Composition of Students with

Disabilities

Learning Disabilities: Typically

Disruption

or Maturational Delay

• Language skills• Motor skills• Uneven performance on IQ assessment• Visual-Motor • Incomplete or mixed dominance• Social Immaturity• Genetics

2

Recent Brain Research

• Postmortem studies

• Imaging Techniques

• Genetic studies

Autopsies

MRI, fMRI

Family studiesTwin studies

Left or Right?• Motor Development

• Sensory Integration

• Inattentive

• Auditory Perception

• Visual Perception

• Impulsive

• Inadequate interpersonal skills

• Deficits in work-related skills

• Hyperactive

• Rapid naming skills

• Writing Weaknesses

• Short-term Memory

Specific Learning Difficulties

• Reading• Writing • Mathematics• Spelling

Chapter 6. Theoretical Directions 5

Neurological Profile Cerebral

Hemispheres

Left hemisphere Language

Right hemisphere Nonverbal stimuli

Corpus collosum Connection

Left-Right Brain Processing

Left Brain Right Brain Analytical Synthesizes

Verbal Strengths Visual spatial imagery

Linear SimultaneousSequential HolisticSees” parts, pieces “Sees” whole, gestalt

Precise & accurate Makes sense of all the parts

Detail oriented Interpretation of non verbal cues

Step by step learnerOrganization Ambiguity

Open ended questions

Precursors of Learning Disabilities

Difficulties in any of the following:

• Communication/oral language• Phonological awareness• Rapid naming skills• Knowledge of the alphabet• Visual-motor skills• Fine- and gross-motor skills• Attending abilities• Social Skills

Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

• Characteristicso Poor social perceptiono High verbal intelligenceo Early reading achievemento More evident in adolescents and adults

• Different than academic, language and cognitive disabilities

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JWh3lrscqE

Indicators of Social Disabilities

• Poor social perception

• Lack of judgment

• Lack of sensitivity to others

• Difficulty making friends

• Problems with family relations

• Social problems in school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByItLL7Qxmw

Visual Perception

• Visual perception—Interpreting what is heard

• Visual discrimination

• Figure-ground perception

• Visual closure

• Spatial relations

• Object-letter recognition

• Reversals

• Whole-part perception

Visual Perception

• Do you see a young woman or an old woman in this picture?

Chapter 6. Theoretical Directions 13

Difficulties in Mathematics

• Sense of Body Image• Visual-motor & Visual Perceptual Abilities• Spatial Relations• Memory Abilities

Chapter 6. Theoretical Directions 17

Information Processing Problems in

Mathematics

• Attention• Visual-spatial Processing• Auditory Processing• Memory & Retrieval• Motor Problems• Non Verbal LD

Detecting Writing Weaknesses

• Perform better on oral tasks than written tasks.

• Complete written tasks in a slow or labored manner.

• Frequently need help during the completion of a written assignment.

• Often seek praise and reassurance during written assignments.

Motor Development

• Gross motor skills• Fine motor skills• Learning through play• Perceptual motor skills• Sensory Integration

Sensory Integration

• Tactile System

• Vestibular System

• Proprioceptive System

Language Based Learning Disabilities may include difficulty with the following:

• Expressing ideas clearly, as if the words needed are on the tip of the tongue but won't come out. What the student says can be vague and difficult to understand (e.g., using unspecific vocabulary, such as "thing" or "stuff" to replace words that cannot be remembered). Filler words like "um" may be used to take up time while the student tries to remember a word.

• Learning new vocabulary that the student hears (e.g., taught in lectures/lessons) and/or sees (e.g., in books)

• Understanding questions and following directions that are heard and/or read

• Recalling numbers in sequence (e.g., telephone numbers and addresses)

• Understanding and retaining the details of a story's plot or a classroom lecture

• Reading and comprehending material

• Learning words to songs and rhymes

• Telling left from right, making it hard to read and write since both skills require this directionality

• Letters and numbers

• Learning the alphabet

• Identifying the sounds that correspond to letters, making learning to read difficult

• Mixing up the order of letters in words while writing

• Mixing up the order of numbers that are a part of math calculations

• Spelling

• Memorizing the times tables

• Telling time

Auditory Perception

• Auditory perception-Interpreting what is heard

• Phonological awareness

• Auditory discrimination

• Auditory memory

• Auditory sequencing

• Auditory blending

Speech or Language Impairments

• Speech disorders- deviates significantly from the speech of others.

• Articulation, Voice, Fluency

• Language disorders- comprehension, and/or use of spoken, written and other symbol systems is impaired or does not develop normally.

• Receptive language• Expressive language• Form, content, function

Reading

Students may:

• Have difficulty with one or more subject areas.

• Have limited mastery of concepts.

• Have limited fund of information.

• Have limited expressive and receptive vocabulary.

• Display limited knowledge of word meanings.

• Do not understand special multiple meanings of words.

• Read significantly below level of text.

CAUSES:• Weak listening speaking and sight

vocabulary.• Weak contextual analysis skills.• Inability to apply same word in

different contexts.

fMRI Brain Image

Chapter 6. Theoretical Directions 29

An Information-Processing Model of Learning

Problems Faced

by Adolescents with LD

• Severe deficits in basic academic skills

• Below-average performance in content area courses

• Deficits in work-related skills

• Passive academic involvement

• Inadequate interpersonal skills

Symptoms of ADD/ADHDor Executive Function

Disorder

• Severityo Symptoms more frequent and severe than other children

• Early onseto Symptoms must have appeared before

age seven

• Durationo Symptoms persist for at least 6 months

Subtypes of ADHD in DSM-IV

• ADHD-IA

• ADHD-HI

• ADHD-C

• Primarily inattentive

• Primarily• hyperactive and

impulsive• Combined

Chapter 6. Theoretical Directions 33

ACCOMODATIONSExamples of possible accommodations for an IEP team to consider, broken into six categories:

Presentation:• Provide on audio tape• Provide in large print• Reduce number of items per page or line• Provide a designated reader• Present instructions orallyResponse:• Allow for verbal responses• Allow for answers to be dictated to a scribe• Allow the use of a tape recorder to capture responses• Permit responses to be given via computer• Permit answers to be recorded directly into test booklet 

Setting:• Provide preferential seating• Provide special lighting or acoustics• Provide a space with minimal distractions• Administer a test in small group setting• Administer a test in private room or alternative

test site

Timing:• Allow frequent breaks• Extend allotted time for a testTest Scheduling:• Administer a test in several timed sessions or

over several days• Allow subtests to be taken in a different order• Administer a test at a specific time of dayOther:• Provide special test preparation• Provide on-task/focusing prompts• Provide any reasonable accommodation that a

student needs that does not fit under the existing categories