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Learning Difficulties & Disabilities
Week 1: Introduction
Learning Disability
Neurological condition that interferes with a person’s ability to store, process, or produce information
Affects the person’s ability to read, write, speak, spell, or compute mathematics
Can interfere with attention, memory, coordination, and social skills.
Experienced by children from all culture, nations, language groups, and social economic status
If provided with the right support and interventions, students with learning disabilities can succeed in school and have a successful career
Learning: Storing, processing & providing information
Different Types of Definitions for Learning Disability
Federal
National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD)
Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities (ICLD)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5)
Most definitions of learning disability include the following components:
Neurological factors
Cognitive processing factors
Difficulty in academic and learning tasks
Discrepancy between a student’s potential for learning and academic achievement
Exclusions of other causes
Brain: Structures and Functions
The process of learning is an important activity carried out by the brain
Learning difficulty reflects brain malfunction
Left hemisphere (LH): Reacts to and controls language-related activities
LH is where language function originates
LH reacts to linguistic stimuli, e.g., words, symbols and verbal thought
Right hemisphere (RH): Deals with nonverbal stimuli – spatial perception, mathematics, music, directional orientation, time sequences, and body awareness
3 Areas of the Left Hemisphere of the brain that are used for reading
Broca’s Area
Located in the left frontal lobe
Links letters to sounds
Associated with the ability to say words aloud
Wernicke’s Area
Located in the left parietal lobe
Involved in analyzing words
Left Occipitotemporal Area
Involved in integrating learned words
Involved in storing and retrieving words
Week 2: Assessment and the Individualized Education Program Process
Assessment for Special Education Services
The process of collecting information about a student that will be used to form judgments and make decisions concerning that student
Used to identify the nature of the student’s challenges and to plan instruction
Objective of assessment: To obtain information that can be used to plan ways to help the student learn
Serves multiple purposes
Purposes of Assessment
Screening
Cursory evaluation used to identify students who may need a more comprehensive evaluation
Initial evaluation (first step)
Referral
Seeks additional assistance from other school personnel An evaluation of the student is requested based on observations of the student and their classroom performance
Classification
Student are assessed:
For their need for special education services
To identify their category of disability
To identify whether the disability has an adverse impact on education performance
Instructional planning
Develops an educational program for an individual student
Information from the assessment (classification) is used to develop instructional goals and specific plans for teaching
Monitoring pupil progress
Several approaches can be used to monitor a student’s progress
Formal standardized tests
Informal measures
A continuous monitoring procedure
Determining Eligibility for Special Education Services
Two ways that schools can determine eligibility for special education services:
Response-to-intervention (RTI) approach
Comprehensive Evaluation
Response-to-intervention (RTI) Approach
2 Approaches
Standard Protocol Model
Problem Solving Model
Intended to identify students who are having academic difficulties when the problems first become apparent
A practice to be used with all students who are considered at-risk for school failure, and students with suspected disabilities (including learning disabilities)
Goal: to prevent academic failure for all students who are at-risk of school failure
3 tiers of intervention are commonly used- higher tier, more attention
Tier 1: High-quality instruction in general education and monitoring of student progress
Tier 2: More intensive evidence-based instruction while progress monitoring continues
Tier 3: Highly intense, evidence-based interventions taught in small groups or individually, while progress monitoring continues
Students who respond well to the instruction in Tiers 1, 2, or 3 of the RTI procedure are NOT considered eligible for special education services
Students who are not learning with the RTI interventions are considered to be “non-responders” and may be referred for a special education evaluation
The Standard Protocol Model
Involves prescribed procedures for academic and behavioural problems that are developed and implemented at each stage of instruction
Instruction is standardized at each level of intervention
The same instructional methods are implemented across all students
The same teaching and assessment procedures are used for all students
The Problem-Solving Model
A case-by-case approach to addressing individual students’ unique needs
Each student’s failure to respond to intervention is given an individually tailored plan for the next level of instruction or support
Comprehensive Evaluation
Intended to identify students who are having academic difficulties
Involves collecting information about an individual student that can be used to:
Form judgments
Make critical decisions about the students
Plan appropriate instructions
Used by schools in the process of preparing an individualized education program (IEP) for a student
Information Obtained
Observational data the describes the student’s behaviour
Educationally relevant medical findings
Data to exclude visual, hearing, or motor disability; limited English proficiency; cultural factors; emotional disturbance; etc.
Data from standardized measures and qualitative analysis of the student’s ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell and do mathematics
Summary of the student’s strengths and weaknesses and the basis for determination of a specific learning disability if found
Recommendations based on the data that inform individualized instruction, state necessary accommodations or modifications, and identify behavioural and learning supports needed
Review of RTI information (if RTI was implemented)
Comparison of a student’s intellectual ability (potential for learning) and the student’s actual achievement
Individualized Education Program (IEP)
A written statement for each child with a disability
Each IEP is designed for one student and should be a truly individualized document
Creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities
Consists of 3 broad stages: referral, assessment, instruction
Week 3: Specialized Instruction
Specialized Instruction
Instruction based on the individualized needs of the student
Unique to a particular child
Instruction is planned based on the individualized needs of the student
provides the instruction needed by the child.
Ex: Student may need a specific multi-sensory approach to teach him reading because he has poor auditory and visual memory skills
Kirk’s Diagnostic-Prescriptive Approach (Special Education)
Assessment of a child’s special physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and educational needs.
Determination of the focus of the instruction through the development of the annual goals and short-term objectives of the IEP.
Decisions about how instruction should be delivered through task analysis and specialized instructional techniques.
Measurement of the child’s progress
Differentiated Instruction
Take place in the general education classroom
Involves the teacher using techniques that are designed to meet the range of diversity within the classroom
Reflects the philosophy of teaching that enables teachers to reach the unique needs of each student, capitalizing on the student’s strengths and weaknesses
Applies an approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas
Accommodations
Tools provided to students, such as extended timelines or large print materials
No change to the content being learned
Modifications
The content of material being learned is changed
Direct Instruction
A method of teaching the academic skills of the curriculum in a structured and controlled manner
The curriculum and the tasks that the student is to learn are first analyzed, then the desired academic curriculum skill is carefully sequenced so that the teacher teaches each step in sequence
The student practices and repeats each step of the sequence until the skill is mastered
Characteristics of Direct Instruction
Academic skills taught directly
Teacher directed and controlled
Involves carefully sequenced and structured materials
Provides student mastery of basic skills
Set goals that are clear to students
Allocates sufficient time for instruction
Uses continuous monitoring of student performance
Provides immediate feedback to students
Teaches a skill until mastery of that skill is achieved
Mastery learning
An outcome of direct instruction
The student must learn each of a sequence of skills to learn a task (learning each skill of a task is related to climbing the rungs of a ladder – each rung must be touched to make it to the top)
Controlling Instructional Variables
Many factors related to learning disabilities cannot be controlled by a teacher or a school
However, the following variables can be adjusted by teachers to enhance student learning:
Difficulty level
Space
Time
Language
Difficulty Level
Can be modified to meet a student’s present performance and tolerance levels
Relate concepts:
Readiness: The state of maturational development that is necessary before a skill can be learned
Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky): An appropriate level of
difficulty for the student’s learning
Space
The physical setting where the learning occurs
Should enhance learning
Space can be modified using partitions, screens, removing distracting stimuli, etc.
Involves the student’s work areas (Ex: size of the paper, desk surface)
Time
Many ways to control time in the teaching setting:
Lessons can be completed in short periods of time (e.g., one row of math questions vs. an entire sheet)
For timed activities and exercises, the allotted time can be increased
Time can be broken up into shorter units by varying the types of activities
Language
Aim is for language to clarify vs. confuse
Language should be matched with the student’s level of understanding
Ex: For students whose first language is not English, it is even more important that the language used for instruction is clear, precise, and unambiguous
Accommodations for Students with Learning Disabilities and Related Disabilities
Supporting attention
Supporting student’s ability to listen
Adapting the curriculum
Helping students manage time
Effective Instructional Strategies for General Education
Peer tutoring
Explicit teaching
Promoting active learning
Scaffolded instruction
Supporting executive functions
Learning strategies instruction
Week 4: Educational Settings and the Role of the Family
Educational Settings
The educational environment (or setting) where students with learning disabilities and related mild disabilities will receive instruction is determined by the IEP
The IEP team should consider the following factors when selecting an educational setting for a particular student:
The severity of the disability
The student’s need for related services
The student’s ability to fit into the routine of the selected setting
The student’s social and academic skills
The student’s level of schooling (primary, intermediate, or secondary)
A placement that combines elements of several types of educational settings recommended.
Different types of environmental settings for learning:
General Education Classroom
Resource Room
Separate Class
Separate School
Residential Facility
Homebound or Hospital Setting
One-to-One Instruction
General Education Classroom
The regular class in which most students in school receive instruction
Considered the least restrictive environment in terms of being with students who do not have disabilities
Simply placing students with disabilities in this context is not enough to ensure academic success or social acceptance
Targeted and specialized instruction and attention is required to support the needs of the student
The special educator may work with the general education classroom teacher, provide materials for the student, or teach the student within the general education classroom
Resource Room
A special instructional setting, usually a room within a school
In this context, small groups of students meet with a special education teacher for special instruction for a portion of the day
Students spend the remainder of the day in the general education classrooms
This context offers flexibility in terms of the curriculum offered, the time students spend in the program, the number of students served, and the teacher’s time
Separate Class
A special class for children with disabilities taught by a teacher with special training
Children in a separate class usually spend most of the say in this setting
Typically small, containing 6 to 15 students at a time
Offers the opportunity for highly individualized and closely supervised intensive instruction
Can offer more intensive individualized instruction in which students spend more time learning
May provide the most appropriate setting for the kind of intensive and comprehensive intervention needed by students with the most severe learning difficulties
Some separate classes are categorical, consisting of student with one category of disability (e.g., learning disability), other are cross-categorical, consisting of students with mild or moderate disabilities
Separate School
● Schools for students with learning disabilities that students attend during the day; students return to their homes at the end of the day
● Often a private institution but sometimes publicly supported
● Some students attend the separate school full time, other students attend the separate school for half a day and spend the remainder of the day in the public school.
● Advantage: Often serve students with learning disabilities and related mild disabilities well, and sometimes provide the only feasible option for certain students
● Disadvantage: High expense to parents, traveling distance, lack of opportunity to be with students in the general education population
Residential Facility
Educational institutions in which students live away from home and receive their education
May be privately managed or sponsored by a government agency
Relatively few students have disabilities that are severe enough to warrant this type of placement
May be the best solution if the community lacks adequate facilities, behavioural manifestations are extremely severed, or emotional reaction among other members of the family is debilitating
Disadvantage: Student is removed from their home and neighborhood, and have fewer opportunities for social experiences in the large community
Homebound or Hospital Setting
In these contexts, students have a medical condition requiring these placements
Typically, teachers are sent to the home or hospital setting to provide instruction
One to one Instruction
Instruction involved on adult working with one student
Can lead to substantial improvement in student achievement
Teaching is highly individualized, and the student receives intensive instruction over a period of time by a skilled teacher who can tailor the instruction to the specific student needs
The cost of providing a teacher for each student is impractical for schools, so parents must seek out private institutions for this highly individualized form of instruction
The Role of the Family
Parents, older siblings, extended family members can play a critical role for children who are navigating learning disabilities.
Parents/guardians are advised to do the following to support their child advance in their education with their disability:
Be informed and continually learn about learning disabilities
Advocate for their child, and seek the right program for them at home, school, and in the community
Work to ensure that their child’s legal rights are being met
Help to manage their child’s behaviour while at the same time being empathetic of their child’s feelings, failures, fears, and hardships
Week 6: Learning Theories Developmental Psychology
Why Study Learning Theories?
Help us understand different aspects of learning
Theories are practical as they helps someone understand the following:
A guide of action
Clarifies and structures thoughts
Creates a catalyst for further research
The purpose of theory is to bring form, coherence, and meaning to what we observe in the real world.
%%Learning Theories in Specialized and General Education %%
Theory helps with different forms of assessment and instructional practices
Theories that are made for understanding learning disabilities are applied in many ways in specialized education and general education
Specialized Education: Is a range of services that aid students that have disabilities to learn. It's not a “one size fits all” approach — special education is tailored to meet the needs of individual kids.
General Education: This is the standard curriculum that is taught in public schools for majority of students
%%Developmental Psychology %%
The maturation of cognitive skills follows a sequential progression.
Learning ability is dependent on the child’s current maturational status.
Any attempts to speed up the developmental process will cause issues.
The maturation of cognitive skills follows a sequential progression.
Each theory has their own concept of the sequential progression but they all agree:
Stages cannot be skipped (can be accelerated).
Each stage marks new intellectual ability.
Stages occur at different ages or time-periods of development.
Learning ability is dependent on the child’s current maturational status.
Environment: home, neighbourhood, school.
Socio-economic: income, parental assets.
Biology: nutrition, health conditions, genetics.
Any attempts to speed up the developmental process will cause issues.
Developmental Variations
The term developmental variations refers to differences in the rates of specific components of development.
Each individual has a preset rate of growth for various human functions, including cognitive abilities. Discrepancies among the various abilities indicate that various abilities are maturing at different rates, with some abilities lagging in their development.
Bender (1957) called these variations “maturational lags.” This maturational perspective implies that many children with learning problems are not so different from other children; rather, their developmental differences are more a matter of timing.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
Vygotsky, recognized the importance of teaching at the appropriate difficulty level for the student. He reasoned that children can learn when instruction is directed toward what Vygotsky called their zone of proximal development (ZPD), Vygotsky envisioned a range of difficulty levels of tasks for a student:
A level that is very easy for a student to do independently
A middle level that a student can accomplish with assistance
A level that is much too difficult for successful student learning, or a frustration level.
Vygotsky recommends that instruction should be geared to the middle level, which he called the ZPD.
He recommended this because it is neither too easy nor too hard; rather, it is just right. If a child’s abilities do not mesh with the instructional level, learning cannot occur.
Piaget’s Maturational Stages of Development
Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete Operational
Formal Operational
Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to Age 2
Children begin to interact with their environment
They learn through their senses and movement
Ex: Touching, hitting biting, listening
They learn about the properties of:
Space
Time
Location
Permanence
Casualty
They develop object permanence- the understanding an object exists even though it cannot be seen or heard
Children with disabilities need more opportunities for motor exploration
Preoperational Stage: Age 2-7
Children make intuitive judgements about relationships
Begin to think with symbols
Language becomes important
Use of symbols (words and images) to represent the concrete world
Thinking dominated largely by the world perception
Young children can attach only one attribute or function to an object e.g., color, shape, size
Concrete Operations Stage: Age 7-11
Capable to think through relationships to perceive consequences of actions
Group entities logically
Improvements in systemizing and organizing thoughts
Thoughts largely influenced by previous experiences
These are linked to the concrete objects they have understood through their senses
Example: Child can visually recognize 4 objects without physically touching it
Formal Operations Stage: Ages 11+
Reflects a major transition in the thinking process
Children now have the capacity to work with abstractions, theories, and logical relationships without having to refer to the concrete
Provides a generalized orientation toward problem-solving activities
Transition between levels depends on maturity
Stages are sequential and hierarchical
Students need opportunities and experiences to stabilize behaviour
School curriculum does not provide sufficient opportunity for students to go through the preliminary levels of understanding
May lead to inadequate and insecure learning
Stages of Learning
The stages a person goes through steps in mastering material such as acquisition, proficiency, maintenance, and generalization.
Exposure
Exposed to the knowledge but does not fully understand
Needs teacher support
Ex: Jack is shown the 5s multiplication table
Grasping the Knowledge
Student begins to grasp concepts
Needs practice
Ex: Jack practices the 5s table with games
Independence
Students can do the task independently after direct instruction & reinforcements have been lifted
Ex: Jack can multiply by 5s by himself
Application
Students own and internalize knowledge
Can apply it to outside situations
Ex: Jack can apply the 5s tables to other math problems
Behavioural Psychology
Introduction
Helps us to understand how behaviour is learned & influences how we teach
Behavioural theories provide a foundation for:
Research
Assessment
Instruction
IEP is result of behavioural approach uses observable and measurable behaviour
Behavioural Learning Theories are Based on:
Human behaviour is shaped by behavioural principles
Modifying behaviour requires direct focus on the behaviour of concern
The objective of the teaching should be clearly specified
The target behaviour is observable and measurable
The effectiveness of the intervention requires frequent measurement
Direct Instruction
Stems from behavioural theory
Focused towards disadvantaged students
Repetition, fully scripted lessons, sequence
Focused towards their academic skills
Qualities
Teaches academic skills directly
Is teacher directed and controlled
Uses carefully sequenced and structured materials
Provides student mastery of basic skills
Sets goals that are clear to students
Allocates sufficient time for instruction
Uses continuous monitoring of student performance
Provides immediate feedback to students
Teaches a skill until mastery of that skill is achieved
Explicit Teaching
Behavioural instruction
Teachers are clear about the specific skills that will be taught
Teach each step/skill precisely
ABC Model
Antecedent Event (Stimulus)
Target behaviour (Behaviour response)
Consequent Event (Reinforcement)
Behavioural Analysis
Teachers work with students and learn skills of their students
Follow them step by step while completing the tasks
Teaches sub-skill in sequential required for future tasks
Ex: Taking notes of students' abilities and helping them master each skill such as reading/math lessons
Behavioural Analysis used by teachers to create learning goals in a sequence
Students must combine their own observed skills while learning.
Steps to Behavioural Analysis
State the task you want a student to complete or the task to be learned based on the student's performance
Analyze the sub-skills needed to perform that task
List out sub-skills that are to be learned
Determine which sub-skills that student does not know
Teach one subskill in order
Evaluate the effectiveness of instruction to see if the student has learned objective.
Implications
Direct instruction and explicit teaching are effective teaching methods.
Teachers should understand how to analyze the different components of the curriculum and how to structure the steps of those behaviours.
Direct instruction can be combined with many other approaches to teaching
Direct instruction can be even more effective when a teacher understands a student's unique learning style and difficulties.
Functional behavioural assessments and positive behavioural support can help students with behavioural challenges.
This gives the means to understand better the undesirable behaviour and a way to meet a student's need.
Functional Behavioural Assessment
Describes and analyzes a student's challenges with observations conducted and will give their educators an opportunity to implement an intervention strategy that would be helpful for them.
Focuses specifically on the Antecedent event
Antecedent event= any event that observably triggers a child's behavior
Positive Behavioural Support
Positive behavioural support offers the student strategies and interventions to change their challenging behaviour.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
The field of cognitive psychology studies the human processes of learning, thinking, and knowing
Concepts of cognitive psychology have been broadly elaborated over the years and changes in the field of learning disabilities reflects these elaborations
We explore a progression of ideas from cognitive psychology that have influenced the teaching of students with learning disabilities:
Cognitive processing
The information-processing model
Cognitive learning theories
Automaticity
Metacognition
Cognitive Processing
Psychology processing disorder refers to the difficulties that students with learning disabilities encounter in cognitive processing.
Many student with disabilities and related minor disabilities have difficulties that students with learning disabilities encounter in cognitive processing such as:
Visual perception,
Auditory perception
Tactical kinesthetic perception in language skills and memory function.
Info-Processing Model
A process of learning
Info received through the senses
If attended to, the info moves across the memory systems
Multi-store Memory System: deals with information flow to 3 types of memory
Sensory Register
Short-term Memory
Long-term Memory
Other Aspects of the Info-Processing Model
Sensory Register: First memory system in the model. It interprets + maintains memory info long enough to be perceived and analyzed
Perception + Attention used to give stimuli meaning and transfer to next memory system
Short-term Memory: Temporary storage; individuals become consciously aware of info
Working Memory: Temporary storage system; an active system used in complex cognitive tasks
Can build, take apart or rework ideas for long-term storage
Long-term Memory: Permanent memory storage; info is retrieved and brought to short-term or working memory. Has 2 parts
Episodic: “Image” or sensory memories
Semantic: General knowledge, language, concepts and generalizations
Cognitive Learning Theories
To succeed in the general education classroom, students must learn complex concepts, have good problem- solving skills, and know how to organize information on their own.
Students often have limited background knowledge for many academic activities and need sufficient feedback and practice to retain abstract information.
A number of instructional strategies stem from cognitive theories of learning, which help students with learning disabilities grasp the concepts and subject matter of the general education curriculum.
Some of the effective and validated instructional approaches are:
Scaffolded instruction
Learning strategies instruction
Peer tutoring
Apprenticeships
Refer to the kind of teaching that occurs in a setting in which a knowledgeable adult and learner work jointly on a real life problem
Learning in such a setting is geared to solving genuine problems rather than reading about it
Are motivating for learnings, and apprentices increase generalization because student apprentices learn through experience
Graphic Organizer
Are visual representations of concepts, knowledge, or information that incorporates both text and pictures.
Examples include:
Venn diagram
Hierarchical (top-down) organizes
Word webs
Concept maps
Mind mapping
Concept Map
A student or teacher can cluster ideas and words that go together.
The activity serves to activate the student’s construction of a concept.
Mind Mapping
Is a technique that employs a pictorial method to transfer ideas from a student or from a group of students into a large piece of paper, transparency, or a large class chart.
Ideas are produced randomly, and certain words or ideas will trigger other ideas, which will lead to other suggestions or pictures.
Metacognition
The ability to facilitate learning by taking control and directing one’s own thinking process
Learning metacognitive strategies can allow for students with learning disabilities apply them to their learning to become efficient
Classification
Technique for for determining the type, status, or mode of a learning activity
“What am I doing here?”, “Is this activity important to me?”
Checking
Taking steps during the process of problem solving to determine one’s progress, success, and results
“I remember most of the lesson.”, “My planning is pretty detailed and careful.”, “There is something I do not understand here.”
Evaluation
Provides information about quality
“My plan is not good enough to rule out any risks.” , “I have done a good job.”
Prediction
Provides information about the possible alternative options for problem solving and possible outcomes
“If I decide to work on this problem, the technical details will be hard to accomplish. I will have to get someone to help me with them.”, “ I should be able to finish the paper in four days.”
Week 7: Social, Emotional and Behavioural Challenges
Social, Emotional and Behavioural Challenges
Social challenges
Difficulties in interrelating with others, in making and keeping friends, and in meeting the social demands of everyday life
Behavioural challenges
Problems manifested by aggressive, antisocial, and similar behaviour
Emotional challenges
Involves feelings about oneself that interfere with one’s outlook on life and ability to learn
Ex: A student may feel so chronically depressed or have a low self-concept that then disrupts their outlook and learning
Past studies suggest that students may act out to avoid aversive academic tasks
Teachers should be sensitive to the stresses that many students with learning problems face
Expected to try to do academic tasks that are extremely difficult for them
May respond by giving up, acting out, or putting their head down on their desk and trying to rest
Doing work that is difficult is tiring and what may appear as work refusal may be exhaustion from demanding tasks
Important to find strengths that students have while assisting them in the areas in which they struggle
Social Challenges
Social skills: Skills that are necessary for meeting the basic demands of everyday life
Children need well-developed social and interactive skills to interact
positively with peers and adults
A social disorder affects almost every aspect of life – school, home, and play
Social challenges involve the student’s ability to interact with others, including making friends
⅓ of students with learning disabilities have difficulty with social skills
Ex: If they are asked to solve a social problem, they may jump to a solution quickly vs. making use of problem-solving strategies to arrive at the best possible solution.
Ex: Tend to engage in antisocial behaviour when pressured
Not all students with learning disabilities and related mild disabilities encounter difficulties with social skills.
Educators should help students learn how to improve their ability to respond appropriately in social situations.
Emotional Challenges
Emotional challenges can interfere with academic learning
Failed attempts at mastering tasks induce feelings of frustration, rather than feelings of accomplishment
Instead of building self-esteem, the thwarted attempts produce an attitude of self-derisions
These failed attempts do not stimulate the parents’ normal responses of pride, who may instead become anxious and disheartened, which could then lead to rejection or overprotection
The learning environment should be a place in which the student can be successful - it is important to restructure tasks to assure success.
These students do have many strengths and interests, and teachers and families should find those areas of strengths and capitalize on them.
It is not unusual for students with serious emotional or behavioural problems to also have a coexisting learning disability.
If the problems are so severe that they interfere with further learning and life activities, the student may be referred for psychological or psychiatric counseling.
Characteristics of Emotional Challenges
Depression
Signs of depression include:
Loss of energy
Loss of interest in friends
Difficulty in concentration
Feelings of helplessness
Depression may be a reaction to the stress and frustration of school demands, lack of friendship and social interactions, or may stem from a biochemical predisposition.
Depression may be a reaction to:
Stress and frustration of school demands
Lack of friendship and social interactions
A biochemical predisposition
Lack of Resiliency
Resilience has been described as “a buffering process” – it does not eliminate risks of the adverse conditions that one might face but it helps individuals deal with those conditions effectively
Students who believe that they have competencies in areas other than academic work are less likely to be devastated by school failure.
Self-worth is gained through mastery of a skill or task, through perceived respect from peers, and through feelings of competence
Support systems preserve students’ self-worth by
Keeping failure to a minimum
Increasing the visibility of nonacademic tasks, skills and competencies
Emphasizing learning goals over performance goals
Ex: The student can be given credit for performing a task in the correct manner (a learning goal) even though the final answer may not be accurate (the performance goal)
Anxiety
May cause students to miss class, to tune out, and to become disorganized
Student with learning disabilities and related mild disabilities display more symptoms of anxiety than their peers
The demands and pressures of school and high-stakes testing provoke increased anxiety and even panic.
Students with learning disabilities may feel that they have little to no control over their learning trajectory.
Behavioural Challenges
When students struggle with learning, they may become so frustrated that they refuse to work or they act out
If they cannot get attention for strong academic skills, they may seek to get attention for inappropriate behaviours.
Behaviour is a form of communication
By recognizing students’ behaviour, educations can change things that happen before and after the behaviour (antecedents and consequences) to meet the need of the student in question
Major purposes of behaviour:
Access
Engaging in behaviour to gain attention, power, and control
Ex: Student getting out of their seat without permission; teacher telling the student to sit down (giving attention for the inappropriate behaviour)
If the teacher gives the student attention when they are sitting in their seat, the teacher is meeting their need for attention
Escape/Avoidance
Engaging in a specific behaviour to avoid doing a task because the student fears embarrassment or failure
Students may engage in specific behaviours because they think that the task is too difficult for them
Sensory Stimulation
Some students may engage in behaviour because they are either overly or under stimulated (e.g., too much information on a page, lights that are too bright)
Week 8: ASD & ADHD
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
Consists of a group of developmental disabilities that are caused by problems in the brain
Includes several types of conditions with a wide range of symptoms, differences in when symptoms starts, and different levels of severity
Overlapping symptoms across conditions
Ex: Problems in social interaction
Types of Autism Spectrum Disorders
Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period but they may not become fully manifested until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life
The disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability or global developmental delay.
Previous autism diagnoses have been replaced with the single diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in the DSM-5
Autism
Asperger’s Syndrome
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Asperger’s Syndrome
Lack an understanding of the rules of social behaviour
Ex: Eye contact, proximity to others
Emotional vulnerability and stress
Often leading to poor self-esteem, self-concept, depression
Characteristics of difficulty in social competence can include
Frequent misunderstanding of social communications from others
Lack of empathy or seeing the perspectives of others
Poor play skills
Frequent conflicts with others
Nonverbal Learning Disorders
Dysfunction of the brain’s right hemisphere
Function well academically but often run into problems in social context
Difficulty understanding nonverbal communication cues that are important for social interactions
Ex: Reading facial expressions)
Poor spatial and nonverbal problem-solving abilities, and low arithmetic skills
Difficulty adapting to new situations, as they inaccurately read nonverbal signals and cues.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Commonly occurs with learning disabilities
A neurological condition that makes it difficult to control behaviour and focus attention
Characterized by:
Inattention
Impulsiveness
Hyperactivity
Symptoms of ADHD
Symptoms must meet the following 3 criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD:
Severity:
Symptoms must be more severe compared to other children at similar developmental levels
Early onset:
At least some of the symptoms have been present before the age of 12
Duration:
Symptoms must have persisted for at least 6 months before diagnosis
Week 10: Language
Language
Unique to humans
Other animals have communication systems, but not to the same extent as human language
Fulfills several human functions:
Socializing
Communicating
Allows for transmission of culture and thought across generation
Appears in multiple forms:
Spoken language (listening and speaking)
Reading
Writing
Perspectives of how Children Learn Language
Imitation and reinforcement
Behavioural view of language learning
Suggests that young children attempt to imitate the sounds they are exposed to in their environment and that the receive positive feedback (reinforcement e.g., praise and attention) for their language attempts
Innate factors
Children are biologically predisposed to learn and use language
Some important aspects of language are innate within the brain
Implies that a child’s language will develop naturally if that child is exposed to a simulating language environment
Social factors
Children learn language through social interactions with more knowledgeable language users
Relationships with others (caregivers and peers) help the child become an active processor of language
Adults typically help shape a child’s language learning opportunities (e.g., pointing at and asking the child to name specific items in the environment)
Difficulties with Language Acquisition
Many children with learning disabilities and related mild disabilities exhibit difficulty acquiring one or several properties of language
These difficulties could be of the following nature:
Differentiating and producing the appropriate sounds (phonology)
Remembering words
Grammar
Formulating sentences
Vocabulary development
Language Disorders
Sometimes referred to as “acquired aphasia” or “developmental aphasia”
Acquired aphasia
Refers to adults who lose the ability to speak due to brain damage resulting from stroke, disease, or accident
Developmental aphasia
Refers to children who have severe difficulty in acquiring oral language
Can consists of
Receptive language disorder
Expressive language disorders
Receptive Language Disorders
Difficulty in understanding language
A child with this disorder may be able to understand the meaning of a single word, but they will have difficulty understanding a sentence using those words
A child with this disorder may understand a word in one context, but not another (e.g., ”The girl will run” vs. “There is a run in my stocking”)
Receptive language is required for the development of expressive language
Expressive Language Disorders
Difficulty in producing spoken language
A child with this disorder may rely on pointing and using gestures to communicate
A child with this disorder can understand speech and language produced by others, and they do well on nonverbal tasks
This disorder is not due to muscular paralysis
Dysnomia is a type of expressive language disorder
Word-finding problem or a deficiency in remembering and expressing words
A child with this condition may substitute a word (e.g., “thing”) for every word they cannot remember, or attempt to describe or use expressions to communicate
Oral Language Assessments
Purpose: To determine what language abilities the child has acquired, what language problems the child exhibits, and how well the child uses language functionally
Should consider listening and speaking (the two sides of oral language)
Includes informal measures and formal tests
Informal Measures of Oral Language
Observations are made as the child uses language functionally in a real environment (e.g., in class)
Can include use of a rating scale to provide information about the child's language development and usage
Assessment measures are not standardized but still provide valuable information about the child's language ability
The listening test
Often used as part of an informal reading inventory
The teacher reads stories aloud that are at different levels of difficulty
The child is asked questions to determine how well they understand the material
Formal Measures of Oral Language
Standardized instruments are used to gather information about oral language development
Results are often included in the child's IEP
Listening
Differs from hearing (does not involve interpretation, a physiological process)
Requires selecting appropriate meaning and calls for interaction with the ideas expressed (e.g., evaluating, accepting, rejecting, etc.)
Foundational to all language growth
Deficits in listening is paired with difficulty with all communication skills
Many students do not acquire functional skills in listening by themselves
A basic skill that can be improved through practice
Listening skills include:
Phonological awareness of language sounds
Understanding words and building a Listening vocabulary
Understanding sentences
Listening comprehension
Critical listening
Listening to stories
Week 11: Reading Difficulties
Reading
Children must learn to read so that they can read to learn
Reading is not a natural process and requires careful instruction
Learning to read takes several years and the learner must persevere
Recognizing words is a complex tasks and the reader must use a variety of strategies to accomplish this task
Failure in school can be traced to inadequate reading skills
Reading is the basic skill for all academic subjects
The development of reading skills serves as the major academic foundation for all school-based learning.
Reading Disabilities
The opportunities for academic and occupational success are limited when one cannot read.
Reading difficulties are experienced by over 80% of student with learning disabilities and related disabilities
Difficulties with reading in adolescents and adults are linked back to reading difficulties that were not resolved during childhood
The “wait-and-fail” method refers to the policy of not promptly addressing the reading difficulties of young children, and instead waiting until they are older
Reading Disorders
Reading failure constitutes an educational problem, but also rises to the level of a major public health problem.
Early identification of young children who are at risk for reading failure and timely intervention to assist them are essential for maximizing treatment success.
Children who are at most risk for reading failure have the following characteristics:
They lack phonemic awareness (or sensitivity to the sounds of language)
They are not familiar with the letters of the alphabet
They often lack sufficient oral language and verbal skills and have meager vocabularies
Children may also be at risk for reading because of their limited exposure to the English language
Dyslexia
A severe type of reading disorder
Affects children, adolescents, and adults
Individuals with dyslexia:
Find it extremely difficult to recognize letters and words and to interpret information that is presented in print form
Are intelligent and may have very strong mathematics or spatial skills
Although there are different definitions of dyslexia, there is agreement on the following points:
Dyslexia has a biological basis
Dyslexic problems persist into adolescence and adulthood
Dyslexia has perceptual, cognitive, and language dimensions
Dyslexia leads to difficulties in many areas of life as the individual matures
Many individuals with dyslexia excel in other facts of life
Assessing Reading
Informal Measures
One of the simplest ways to assess reading is to informally observe a student as they read aloud
This method allows for detection of the following:
General reading level
Word-recognition abilities
Types of errors
Understanding of the material
Informal Reading Inventory
Examiner chooses selections of approx 100 words from a series of graded reading levels
Student reads aloud from several graded levels while the
Teacher records the errors
If the student makes more than 5 errors per 100 words, the student is given progressively easier selections until a level is found at which there are no more than 2 errors per 100 words
Check comprehension- Teacher asks the student 4 to 10 questions about each selection
Can be used to determine 3 types of reading levels:
Independent reading level – The student is able to read library books or do reading work independently
Instructional reading level – The students will profit from teacher-directed reading instruction
Frustration reading level – Reading becomes too difficult for the student and should not be used for instruction.
Formal Measures
Survey Tests
Group tests that give an overall reading achievement level
Generally give scores for (1) word recognition and (2) reading comprehension
Diagnostic Tests
Individual tests that provide more in-depth information about the student’s strengths and weaknesses in reading
Comprehensive Batteries
Measure several academic areas