Learning Disabilities(LD) Flashcards
William Cruickshank?
Pioneering work to define the nature and causation of the concept learning disability is credited to William Cruickshank in 1950s and 1960s.
Samuel Kirk?
Samuel Kirk, in 1968, officially sanctioned the term specific learning disability
Define Learning Disability ( Reber and Reber )
Learning disability (Reber and Reber, 2001: 391) is “a syndrome found in children of normal or above intelligence characterised by specific difficulties in learning to read (dylexia), to write (dysgraphia) and to do grade appropriate mathematics (dyscalculia)”.
My note: Seems to cover only academic disorders…
What characteristizes LD children?
LD is characterised by :
LD is a chronic condition of probable neurological origin
It varies in its manifestation and severity
It influences individual’s self-concept
It primarily excludes other disability categories
An untreated or poorly treated LD can have adverse effects on educational, vocational, social and activities of daily living.
LD can also be defined as one or more significant defects in essential learning processes.
The characteristics of the learning disabled children are:
LD is a mixed group of disorders.
Learning disability may transcend the school setting and persist in adulthood
LD children are normal in intellectual functioning. LD mainly lies in their way of learning and in their perceptual systems.
Behavioural problems are not initial components of their behaviour, they may feel frustrated due to the gap in learning but they might show emotional problems.
Boys are more likely to be characterised as LD than girls.
LD may range from mild to severe. Some student may be passive or inactive, and other may show higher level of physical activity than other students.
Students may show problem in one area not in the other.
Delay in developmental milestones.
Behavioral and affective characteristics of LD
hyperactivity or hypoactivity, act impulsively,
may overreact with intense and surprising emotions which affect their social adjustment.
Disorders of Attention
LD children show problems in sustaining attention (the ability
to focus on information), easily distracted, have short attention span
Disorders of memory and thinking
problems in short or long term memory (acquiring
and recalling information) and in metacognition. Metacognition is an ability to monitor
and evaluate one’s actions. Organising, categorising, arranging and planning will not
be adequate.
Perceptual motor impairment
Students with learning disabilities often experience
poor auditory and/ visual discrimination. They may show problems in directional
orientation. They tend to be awkward, clumsy and uncoordinated. They often have
poor handwriting.
Specific academic problems
(especially in linguistic and calculation skills): LD children
are often several years behind their peers in reading, comprehension, fluency and
spelling, experience word, letter, number and sound reversals. Dyslexia is characterised
by serious reading problems. LD students may have problems identifying words and
understanding what they read. Oral and written language difficulties compound reading
problems. Written language problems include poor handwriting, spelling, sentence
structure, and composition skills. These students may have problems in recalling math
facts, writing numbers legibly, learning arithmetic concepts and abstract math reasoning.
Disorders of speech and learning speech sounds
may repeat sounds, stumble over
words and have halting speech; difficulties in understanding pragmatic aspects of
language and also show word finding difficulties
Some central nervous system signs or irregularities
What must be kept in mind regarding LD?
The characteristics of LD includes all of the previous cards.
It should however be kept in mind that (i) all LD students do not share all the above
characteristics; (ii) some of the above characteristics may be found in students who
do not show LD.
