Characteristics of Learning Disabilities

¶ … learning disabilities in the light of teaching children with this disorder. It uses 4 sources in APA format.

It is not easy to say who is a learning disabled. A lot of arguments have taken place for a certain time in order to classify the learning disabled. According to the term "specific learning disability" means 'a disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.

The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia'. (Siegel, 1999). Students with genuine LDs who are set with children with imaginary complaints are denied of the education that needs to be given to them. If there is any kind of weakness when classifying a person with LD then, this may create a chaos from the kindergarten till the university level of the child along with the educational institution (Siegel, 1999).

Studies have indicated that learning disability (LD) children achieve less in schools as compared to the normal children. LD's suffer in their nonverbal and verbal social cues. Students with LD have been found to be less competent as compared to normal children at understanding soap operas. Although language deficits are primary characteristics of learning disabilities and have been hypothesized to be related to social problems, few studies have examined the contribution of language deficits to social problems (Bryan, Sullivan-Burstein, Mathur, 1998).

ANALYSIS

What is now not taken into consideration is that there has been a lot of research done on LDs and children with emotional/behavior disorders (EBD), yet what needs to be noticed is how frequent has researches been conducted on children with both of these. "Characteristics common to both disability categories, such as deficits in executive function, hyperactivity, poor social skills, and inattention, provide further evidence of the association of learning and emotional/behavioral problems" (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

LD/EBD appears to suggest general adult adjustment problems. Children discriminated of others by parents; personal happiness etc. consisted of LD and EBD. In addition, unsuccessful students had significantly higher rates of residential or hospital placement.

Unable to access education due to their behavioral deficits or excesses are the students who have EBD. Teachers often complain that serious EBD affects their teaching skills. Many special education teachers are not adequately prepared or trained for the demanding task of meeting the particular educational, behavioral, affective, or social needs of students with EBD (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

Another characteristic common to many students with behavioral disorders that may significantly impair learning is severely reduced frustration tolerance. Systematic introduction to students to new skills, receiving error correction, practice things according to the teacher's guidance etc. should be provided to students with LD. The teacher's duty in response is to endeavor new ways and styles to convey the required rule or conception to the children.

Decreased self-concept is considered a secondary characteristic in large numbers of children with EBD. A student with LD may be able to build self-confidence through performance in other areas, including social connections, positive reinforcement for effort, personality, or character traits, and success in nonacademic ventures. Students with both learning and behavior disorders, however, have a totally opposite feed back. As a result, these children may receive more negative feedback about themselves from others and suffer an associated reduction in self-concept. Decreased academic achievement in students from preschool through postsecondary school is then linked with the reduction in the self-concept. (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

Another important concern for both the students with LD/EBD relates to the potentially lasting effects and negative prognosis of poor social adjustment and social isolation. Deficits in social skills are characteristic of both students with LD and those with EBD. If the child with draws himself/herself from the social circle, then the social rejection can put in danger the social and personal development of the child (Coleman, 1992; Kauffman, 1993; Rosenberg et al., 1992) what must be realized here is that this may place children at risk for dropping out, criminality, and mental health problems. (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

According to Shallit (1997), the more the number of LDs swell, more is the number for their boutique diagnosis. It is not necessary that children who seem intellectually intelligent and behave normally may not have a serious problem. Their limitations should be noticed by the teacher and action should be taken accordingly.

A conceptual model of the contemporaneous of LD and EBD has been formulated upon the building on Maag and Reid's (1994) performance problem classification system for children with ADHD. At the center of this model is the complex multiple learning and behavior problems that are the direct result of achievement or performance impairments in two or more of six critical domains.

These domains are classified as: cognitive processing, behavioral functioning, social/emotional adjustment, academic performance, language functioning, and executive functioning. This model reflects the problems affecting students with concomitant disorders and illustrates the interaction, multidirectional, and synergistic effects of disabilities on children (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

The model may also help to illustrate the effects of one or more deficits on development and on emerging skills in other functioning areas. For example, the effects of a child's dysfunction in language and emotional development may cause behavioral problems; these combined problems may impair academic achievement or exacerbate emotional difficulties. A listing of functioning deficits may give the impression that one disorder is inherently more significant or more serious than another.

Coordination of testing, results interpretation, etc. Of LD/EBD children require a lot of professional skills and special consideration. One of the most difficult determinations to make is whether a learning disability exists in a child with EBD when the emotional disturbance is affecting educational performance. (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

It is important for the evaluators of students with possible LD/EBD that they should be knowledgeable about the use of the regression method of identification. These assessment methods would also be appropriate when students' behavior during formal test administration nullifies the results of normative testing. Discrepancies in this area relate to difficulties in selecting, implementing, adjusting, and monitoring strategies; planning, self-monitoring, and evaluating performance. (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).

Meta-cognition is awareness of one's own thinking. One of the other ways of evaluating meta-cognition is an interactive-dynamic evaluation, which includes multiple models, a test-teach-retest approach, and guided learning. In order to measure organizational skills, they can be measured through product measures, documentation of student preparedness for class, and attendance/tardiness records. (Rock, Fessler, Church, 1997).