Learning Disabilities and Their History

Question 1

Intellectual Disabilities
Characterization by

Answer 1

Intellectual Disabilities (no longer referred to as mental retardation)
Characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. The disability originates before age 18 (American Association on Intellectual Disabilities).
Set of conditions that blends together intelligence and adaptive behavior such as self care, independent skills, or social skills.
IQ of 70 or below
Many of these students can learn academic skills, but at a reduced pace.
Supports are necessary.

Question 2

Intellectual Disabilities (cont’d)
Impairment characteristics

Answer 2

Language delayed, not deviant
May display echolalia
Immediate echolalia: repeat same words right after hearing them
Delayed echolalia: utterances repeated after time has passed
Semantic difficulties
Comprehension > Expression
Concrete understanding of language
Telegraphic speech (only key words, no bound morphemes)
Pragmatically atypical

Question 3

Intellectual Disabilities Can Be Classified by Necessary Levels of Support

Answer 3

Defined by four levels of support
Intermittent support (mild disability, most common)
As needed

Limited support (moderate disability)
Regular basis for a finite period of time

Extensive support (severe disability)
Provided on an ongoing, regular basis

Pervasive support (profound disability)
High intensity help across all environments and involves many support team members

Question 4

Prevalence

Answer 4

Prevalence of Intellectual Disabilities
Between 1%-2% of general population

Prevalence of Learning Disabilities
Approximately 5-10x higher than ID

Most learning disabilities (approximately 87%) considered mild

*Found across all races, socioeconomic statuses and cultures

Question 5

Learning Disabilities
General definition

Answer 5

General Definition
A neurological condition that interferes with a person’s ability to store, process, or produce information, affecting the person’s ability to read, write, speak, spell, or compute mathematically
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) Definition
‘‘The term ‘specific learning disability’ means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.”

Question 6

Defining Learning Disabilities (cont’d)
7 Areas

Answer 6

Federal (IDEA) definition also includes:
The student does not achieve at the proper age and ability levels in one or more specific areas when provided with appropriate learning experiences
The student has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in one or more of these seven areas:
Oral expression
Listening comprehension
Written expression
Basic reading skills
Reading comprehension
Mathematics calculation
Mathematics reasoning

Question 7

Language Disorder Criteria – Normal Variations

Answer 7

Normal variations in language
Language disorder needs to be distinguished from normal developmental variations; this is hard to decipher before 4 years of age
Regional, social, or cultural/ethnic variations of language must be considered before giving a diagnosis of language disorder

Question 8

Language Disorder Criteria

Answer 8

Persistent difficulties in the acquisition and use of language across modalities (i.e. - spoken, written, sign language, or other) due to deficits in comprehension or production that include the following:
Reduced vocabulary
Limited sentence structure
Impairments in discourse

Question 9

Language Disorder Criteria – Hearing or Other Sensory Impairment

Answer 9

Hearing or other sensory impairment
Hearing impairment should always be excluded first as the primary cause of language problems.
Language deficits can be associated with a hearing impairment, other sensory deficit, or a speech-motor deficit.
Only when the language deficits are in excess of what is expected should a diagnosis of language disorder be made.

Question 10

Language Disorder Criteria (continued)
What it’s expected

Answer 10

Language abilities are substantially and quantifiably below those expected for age, resulting in functional limitations in effective communication, social participation, academic achievement, or occupational performance, individually or in any combination

Onset of symptoms is in the early developmental period

The difficulties are not attributable to hearing or other sensory impairment, motor dysfunction, or another medical or neurological condition and are not better explained byintellectual disabilityorglobal developmental delay

Question 11

Language Disorders
Facts about LR

Answer 11

Impact 12-14% of school-aged children
More commonly diagnosed in boys than girls
Description
Limited amount of language
Deficient grammar
Problems with social communication
Poor nonverbal communication
Reduced literacy skills
Cognitive deficits
Working memory, attention, auditory processing, etc.

Question 12

Language Disorder Risk Factors

Answer 12

Prenatal conditions
Drug abuse
Infections

Perinatal conditions
Long labor
Brian injury during labor

Neonatal conditions
Premature birth / abnormal birth weight
Feeding issues
Infections
Physical and sensory abnormalities

Family history of language disorders

Question 13

Language Disorder Risk Factors (cont’d)

Answer 13

Environmental factors
Poverty
Neglect
Abuse
Prelinguistic factors
Lack of eye contact or babbling
Failure to use gestures, such as not pointing by 12 months of age or exclusively using gestures
Failure to follow simple instructions
Delayed production of first words or difficulty learning speech sounds
Social skill limitations (no social smile or lack of social play)

Question 14

Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

Answer 14

Not part of broader developmental disability
General intelligence typically within normal range
Language acquisition sequence is typical, but delayed and with greater struggles
Common for these individuals to have phonological problems and limited syllable structures
Frontal lobe abnormalities are common as well as asymmetries in Heschl’s gyrus and Wernicke’s area
Heschl’s gyrus
Links sound to meaning

Question 15

Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Characteristics

Answer 15

Overextending and underextending are common for these children
Don’t have the 18–24 month word burst
Word retrieval problems
Figurative language difficulties
Morphological and syntax problems
Mostly simple sentences
Difficulty comprehending complex sentence structures
Shorter MLUs and difficulty applying prefixes and suffixes
Reduced pragmatic skills
Problems with narratives and literacy and order of mention

Question 16

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Answer 16

Elevated risk for language impairment
Struggle in school due to inattention, impulsivity, fidgeting, distractibility etc.
Often:
Have auditory processing difficulties
Interrupt speakers
Have difficulty following directions
Do not change social registers for different audience
Struggle with organization
Have reduced overall pragmatic skills, including turn taking

Question 17

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Defined as and minifested as

Answer 17

Defined as:
Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts as manifested by:
Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity
Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction
Deficits in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships
1 in 36 children in US have diagnosis
Has a genetic component

Question 18

Autism Spectrum Disorder (cont’d)
Common traits

Answer 18

Common traits
Below average intelligence (generally, according to IQ scores)
Preference for being alone
Routine oriented, inflexible
Constant rocking
Dislike physical contact
Self-injurious behaviors (head banging)
Talent (piano playing, arithmetic)
Seizures (25%)
Sensitivity to stimuli (hyper or hypo)

Question 19

ASD and Language

Answer 19

Slow acquisition of speech sounds and words
Lack of interest in communication
Language used in meaningless manner
Pronoun reversal (he for she, etc.)
Pragmatic differences
May require AAC devices
Social skills training is an effective treatment

Asperger’s is no longer recognized as an official diagnosis, but may be used in conversation
Similar characteristics to autism but with an IQ above 70
SCERTS model is popular approach (teach in naturalistic environment)
Social Communication Emotional Response Transactional Supports
Must consider neurodiversity!

Question 20

Twice Exceptional (2e) Children

Answer 20

Gifted and Talented Children with Learning Disabilities
Spontaneity
Inquisitiveness
Imagination
Boundless enthusiasm
Emotionality
Lots of activity
Resistant to restrictions of the classroom

Question 21

Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act (READ, 2016)

Answer 21

Requires the National Science Foundation to devote at least $5 million annually to support research on the science of DLD and dyslexia, including:

Early identification of children and students with dyslexia
Professional learning about dyslexia and other learning differences for educators
Curricula development and educational tools for children with dyslexia and other learning differences
Implementation and scaling of successful models of dyslexia intervention

Question 22

Key Legislation: No Child Left Behind Act (2001)

Answer 22

Progress monitoring to increase accountability
Led to increased testing and standards of learning

Increased federal, Title 1 funding for low-income areas
Reading programs funded

Research-based programs were implemented

4) Law mandated teacher licenses and required specific qualifications in content
areas

5) Gave parents more flexibility to change schools

*Replaced/updated with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015: gives states more flexibility and limits testing, less of a reliance on test scores; national center for SWDs

Question 23

Common Core / Next Generation Standards

Answer 23

Uniform goals for achievement by the end of each grade to prepare students for college and career readiness
Adopted by 41 states (remains fluid)
Promotes reading of increasingly complex texts (kindergarten-high school)
Common Core replaced with Next Generation Standards in New York
More concise; more about supporting own interpretations, and less compare and contrast between texts; apply knowledge
Designed in part to counter the reading struggles many students experience in college

Question 24

Current Issues and Directions

Answer 24

More inclusive placements (Least Restrictive Environment, part of IDEA)
ICT classes
Second teacher in general education setting
Greater access to their general education peers
Raise expectations for performance
Help general education students be more accepting of diverse students
Improve coordination between general education and special education teachers

Question 25

Incorporating Strategies that Benefit All Students

Answer 25

Strategies that benefit all students:
Begin each lesson with review of what has been learned
Announce objective of lesson
Place students with special needs near teacher
Teach study skills
Allow sufficient practice of skills
Differentiate!
Summarize at end of session/exit ticket

Question 26

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Answer 26

Prevention model used to identify students with learning disabilities
Students learn in Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)
Increasing intensity levels
Tiered approach
Tier 1
High-Quality Classroom Instruction, Screening, and Group Interventions
Tier 2
Targeted Interventions (small group pull-out)
Tier 3
Intensive Interventions and Comprehensive Evaluation (individualized)

Question 27

Reading Based Disorders

Answer 27

The National Reading Panel’s Research Revealed the five Pillars of Literacy (2000):
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Vocabulary development
Reading fluency
Reading comprehension
All five need to be incorporated for proper reading instruction

Question 28

Phonemic Awareness

Answer 28

Partnership for Reading defines as “The ability to notice, think about and work with individual sounds in words.”
Helps children connect spoken to written language
Helps expose the underlying sounds in language that relate to alphabetic symbols
Skill level in kindergarten is the single best predictor of later reading and spelling achievement in first and second grade
Struggles help to identify students with language delays and dyslexia
Activities: sound, syllable and word isolation, phoneme manipulation, segmenting and blending tasks, rhyming

Question 29

Phonics

Answer 29

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds
Best introduced in kindergarten or first grade
Instruction best when it incorporates key words, visuals and gestures
Systematic approach!
Benefits comprehension
Terms to know
Grapheme - smallest unit in written language (letter/s)
Phoneme - smallest unit of sound
Orthography - the conventional spelling system of language

Question 30

Vocabulary

Answer 30

Knowing word meanings is necessary to comprehend text
Teach directly and indirectly
Definitions and context clues
Prefixes, word roots, suffixes
Multiple exposures
Children may need to interact with a word up to 50 times for it to stick
Often acquired during incidental learning
Multiple approaches necessary for best results
Academic vocabulary
Beneficial to pre-teach it
Strong vocabulary knowledge is necessary for success in content courses

Question 31

Fluency

Answer 31

Partnership for reading defines fluency as “the ability to read a text accurately and quickly, recognizing words, [and] gain meaning of text.”
Closely tied to comprehension
Students who are sounding out words cannot focus on meaning

Approach
Guided oral reading
Repeated
Modeling
Lots of feedback

Question 32

Comprehension

Answer 32

Requires word recognition, fluency, vocabulary, world knowledge, and verbal reasoning
Examine comprehension when students listen to books and begin reading text
Metacognition - thinking about thinking - is important for comprehension
Good readers think about what they are reading in a higher-order manner

Question 33

ASHA Perspectives

Answer 33

ASHA Website:
Labels for reading disorders include dyslexia, reading disability, reading disorder, specific reading disorder, and specific reading comprehension deficit. Writing disorder labels also vary, with some being dysgraphia, writing disability, writing disorder, and specific writing disorder.
Reading disorders and writing disorders can occur alone but are often present together. Spelling impairment can affect both reading and writing; there is a bidirectional relationship between spelling and word reading such that difficulty or progress in one area can influence performance in the other area.