1. Learning Disabilities
Chapter 5
Learning Disabilities
Developed by:
Blanche Jackson Glimps
Tennessee State University

2. Chapter Objectives
List the three criteria most states use to identify learning disabilities.
State the characteristic that encompasses all students with learning disabilities.
Explain the possible reasons for the recent decline in the number of students identified as learning disabilities.
Identify three suspected causes of learning disabilities.

3. Chapter Objectives
Describe assessments used to identify students with learning disabilities and monitor their progress.
Describe evidence-based strategies for teaching reading, writing, and math to students with learning disabilities.
Compare and contrast typical placements and supports for students with learning disabilities.

4. IDEA Definitions
A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language spoken or written.
May manifest itself in an imperfect ability to:
listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations
Includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia
Does not include learning problems that are the result of other disabilities or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

5. IDEA Definition
Most states require three criteria be met to receive services:
Discrepancy between intelligence and achievement
An “unexpected” difference between general ability and achievement
Exclusion criterion
The student’s difficulties are not the result of another known condition that can cause learning problems
A need for special education services
The student shows specific and severe learning problems despite standard educational efforts

6. Responsiveness to Intervention
A local education agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures.
The responsiveness to intervention approach shifts the identification of learning disabilities from a “wait-to-fail” model to one of early identification and prevention.

7. NJCD Definition
The NJCLD believes the federal definition of LD contains several weaknesses:
Exclusion of adults.
Learning disabilities can occur across the life span
Reference to “basic psychological processes.”
Invites debate on how to teach students with LD-this is a curricular issue, not a definitional one

8. NJCLD Definition Inclusion of spelling as a learning disability.
Spelling can be subsumed under “written expression”
Inclusion of obsolete terms.
Includes terms that are difficult to define
Wording of the exclusion clause
Suggests that learning disabilities cannot occur with other disabilities

9. NJCLD Definition
A 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.

10. NJCLD Definition
Problems with self-regulatory behaviors, social perception, and social interaction may coexist but do not themselves constitute a learning disability.
Although learning disabilities may occur with other handicapping conditions or with extrinsic influences, they are not the result of those influences.

11. APA Definition
The DSM-5 defines specific learning disorder as a neurodevelopment disorder that impedes learning of academic skills.
Student who are diagnosed with a specific learning disability perform well below average in reading, writing, or mathematics.

12. Characteristics: Reading
90% of all children identified are referred because of reading problems.
Dyslexia-a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin.
Severe difficulties with phonological and phonemic awareness
Impairment in comprehension because of the inability to rapidly read words
Comprehension problems related to difficulties with working memory, making connections to prior knowledge, or understanding text structure

13. Characteristics: Written Language
Deficits in written language - Perform lower than their age-matched peers without disabilities across most written expression tasks
Difficulty communicating ideas through writing
Seldom use self-regulation strategies
Produce poorly organized compositions containing a few underdeveloped ideas

14. Characteristics: Math
Numerical reasoning and calculation pose major problems.
Perform lower than typically achieving students on every type of math problem across all grades.
Deficits in retrieving number facts and solving word problems are particularly evident.
At middle school, the math performance of 44% of students with learning disabilities is comparable to students 3 or more grades below their actual grade level.

15. Characteristics Poor social skills
Attention deficits and hyperactivity
Behavioral problems-Higher than usual incidence of behavior problems
Unclear whether the academic deficits or the behavior problems cause the other difficulty or whether both are products of other causal factors.
Lower levels of self-esteem or self-efficacy, mood, effort, and hope

16. The Signature Characteristic
Severe low achievement despite generally effective instruction and intelligence in the normal range.
The difference between what students with learning disabilities are expected to do and what they can do grows larger over time.
The difficulties experienced by children with learning disabilities, especially for those who cannot read at grade level, are substantial and pervasive and usually last across the life span

17. Prevalence
LD is by far the largest of all special education categories.
In the 2010 to 2011 school year, nearly 2.4 million students ages 6 to 21 years received special education under the LD category.
This figure represents 36.7% of all school-age children with disabilities and about 5% of the total school-age population
Percentage varies widely by states
Some contend that too many low achievers have been improperly diagnosed as LD.

18. Causes In most cases the cause of LD is unknown.
Brain Damage or Dysfunction
Neuroimaging technologies
Structural differences in the left temporal lobe of individuals with dyslexia
Heredity
There is growing evidence that genetics may account for at least some family links with reading disabilities
Environmental Factors
Impoverished living conditions
The quality of instruction received

19. Identification and Assessment
Intelligence and Achievement Tests
Measures the discrepancy between achievement and general intellectual ability
Curriculum-Based Measurement
Measures the growth of student’s proficiency in the core skills
Monitors progress
Is a formative assessment and provides information on students’ learning over time
Summative assessment is conducted after instruction has been completed

20. Identification and Assessment
Direct Daily Measurement
Used for observing and recording a child’s performance on a specific skill each time it is taught
Precision Teaching
Criterion-Referenced Tests
Used to compare a score with a predetermined criterion

21. Identifying LD With Response to Intervention
Premise:
A low achieving student’s response to increasingly intensive, scientific validated instruction can reveal whether the student’s learning difficulties are the results of poor or insufficient instruction or of a disability for which special education is needed.
Tier I: Primary Intervention in the General Education Classroom
Tier II: Secondary Intervention
Tier III: Tertiary Intervention-In most RTI models, Tier 3 is special education

22. Benefits of RTI Early intervention for struggling learners
Reduction in the number of students referred for special education
Provision of more instructionally useful data
Increased likelihood of exposure to differentiated instruction
Service to all students with achievement problems-only those who fail to respond to multiple levels of intervention are diagnosed as LD

23. Concerns About RTI
Inconsistent criteria for determining whether or not a student is responding to intervention
Weak and ineffective Tier 1 instruction in some classrooms resulting in students without LD inaccurately identified as at risk
Prolonged failure for some students before receiving appropriate instruction
Inconsistent application of RTI across schools

24. Educational Approaches
Big Ideas
Conspicuous Strategies
Mediated Scaffolding
Strategic Integration
Primed Background Knowledge
Judicious Review

25. Educational Approaches: Reading
Need basic reading skills
Have poor comprehension due to failure to read strategically
Explicit instruction of learning strategies is effective for teaching reading comprehension
learning strategies-an individual’s approach to a learning task

26. Educational Approaches: Writing
Use explicit instruction
Teach self-monitoring
Use technology tools
Word prediction and speech to text software
Use strategy instructions

27. Educational Approaches: Math
Use explicit instruction
Provide many teaching examples
Have students verbally state the steps as they solve problems
Make visual representation
Provide continual assessment to inform instructional decisions
Use peer mediated instruction
Teach learning strategies for problem solving

28. Content Area Instruction and Non-Academic Needs
Content enhancements are used to enhance the organization and delivery of curriculum content
Graphic Organizers and Visual Displays
Note-Taking Strategies
Guided Notes
Mnemonics
Letter strategies
Keyword method
Pegword method
Addressing Non-academic Needs

29. Placement Options General education classroom
During the 2010 to 2011 school year, 65% of students with LD were educated in general education classrooms.
Research on the academic achievement of students with LD in inclusive classrooms is mixed.
Consultant teacher
Provides support to general educators who work directly with students with learning disabilities

30. Placement Options Resource room
A specially staffed and equipped classroom where students with LD come for one or several periods during the school day to receive individualized instruction
During the 2010 to 2011 school year, 26% of students with learning disabilities were served in resource rooms for 40% to 70% of the school day.

31. Placement Options Separate classroom
A special education teacher is responsible for all education programming for 8–12 students with learning disabilities
During the 2010 to 2011 school year, 7% of students with learning disabilities were served in separate classrooms.
A student should be placed in a separate classroom only after legitimate and supported attempts to serve effectively in less restrictive environments have proven unsuccessful.