Wednesday, April 22, 2009
What could you do to assist students with Learning Disabilities?
Help students with Learning Disabilities by:
Offering a clear and detailed statement on syllabus inviting collaboration (basically, provide students with necessary accommodations in the classroom to ensure academic success)-
● extended test time
● common set of class notes (either student generated or teacher generated)
● extra review sessions before exams
● extra credit for sessions with tutors, attendance at extracurricular, co-curricular events.

Try to build a respectful, collaborative relationship with the student that is struggling with obstacles due to their learning disability.
Communicate and listen to the student with learning disabilities. Find out how they were able to succeed in other courses, but be ready for an incomplete answer; they may not be the experts we hope they will be in this collaboration, and we have to manage a very delicate communication process and be open to experimentation.
Offer the student advice: for example, how might similar strategies or technologies enable success in the foreign language classroom?
Enable autonomy: help students with learning disabilities form their own connections with others in the school.
Berber, T. E. (n.d.).Strategies for Helping Students with Learning Disabilities. Retrieved April 20, 2009, from http://www.miusa.org/ncde/spotlight/outline2.
Community Resources

Department of Education - Special Education - Ages 3 - 21
States' departments of education oversee disability education services to children. It monitors school districts for compliance with IDEA and state special education regulations. The Department of Education handles formal complaints, due process hearings, and mediation on special education issues.
Special Education Planning and Policy Development Office
Department of Education
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148-5023
Telephone: (781)338-3000, (781)338-3388
Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers with Disabilities
Birth - 2:
Division for Perinatal, Early Childhood and Special Health Needs
Department of Public Health
250 Washington Street, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Telephone: (617)624-5901
Toll Free: (800)905-8437 (Early Intervention Programs)
Programs for Children with Disabilities: Ages 3 - 5
Early Education and Care
51 Sleeper Street
Boston, MA 02210
Telephone: (617)988-6600
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency
Vocational rehabilitation services help people with disabilities live independent lives with education, support, and employment assistance. The department works with middle schools, high schools, and higher education to help students with disabilities access appropriate supports for employment and independence such as job coaching, teaching skills, support in job placement, assistive and adaptive supports, and more.
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency
Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
Fort Point Place
27 Wormwood Street
Boston, MA 02210-1616
Toll Free Telephone: (800)245-6543 (Inside Massachusetts)
Telephone: (617)204-3600
State mental health agencies provide services to individuals and families dealing with mental illness, mental retardation, and substance abuse. Services include advocacy, nursing home screening, psychiatric services, intervention, coordination of treatment, case management, and more.
Department of Mental Health
25 Staniford Street
Boston, MA 02114
Telephone: (617)626-8123
Disability Advocacy Services
Protection and advocacy offices offer information and referrals relating to disability issues, a resource database for self-advocacy, education and training in disability rights, and individual case advocacy.
Protection and Advocacy Agency
Disability Law Center, Inc.
11 Beacon Street, Suite 925
Boston, MA 02108
Toll Free Telephone: (800)872-9992 (Voice Line) Telephone: (617)723-8455 Toll Free TTY Line: (800)381-0577 TTY Line: (617)227-9464
Learning Strategies
- Create an appropriate study area- Ensure that the child's study area is free of distractions that include television, noise, clutter, and siblings; make sure the child has easy access to school supplies.
- Collect resource and reference materials- Ask your child's teacher to provide extra materials that the child uses on a daily basis in school. This is known to increase the effectiveness of studying.
- Consider the use of CD-ROM reference materials versus the internet- Often dial-up connection can be painstakingly slow, and can be frustrating for students with learning disabilities.

Teaching Strategies

- "Always ask questions in a clarifying manner, then have the students with learning disabilities describe his or her understanding of the questions.
- Use an overhead projector with an outline of the lesson or unit of the day.
- Reduce course load for student with learning disabilities.
- Provide clear photocopies of your notes and overhead transparencies, if the student benefits from such strategies.
- Provide students with chapter outlines or study guides that cue them to key points in their readings.
- Provide a detailed course syllabus before class begins.
- Ask questions in a way that helps the student gain confidence.
- Keep oral instructions logical and concise. Reinforce them with a brief cue words.
- Repeat or re-word complicated directions.
- Frequently verbalize what is being written on the chalkboard.
- Eliminate classroom distractions such as, excessive noise, flickering lights, etc.
- Outline class presentations on the chalkboard or on an overhead transparency.
- Outline material to be covered during each class period unit. (At the end of class, summarize the important segments of each presentation.)
- Establish the clarity of understanding that the student has about class assignments.
- Give assignments both in written and oral form.
- Have more complex lessons recorded and available to the students with learning disabilities.
- Have practice exercises available for lessons, in case the student has problems.
- Have students with learning disabilities underline key words or directions on activity sheets (then review the sheets with them).
- Have complex homework assignments due in two or three days rather than on the next day.
- Pace instruction carefully to ensure clarity.
- Present new and or technical vocabulary on the chalkboard or overhead.
- Provide and teach memory associations (mnemonic strategies).
- Support one modality of presentation by following it with instruction and then use another modality.
- Talk distinctly and at a rate that the student with a learning disability can be follow.
- Technical content should be presented in small incremental steps.
- Use plenty of examples, oral or otherwise, in order to make topics more applied.
- Use straight forward instructions with step-by-step unambiguous terms. (Preferably, presented one at a time).
- Write legibly, use large type; do not clutter the blackboard with non-current / non-relevant information.
- Use props to make narrative situations more vivid and clear.
- Assist the student, if necessary, in borrowing classmates' notes.
- Consider cross-age or peer tutoring if the student appears unable to keep up with the class pace or with complex subject matter. The more capable reader can help in summarizing the essential points of the reading or in establishing the main idea of the reading."
Classroom Intervention
- Big Ideas-key concepts or principles that facilitate the most efficient and broadest acquisition of information.
- Conspicuous strategies-steps used to accomplish a task or solve a problem.
- Mediated scaffolding-temporary instructional support provided until the student can solve a problem or understand a concept independently.
- Strategic Integration-integrating knowledge to promote higher-level learning.
- Judicious review-opportunities to practice or apply information that was previously taught.
- Primed background knowledge-ensuring that previous learning is used to facilitate current learning.
Rosenberg, Michael S. , David L. Westling, and James McLeskey. Special Education for Today's Teachers. New Jersey: Pearsons Education, Inc., 2008.
Early Intervention
- Difficulty in diagnosing
- Predicting-Profiling
- Programming-individualized
- Continuos monitoring of learning
(1999 Allyn & Bacon)
These steps explain the Early Intervention for process that helps children that are showing signs of learning disabilities early on.
Early intervention is important because researchers have determined that childrens early experiences have an impact on their later growth and development. However, providing Early Intervention can be a complex process, and this is due to the difficulty in identifying students with learning disabilities. As we may already know students are typically identified, becauase of their delay in reading ability. Usually, students are not expected to learn how to read until kindergarten or first grade. Therefore, identifying students with potential learning disabilities for early intervention may require hypothesizing that the student may be at risk for future learning disability in order to help them.
Early Intervention has truly benifited those students with learning disabilities that have difficulty reading. Due to the success of Early Intervention the RTI approach for identifyinf students with disabilities has become more common, because it is ensuring that students receive evidence-based instruction early on in kindergarten and first grade in order to prevent future failure in school.
Rosenberg, Michael S. , David L. Westling, and James McLeskey. Special Education for Today's Teachers. New Jersey: Pearsons Education, Inc., 2008.
Response to Intervention (RTI)
- Students are first tested in the first grade to determine whether they are struggling with reading or math.
- Those students who are identified as at risk for poor learning during first grade are then identified for intervention. Intervention is implemented on these students with evidence- based practices that are guaranteed to be the most effective.
- After the intervention students are tested. Those students who respond well are considered the ones that can achieve at the appropriate level with their peers in the first grade meaning that they instead had difficulty learning due to insufficient background knowledge or lack of instruction.
Referral Process

- Child is identified as possibly needing special education and related services (i.e. Child Find, referral or request for evaluation).
- Child is evaluated.
- Eligibility is decided.
- CHild is found eligible for services, and within 30 days IEP Team must develop IEP for child.
- IEP meeting is scheduled.
- IEP is held and the IEP is written.
- After the IEP is written, services are provided.
- Progress is measured and reported back to parents.
- IEP is reviewed (at least once a year).
- Child is reevaluated.
Autism

- Autistic disorder- Severe developmental disability with early age onset, poor social development, language impairments, and rigidity in behavior.
- Asperger's disorder- Impairments in social development, which are often sustained or lifelong, and repetitive behavior, interests, and activities.
- Rett's disorder- Rapid deterioration of behavior, language, and purposeful hand movements. Also, mental retardation and seizures may exist.
- Childhood disintegrative disorder- A rare condition that occurs between the ages of 3 and 15, and affect the child in a way that leads to rapid loss of language, social, motor, and toileting skills.
- Pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)- Applied to children who resemble autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder, but may differ diagnostically in a significant way, for instance, with age of onset.
Monday, April 20, 2009
ADD/ADHD

"Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that appears in early childhood. You may know it by the name attention deficit disorder, or ADD. ADD / ADHD makes it difficult for people to inhibit their spontaneous responses—responses that can involve everything from movement to speech and attentiveness" (Helpguide.org).
How can we determine whether a child has ADD/ADHD?
- Inattentiveness
- Impulsivity
- Hyperactivity
Symptoms of Inattentiveness:
- Doesn’t pay attention to details or makes careless mistakes
- Has trouble staying focused; is easily distracted
- Appears not to listen when spoken to
- Has difficulty remembering things and following instructions
- Has trouble staying organized, planning ahead, and finishing projects
- Frequently loses or misplaces homework, books, toys, or other items
- Constantly fidgets and squirms
- Often leaves his or her seat in situations where sitting quietly is expected
- Moves around constantly, often running or climbing inappropriately
- Talks excessively, has difficulty playing quietly
- Is always “on the go,” as if driven by a motor
- Blurts out answers without waiting to be called on hear the whole question
- Has difficulty waiting for his or her turn
- Often interrupts others
- Intrudes on other people’s conversations or games
- Inability to keep powerful emotions in check, resulting in angry outbursts or temper tantrums
Creativity- Child may day dream, and have ten different thoughts all at once can become a problem-solver, can have a flow of ideas, or can be an artist.
Flexibility- Don't conform to one option, and are open to alternatives, because they are always thinking about multiple things at once, which allow them to be more open to ideas.
Enthusiasm and Sponraneity- Rarely ever boring, have many interests, and lively personalities.
Energy and Drive- When motivated children are hard workers, and strive for success. May be difficult to distract them from tasks that they are interested in, especially if it is a hands on activity.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Dyslexia


- Letter and number reversals are the most common warning sign.
- Difficulty copying from the board or a book.
- Not being able to remember content, even if it was from a favorite book or video.
- Issues with spatial relationships.
- Difficulty with organized sports or games.
- Challenges to understand the difference between left and right.
- Problems moving to rhythm of music.
LD FAQ's
- Students with learning disabilities have an intelligence level in the normal range (i.e. avg of 70+), and unexpectedly achieve poorly in one or more academic areas, mostly in reading.
- Students with learning disabilities have been labels with terms such as dyslexia (reading disability), dysgraphia (handwriting or written expression disability), dyscalculia (math disability).
What are typical characteristics?
- Low achievement
- Inattention/Distractibility
- Information-processing deficits
- Social-skills deficits
- Poor motivation
- A heterogenous category
- Impulsive
- Overreliance on teachers and peers
- Poor language and cognitive development
- Perceptual, Perceptual Motor, and General coordination problems
- Delays in learning reading, math, or both
What are the demographics?
- 5.24% of students ages 6-17 have been identified with learning disabilities.
- Approximately 45% of all school-age students with disabilities have a learning disability.
- Between 1990 and 2004 an increase of approximately 14% of the school-age population was identified with learning disabilities.
- 90% of students with learning disabilities have reading problems.
- Approximately 75% are male.
Where are students educated?
- 51% of the students with learning disabilities spend most of their day learning in the general education classroom.
- The proportion of students with learning disabilities educated in segregated setting declined by approximately 42% between 1990 and 2003.
How are students identified and assessed for intervantion?
- Primary criteria for identification are a severe discrepancy between expected and actual achievement levels and exclusion of students who have other disabilities and those who have not had adequate opportunities to learn.
- A test of intelligence is used to determine expected achievement level, while a standarduzed achievement test is used to determine actual achievement level. These tests are compared to determine if severe discrepancy exists between expected and actual achievement levels.
- Curriculum-based measures are used to determine current academic level in classroom curriculum as well as to monitor student progress.
- Assessments- Standardized Achievement tests, Informal reading inventories, Formative evaluation, and Authentic assessment.
What are the outcomes?
- Reading problems tend to become more severe as students with learning disabilities move through school.
- Learning disabilities tend to persist throughout adulthood.
- Many adults with learning disabilities have difficulty finding good employment, living independently, and finding satisfaction in life.
Rosenberg, Michael S. , David L. Westling, and James McLeskey. Special Education for Today's Teachers. New Jersey: Pearsons Education, Inc., 2008.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Defining Learning Disabilities
