Learning Disabilities Awareness Month

October is Learning Disabilities Awareness Month across Canada, a fine time for a new initiative on the blog.  Starting today, we are going to post a little bit of information every day.  We'll share articles, links, facts and stories for anyone who is living with or supporting an individual with learning disabilities.  That's a lot of posting, so we want your ideas, stories, thoughts and feedback.  If you have a suggestion or would like to write a guest blog, please email me at rhonda.brown@bridgeway-academy.com.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

While we gear up, I thought I'd share a few statistics on learning disabilities in Canada. These statistics were compiled by the Learning Disabilities Association of Windsor-Essex County in Ontario. 

Rhonda

 •  It is generally accepted that learning disabilities affect 10% of the population. This makes learning disabilities the signal largest disabled population. Learning Disabilities are neurological processing disorders that affect all aspects an individual’s life. An individual with learning disabilities has average or above average intelligence.

•  As learning disabilities are often genetic, families may be affected negatively by learning disabilities. Adults who have not received appropriate and timely support and training typically hold a job for 3 months. Therefore, many families affected by learning disabilities are financially disadvantaged. Many are in receipt of Ontario Disability Support Program-Income Maintenance, Ontario Works and/or the National Child Benefit.

•  The South West Region Children’s Mental Health Study indicates that children with severe learning disabilities, ADHD and accompanying emotional problems are one of the groups not currently receiving adequate service. Almost 50% of adolescent suicides had been previously diagnosed as learning disabilities. The single most commonly sited factor for this desperate act is low-self esteem arising from school failure. Decreasing the development of behavioral and emotional problems related to untreated learning disabilities is essential for promoting successful productive adults with learning disabilities.

•  Research indicates that 62% of high school graduates with learning disabilities are unemployed one year after graduation and that 35% of students with learning disabilities drop out of school (twice the rate of their non-disabled peers). More than one third of the functionally illiterate population copes with learning disability.

Asking questions - Part 3

For the last few days, I've been posting some basic questions and answers about learning disabilities.  I've learned a lot, thanks to the thoughtful answers of Dr. Erica Baker, Registered Psychologist.  I hope you've learned too - and will share this knowledge with others. 

Rhonda


7) What can a teacher do to support students with learning disabilities?


The fit between the child and his/her teacher is often paramount to a child’s success. If the teacher’s ways of teaching are a mismatch with a learner’s profile significant frustration can ensue. Both the teacher and student may need to put some work into the relationship and try compromising and acceptance (Levine, 2002). Success is more likely when a teacher understands the child’s learning profile, is willing to customize his/her teaching style to match the child’s strengths and needs, and can respond effectively to the need of the student with LD. Quality instruction should be flexible and geared toward the student’s needs. The teacher should be invested in the child’s learning process and be open and honest about whether he/she views the plan for the child to be ‘do-able’ and meaningful. Collaboration and ongoing communication between the teacher, student, parents and other professionals working with the child will be helpful in ensuring optimal functioning and the ability to manage a child’s learning profile. Teachers with knowledge of best practices in teaching LD students may be better prepared to choose strategies to meet the needs of their students. Teachers who do not have the training, or do not feel professionally prepared to meet the needs of an LD student should have access to support personnel with knowledge about LD and be open to professional development opportunities.


8) If a child has learning disabilities, how can a parent help to support them?

As a parent we can help to support a child with a learning disability by ensuring good management of the child’s learning profile. Effective management should help to ensure that the problems won’t worsen, that complications will be prevented, that we are working towards remediation of areas that may have broken down, and that we are helping our child maximize their strengths and abilities. Parents should understand how their child learns, help their child understand themselves, identify interventions to try to repair gaps and/or accommodations to bypass their weakness, cultivate strengths, and protect their self-esteem (Levine, 2002).


9) What resources should parents be looking for/asking for?

Parents are encouraged to be knowledgeable about their child’s LD. One excellent resource is http://www.ldonline.org/. Parents should ensure that their children’s difficulties are recognized and that appropriate interventions and supports are being provided. Early identification and intervention is essential. The parent can help to ensure that the student’s progress is being monitored through on-going assessment, that support services have been identified, that goals are meaningful, and that there is follow-through with respect to instructional decisions and academic programming. A child with LD will require more than the usual time to learn basic skills. If a student requires more intensive instruction to learn strategies and/or content, parents may wish to consider special placements (alternate settings). Alternate settings may provide a lower pupil-teacher ratio that allows for more intensive instruction, frequent monitoring of progress, direct instruction, and teachers with more specialized training.

Asking questions - Part 2

In yesterday's post, Dr. Erica Baker answered my questions on what learning disabilities are  and what the signs of learning disabilities might be.  Today, questions about diagnosis and learning. 

Rhonda


4) How are learning disabilities diagnosed?

If there is reason to think a person might have learning disabilities, observations from parents, teachers, doctors and others who are regularly in contact with that person should be gathered. If there appears to be a pattern of trouble, the next step is to seek help from the school administration or to consult a learning specialist for an evaluation.

A diagnosis of LD is usually made by a Psychologist or other learning specialist using a variety of diagnostic tools, including taking a history, performing an interview, and conducting a formal assessment of cognitive processing and academic skills. Areas of cognitive processing that may be assessed include intelligence, phonological processing, language, memory, visual-spatial skills, and executive functioning. Areas of academic functioning that are typically assessed include reading, writing, and arithmetic.

According to the LDAC criteria, a Learning Disability is diagnosed when an individual 1) has at least average thinking and reasoning abilities; 2) has one or more deficits in cognitive processing; and 3) is significantly underachieving in one or more academic areas as a result of cognitive processing deficits.


5) What does a diagnosis mean for a child's ability to learn?

By understanding how a child learns, and identifying his/her strengths and areas of need, there may be better appreciation of why the child may be struggling and how to effectively manage challenges. Teachers, parents and children themselves need to be able to observe, talk about, and work with learning profiles. All children are capable of learning, if they are taught the way that they learn. Learning disabilities affect every person differently, therefore the child’s cognitive processing profile must be considered and a process of trying different ideas and open communication among the child’s support team may be necessary to find the most beneficial ways to help a child learn. Strengths should be valued and recognized. Individuals need to find things to praise in a struggling child and make sure that the child doesn’t give up on himself/herself. Once identified, areas of need should be addressed through remediation, accommodations and/or modifications. The strategies that are used should be tailored to the child.


6) How do children with learning disabilities learn?

Once the problems with learning have been identified, learning can be tailored to the individual’s profile. When we discover that a skill is lagging we can work towards determining the best way to care for that skill. Cognitive and academic skills become stronger the more they are used. It will be important to scaffold new knowledge and skills, and to ensure that the focus of intervention is allowing the child to reach his or her potential. There must be a match between the child and the instructor as positive, constructive relationships are essential to realize potential. Effective instruction for students with learning disabilities should explicit, intensive and direct. This means that instruction for the child with LD should be systematic and clearly described, longer periods of instruction and opportunities for individual and/or small group instruction should be provided, and the child should be taught in specific small steps with feedback and practice. Students with LD also should be taught learning strategies - they need to know how to approach task and use knowledge to solve problems.

Come back tomorrow for my three final questions on how we can support students with LDs.

Asking questions - Part 1

My goal this month is to help raise awareness of learning disabilities.  But to get to understanding, we need knowledge first.  That's why I put together some basic questions on LDs, and sent them over to Dr. Erica Baker, a Halifax-based registered psychologist who specializes in neuropsychological, psychoeducational, ADHD and vocational assessments.  Her answers, with information drawn from a number of organizations, will be featured here on the blog over the next few days. 

Rhonda



1) What are learning disabilities?

There are several definitions of learning disability, but academic underachievement is a fundamental characteristic of these definitions. The definition provided by the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada (2002) is one of the most comprehensive definitions to date. Regardless of the definition, our real task is to determine which individuals require assistance if they are falling behind academically and to help individuals make it through periods when they feel inadequate.


2) What is happening in the brain of a person with a learning disability?

The brain’s ability to process, recognize, store, organize, retrieve or communicate information may be different in individuals with a learning disability.


3) How can a parent tell if their child might have a learning disability?

Some signs that suggest a possible learning disability include (National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities, 2004):

• Trouble learning the alphabet, rhyming words, or connecting letters to their sounds
• Difficulty when reading aloud
• Trouble understanding what was read
• Trouble with spelling
• Trouble expressing ideas in writing
• Late learning to talk
• Limited vocabulary
• Trouble remembering sounds the letters represent
• Trouble hearing slight differences between words
• Trouble understanding jokes, figurative language, sarcasm
• Difficulty knowing where to begin a task
• Trouble organizing what he/she wants to say
• Difficulty retelling a story in order
• Confuses math symbols
• Misreads numbers
• Becomes lost in the middle of mathematical calculations
• Reverses numbers

Learning disabilities vary significantly from individual to individual. If a child is struggling to keep up with same-age peers in one or more areas that may include listening, speaking, reading, writing or mathematics, a learning disability might be a consideration (LDAC).