECTION VIII

In Larry’s resource room, the perimeter consists of two walls with blackboards. There is one window that allows natural light in. On one of the other walls there are computers, storage cabinets, sink and cabinets, individual student compartments, and filing cabinets. Bulletin boards are scattered throughout the room. Some bulletin boards are actually daily schedules for the (1) autistic student, and the (1) Down’s syndrome student.

There is a computer center, a listening center, a reading center, and a math center.

The Down’s child has his own work center, as does the autistic child. The other children, with various learning disabilities, either works at the large table as a group, or individual desks that are separated in rows. The chairs are in varying sizes to accommodate the different size children.

Except for one small window the lighting is fluorescent and the floors are of hard tile. The noise level in this room can be extreme and is amplified by the hard floors and walls. Some acoustical ceiling tiles have been placed on the ceiling to help with the reverberation.

The classroom atmosphere was loud and unruly. There were no rules posted, nor did I witness any type of behavior modification taking place, other than the assistant principal coming in and also sending one child to an alternative learning center. Perhaps a token economy could be implemented.