What is a Learning Disability?
What are Learning Differences?
Suggestions for Working with Children with Learning Disabilities
Things that may Irritate & Cause Tension
List of Famous People with Learning Disabilities
What
is a Learning Disability?
Learning disabilities are neurological
disorders that interfere with a person's ability to store, process, or produce
information, and create a "gap" between one's ability and performance.
Learning disabilities often run in families.
Learning disabilities can affect one's
ability to read, write, speak, or compute math, and can impede social skills.
Learning disabilities affect children and
adults. The impact of the disability ranges from relatively mild to severe.
Learning disabilities are NOT the same as the following handicaps: mental
retardation, autism, deafness, blindness, behavioral disorders.
Attention deficits and hyperactivity sometimes co-occur with learning
disabilities, but not always. Learning
disabilities are not cured and do not go away, but individuals can learn to
compensate for and even overcome areas of weakness.
What
Are Learning Differences?
People with learning differences are
intelligent. Some are very smart. Individuals with learning disabilities are generally of
average or above average intelligence. This
can be confusing, because in school they might not work up to their intelligence
in some areas. Because they have learning differences, their brains sometimes
mix up the information they receive.
Your brain is like a gigantic file
cabinet. All of the information is stored in files in the drawers. Your learning
differences can misplace the files, mix up the files, or cause the drawers to
get stuck so you can't get the information you are trying to find. But you are not
dumb. If you were, your file cabinet would be empty!
LD
Difficulties:
Every person with LD is different. Some
have a hard time doing one or two things. Some have a hard time doing many
things. These are some of the things people with LD might have trouble with.
Difficulty
with memory:
You often forget what adults tell you to
do. You can't remember what a word looks like when it is erased or taken away.
You forget phone numbers and addresses. You say "What?" and "I
don't remember." a lot. You forget the rules to games you play often.
Difficulty
with paying attention:
It is hard to focus on your assignments.
You are distracted by noises or what others are doing. Many times you interrupt
people when they are talking. Adults often tell you to pay attention.
Difficulty
with getting and staying organized:
Many times you can't find your homework,
or you leave it at home. You often misplace things, and you forget where you put
them. Your bedroom is messy, and when you go to clean it up, you don't know
where to start. At school, your locker or desk has everything just jammed in.
Difficulty
with directions, time, and space:
You get left and right confused. You
can't remember if
Very
active:
Your hands need to fiddle with things.
You have trouble sitting still. You often rock back and forth in your chair.
Many times you are told to sit down. Sometimes you get in trouble for talking
too much, acting silly, or interrupting.
Very quiet:
You'd rather watch games than play them.
Many people say that you are very quiet and serious. You try to keep people from
finding out about your learning differences.
Difficulty
with physical education:
You have trouble with team sports. You
get the rules mixed up, you make mistakes, and you are often picked last for
teams. When you were younger, you had trouble learning to ride a bike. You knock
things over or bump into things. You feel clumsy.
Remember:
Just because you have learning
differences doesn't mean you are dumb. It doesn't mean you can't learn. You just
learn differently. Your teachers and parents need to help you learn in ways that
are right for you.
Excerpted from Understanding
LD* (*Learning Differences): A Curriculum to Promote LD Awareness, Self-Esteem
and Coping Skills in Students Ages 8-13, by Susan McMurchie, M.A., copyright
&#;1994. Used with permission from Free Spirit Publishing Inc.,
Suggestions
For Working With Children With Learning Disabilities:
1.
Use a minimum of verbal language;
demonstrate with pictures, &/or by doing, when giving directions.
Give maximum of 2/3 directions at one time, repeat.
2.
Use attention getting devices before
giving directions, i.e. clapping, raising hand.
3.
Give only one goal directed task at a
time. Always repeat.
4.
Word questions that can be easily
answered . . . not too broad or general. Be
specific.
5.
Structure & boundaries are
important, too much freedom can be frustrating.
6.
When asking for a decision, give only
two choices at a time.
7.
Emphasize directions right and left,
helping the child’s orientation.
8.
Work with the children’s strengths,
not weaknesses.
9.
Incorporate as many sense modalities
as possible when teaching new concepts.
10.
Plan activities that the child can complete and feel successful.
11.
Praise & compliment the children
everyday, all the time & whenever possible.
12.
Try to ignore erratic behavior. Praise
the good days rather than discouraging the “off” days.
13.
Person first: This means when speaking of individuals with disabilities
you mention the person first, then the disability.
For example, Children with disability, not LD children.
Things
That May Irritate & Cause Tension:
·
Anticipation: causes excitement.
·
Anxiety: unstructured, changed in
schedule, new things.
·
Avoid Sarcasm: causes misunderstandings.
·
Be careful not to give a child a bad
reputation that they will have to live up to.
·
Being Forced or pushed to do things.
·
Competition: causes feelings of
inadequacy.
·
Do not grab children to get their attention.
·
Do not hurry children; make sure plenty of time is given.
·
Excitement: individual and/or group.
·
Frowning, long faces of adults, counselors, or staff.
·
Fussing, arguing, teasing, unequal attention.
·
Loud Noises: talking, laughing, clapping, screaming, trucks,
buzzes, music.
·
Punishment: most people do not like to
be wrong: correct, isolate, but don’t push away.
·
Tension: worried, uncertain, angry,
or upset adult.
·
Unfair
Situations: real or imagined.