Students With Learning Disabilities

Inclusion of Disabilities in the Classroom

During the later years of the 20th century and the start of the new millennium, it has become abundantly clear that we are living in an increasingly diverse world. Indeed, the diversity of the world has increased not only in terms of race and nationality, but also in terms of ability and aptitude. So recognized have these differences become that that accommodations have been made for them in work, educational, and social settings. The same is true for persons with learning disabilities, or LD. Although there has been much controversy around including such children in general education settings, the trend has been to opt for this choice rather than excluding them from the general education classroom. Interestingly, studies such as the one by McLesky and Waldron have proved that such an idea may indeed be worth the considerable time and money involved in setting up educational environments that can accommodate LD learners. Indeed, the authors have found that LD learners perform significantly better than their non-general education counterparts, regardless of the type of program or interventions provided.

An interesting component of the issue is legislation. Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 (McLesky and Waldron, 2011). Renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the legislation mandated that students with disabilities needed to be included in the least restrictive environment in terms of their learning.

Under this legislation, an increasing number of children have been educated in a general education setting for the majority of their school day. During the years between 1989-1990, 22% of students with learning disabilities were educated in this way. Some 20 years later, by 2009-2009, the number of LD children being educated in general settings stood at 62%. It is therefore clear that most schools have adopted this mode of education when possible for their LD learners, with the preferred model being teaching LD learners in a general setting with co-teaching by a specialist.

McLeskey and Waldon's results show that LD learners tend to respond positively to the efforts made in general education classrooms, performing somewhat better than those receiving only special education.

Another interesting component of general education for LD learners is the effect of labeling. While Lauchlan and Boyle suggest the usefulness of such labeling resulting in specific treatment outcomes, it is also true that it could lead to discrimination. Labeling means that the general public is more aware of the disability suffered by an individual. This could be particularly troublesome in a school environment, where children are often not only cruel, but also thoughtlessly so. Children with learning disabilities may therefore be marginalized and feel rejected because of the labels imposed upon them. For this reason, the authors argue that there is less help than hindrance in the labeling of individual learners, and that the overreliance on labels should be terminated, since these lead only to the unnecessary suffering of learners, without truly helping them in any concrete way.

The interactive instruction strategy appears to be particularly useful in classes with LD learners. Particularly, this strategy includes ways to help individual learners to learn from their peers while also developing social skills and abilities. Other skills that are learned include organizing their thoughts and developing rational arguments.

What is most useful about this strategy is the fact that it can be applied in a classroom where there is a high level diversity in terms of ability and aptitude. An LD learner can, for example, be placed in a group of non-LD peers and be challenged gently towards performing better. In another set-up, an LD group of learners can be challenged to light competition with a non-LD group.

The fact that the teacher can control the composition and size of groups makes this both a useful and flexible tool to help all students achieve their divergent learning goals. To make the most of this strategy, students and teachers both need to enhance their observation, listening, interpersonal, and intervention skills.

In terms of the Language Arts classroom, the students I have worked with seem to respond best when they can interact with both LD and non-LD students in the rest of the classroom. Form my observations, they appear somewhat more confident when both LD and non-LD learners are included in their groups, which is why have made an effort to include both in the groups I created.

In the video on "Understanding Learning Disabilities," what struck me most was the abrupt nature with which the "teacher" was talking to the "learners." It demonstrates in a very vivid way the challenges faced by LD learners in the classroom. First, the anxiety created by the teacher's tone of voice and the abrupt and almost angry nature of his teaching creates an environment in which children are unable to access what ability they do have to learn.