1. Learning Disabilities
By: Fiona Bridges, Shante Walker, John Hunter, Amanda Spencer

2. Video:

3. What is Learning Disability?
According to The Learning Disabilities Association of America, a learning disability is a neurological condition that interferes with an individual’s ability to store, process, or produce information.
Affects the ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or mathematical calculations.
Does not include learning problems resulted from visual, hearing or motor disabilities; or intellectual disability, emotional disturbance, environmental cultural, or economic disadvantage
Not a sign of poor intelligence or laziness. Neurological disorder that causes their brains to process and interpret information differently.

4. Types:
Dyslexia: (reading based) life long challenge. Hinders reading, writing, spelling and sometimes even speaking; difficulty reading letters or words, reversing letters or numbers, difficulty understanding what was read
Dysgraphia: (writing based)affects writing. Lead to problems with spelling, poor handwriting and putting thoughts on paper. Might have trouble organizing letters, numbers and words on a line or page. Struggle with writing complete and grammatically correct sentences
Dyscalculia: (math based)Involving math. Trouble recognizing numbers, symbols and understanding basic math concepts. It affects people differently at different stages of life. Difficulty handling money, cannot retain patterns when adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing
Expressive Language: (language-based): hard time expressing thoughts verbally(finding the words when trying to express yourself), poor reading comprehension, has trouble labeling objects, talking and writing
Receptive Language: knowing meanings of words or concepts, but difficult to follow conversations,
Visual Processing Disorder (visual-based): cannot receive, process, sequence, recall or express information in an accurate and timely way. Misreads words, mistakes letters and numbers that look similar in shape.
Audio Processing Difficulty: (auditory based) telling the difference between sounds of letters or words, being able to remember what was heard, and having inability to filter out background noises. Misspells or mispronounces similar sounding words

5. Causes:
No proven cause of learning disabilities, yet there are “related” causes
1. Heredity-may often just run in the family
2. Problems during pregnancy and birth
Drug, alcohol abuse during pregnancy/ low birth rate/ lack of oxygen/ premature or prolonged labor
3. Incidents after birth
Serious illness, head injuries, poor nutrition, exposure to toxins such as lead can contribute to LD

6. Symptoms: Difficulty with reading and/or writing
Problems with math skills
Difficulty remembering
Problems paying attention
Trouble following directions
Poor coordination
Difficulty with concepts related to time
Problems staying organized
May also exhibit one or more of these:
Impetuous behavior
Inappropriate responses in school or social situations
Difficulty staying on task (easily distracted)
Difficulty finding the right way to say something
Inconsistent school performance
Immature way of speaking
Difficulty listening well
Problems dealing with new things in life
Problems understanding words or concepts

7. Behavioral Characteristics
When students aren’t getting the help and support they need they end up acting out “behaviorally.”
Here are some warning signs:
-Poor grades
-Physical complaints (headaches, back aches, hand cramps, etc)
-School absences
-Getting removed from class or sometimes suspended from school
-Complain about assignments or the school itself
-Easily frustrated with assignments
-Gets aggravated easily
-Gets depressed
-When someone calls them “dumb”
This gets the attention away from their actual struggle with academic learning and instead focuses on their behavioral reason for them being singled out.

8. How it is diagnosed RTI (response to intervention)-
Monitor students progress
If a child is identified as having problems, provide them with help on different levels
Increase educational assistance if the child isn’t showing progress
Individual Evaluation-
Identify whether a child has a learning disability
Determine a child’s eligibility under federal law for special education services
Help construct an individualized education plan (IEP) that outlines supports for a youngster who qualifies for special education services
Establish a benchmark for measuring the child’s educational progress
Full Evaluation-
Medical examination(including a neurological exam) to see if there are other possible causes of the child’s difficulties…including emotional disorders, intellectual and developmental disabilities and brain diseases
Explore child’s developmental, social and school performance
Discuss family history
Academic achievement testing and psychological assessment
Goes further into determining the different types of learning disabilities

9. Strategies:
Since students with LD are often as smart as their peers, but process information differently here are a list of strategies teachers can make to help these students accommodate and be able to keep up and not fall back in class.
Direct instruction
One on one instruction and help
Break learning into small steps
Supply regular quality feedback
Use diagrams, graphics, and picture to help them understand the content/topic
Model instructional practices you want students to follow
Provide prompts of strategies for them to use
Engage students in process type questions
For example: “How is the strategy working? Where else might you apply it?”
Success for the student with learning disabilities requires a focus on individual achievement, individual progress, and individual learning. This requires specific, directed, individualized, intensive remedial instruction for students who are struggling.

10. Services:
Speech-sound letters and combinations of letters, working on words
Alpha Phonics-for dyslexia; phonological awareness (uses good listening skills and verbalizing appropriately), reading (codes, decodes, systematically, maintain proper position during reading activity), spelling (repeat sound and words, unblended, dictates, codes, and proof reads), hand writing (uses proper position, grip and writing procedures), listening, alphabet dictionary (verbalizes appropriately and uses proper procedures)
HOST-one on one assistance; language arts, objective reinforcement, vocabulary development, literature development
Special Education Classroom
There are services located at college campuses to accommodate students that have learning disabilities
They are websites that help parents/teachers to help work with students that have disabilities. One being

11. Activity
This Message serves to prove how our minds can do amazing things! Impressive things! In the beginning it was hard but now on this line your mind is reading it automatically with out even thinking about it, be proud! Only certain people can read this.

13. References: www.ldaamerica.org
"How Are Learning Disabilities Diagnosed?" How Are Learning Disabilities Diagnosed? NIH, 30 Nov Web. 03 Mar rning/conditioninfo/pages/diagnosed.aspx