Human Services -- Discussion Responses First Response:

Human Services -- Discussion Responses

First Response: I think your post provides a great illustration of important the topic of learning disability is to society, because it affects much more than just education and learning. As you explained, learning disabilities dramatically decrease the prospects for success of the individual at all stages of life and greatly increase other adverse consequences, such as involvement with the criminal justice system as offenders. Difficulty in school leads to illiteracy, lower self-esteem, and greater chances of delinquency. I would be curious to know what your research has revealed about the best approaches to minimizing the long-term effects of learning disability and whether you think special-needs learners should be taught separately or inclusively.

Second Response: Your post made very clear how difficult a problem Asperger's Syndrome is as a developmental and learning disability. It seems to be a unique disability in that it retards certain skills, such as social perceptions and development, while seeming to strengthen certain other skills in very narrow areas. I would be curious to know whether your research suggests that it is productive to focus on helping Asperger's patients make the most of their specific interests, even thought they might be obsessive, such as by helping them find vocational uses for those interests as early as possible.

Third Response: Your post makes very clear how much innate physiological and psycho-physiological issues affect learning and early development. I would be curious whether your research suggests that children suffering from Sensory Integration Disorder should be taught separately or inclusively and whether you think the professional training of regular early childhood educators should include training in helping these kinds of learners perform or whether you think that should be a sub-specialty area in education. Do you think testing for these kinds of disabilities should start even before public education, such as becoming part of the pre-school curriculum?

Fourth Response: Your post illustrates how serious and pervasive a problem dyslexia is and how often it remains undiagnosed. Given the connection between poor academic performance, low self-esteem, and juvenile delinquency, I would be curious how you would suggest addressing the problem of dyslexia in particular. The reason for my question is that it seems that the problem of dyslexia might be much easier to resolve than other types of learning disabilities. Would you support a dyslexia-awareness program in all childhood education systems, for example? If so, when do you think children should first be tested for Dyslexia?