Week 6 - Learning Disabilities

Question 1

Spatial dysgraphia

Answer 1

Spacing of words and letters

Question 2

Motor dysgraphia

Answer 2

Motor execution of writing

Question 3

Phonological dysgraphia

Answer 3

Remembering and blending phonemes to write words

Question 4

Semantic dysgraphia

Answer 4

Rules governing how words and phrases can be combined

Question 5

Assessment process

Answer 5

1. Observe occupational performance
2. Review history (what strategies have been tried/worked)
3. Generate test hypotheses about what specific factor is impacting on occupational performance (performance components/self-perception)
4. Consider their ability to participate in the assessment
5. Consider performance across contexts (home/school)

Question 6

LD Management: overall

Answer 6

• Multidisciplinary
• Occupation based
• School based
• Build on strengths

Question 7

Management process

Answer 7

1. Attend to specific occupational performance difficulties
2. Strategies to compensate for occupational performance difficulties
3. Address non-academic difficulties
4. Support academic and vocational transitions

Question 8

What LD management looks like in intervention

Answer 8

• Keep it simple
• Repetition
• Chunk
• Child-centred
• Motivation
• Reward

Question 9

Quality of handwriting =

Answer 9

Legibility

Question 10

Quantity of handwriting =

Answer 10

Speed

Question 11

What 3 aspects are involved in skilled handwriting?

Answer 11

Environment
Task
Individual

Question 12

Aspects involved in task demands

Answer 12

Nature of the task

Speed and accuracy

Question 13

Environmental demands

Answer 13

• Writing materials
• Furniture (seating position)
• Ambient features (lighting, noise, blackboard distance)
• Expectations
• Exposure to instructions

Question 14

Consequences of poor hand writing

Answer 14

Poorer marks
Avoidance of writing tasks
Slower time

Question 15

Decision making for intervention

Answer 15

Where is performance breaking down
Context for performance and intervention
Implementation strategy (i.e. at school?)
Goals

Question 16

Features of effective intervention approaches

Answer 16

• Actively involve students
• Engage students in goal setting
• Involve multiple sensory systems for cuing and feedback
• Give visual and verbal cues

Question 17

Features of ineffective intervention approaches

Answer 17

• Uses single learning method

- Only involves copying

Question 18

Examples of acquisitional approaches

Answer 18

4QM
Co-OP

(focus on learning the skill)

e. g. handwriting:
- Modelling, tracing, copying, composing, self monitoring

Question 19

Biomechanical approaches

Answer 19

Modifications to contest to improve handwriting

- Sitting, posture, paper position, pencil grip, writing implements, type of paper

Question 20

Characteristics of a learning difficulty

Answer 20

● Non-categorical
definition
● All who have
difficulties learning
one or more of basic
academic skills
● No focus on primary
cause
● Responsive to
educational
intervention
● Not recognised under
Disability
Discrimination Act and
state disability
legislation

Question 21

Characteristics of a learning disorder

Answer 21

● Categorical definition
(DSM-V)
● Lifelong, pervasive
● Doesn’t respond to
intervention
● Neurological origin
● Academic adjustment,
individualised learning
strategies required
● Legally recognised as
disabilities

Question 22

What are the key features of a specific learning disorder and how do they impact on occupational
performance?

Answer 22

• It is not consistent with the person’s: chronological age, educational opportunities, intellectual abilities,
  presence of visual or hearing impairment
• Determined by individual assessment of learning through multiple sources of information that are:
  o Individually administered
  o Culturally appropriate
  o Psychometrically sound
  o Comprehensive
• May not become fully manifest until demand for affected skills exceeds individuals limited capacities

Question 23

How is information processing impacted in specific learning disorders

Answer 23

Information processing is the ability to attend to, register, encode, store and process information from the environment,
and to output a response in a timely manner. Models of information processing in Learning Disorders describe difficulty
with creating and use of memory to support learning and function and role of attention in process

Question 24

How does impacted information processing relate to

task performance?

Answer 24

• Problems with attending, planning, organising, problem solving, elaborating, conceptualising and thinking
• Problems with sensing – lost information through poor sensory registration
• Problems with remembering – lost information from:
  o Inefficient storage and retrieval strategies (poor coding à unable to retrieve)
  o Inadequate content due to poor attention
  o Content lacks meaning or purpose
• Problems with judging and monitoring – difficulty with independent learning
• Problems with doing – poor processing results in inefficient performance
• Results in specific difficulties with written or spoken language, coordination, self-regulation, social interaction or
  attention

Question 25

What is dyslexia?

Answer 25

Difficulty reading or interpreting words or symbols

Question 26

How does dyslexia impact on performance?

Answer 26

• Difficulty with language system:
  o Phonological – difficulty acquiring skills for converting letters into sounds
  o Surface – difficulty learning to recognise words as whole units

Question 27

What is dysgraphia?

Answer 27

specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression

Question 28

How does dysgraphia impact on performance?

Answer 28

• Possible deficit in: Spelling accuracy, grammar and punctuation accuracy, clarity or organisation of written
  expression
• Impact: difficulty completing homework or school tasks on time & work is slow and effortful and may avoid
  activities

Question 29

What is dyscalculia?

Answer 29

impairment in mathematics

Question 30

How does dyscalculia impact on performance?

Answer 30

• Possible deficits in: number sense, memorisation of arithmetic facts, accurate or fluent calculation, accurate math
  reasoning
• Impact: difficulty dealing with the exchange of money (dealing with change), telling and keeping track of time,
  learning musical concepts, mathematical problem solving

Question 31

How may a learning disorder impact on self concept?

Answer 31

• Belief about self
• Relationship between self-concept and outcomes
• School most critical context for development of self-concept outside of family
• If difficulty learning – at risk of poor self-concept
• Comparison of academic ability with peers

Question 32

When information gathering with a child or adolescent with a learning disorder what aspects of the
condition will need to be taken into consideration when deciding on information gathering tools to
be used?

Answer 32

• Important to consider what the learning disorder will impact assessment and information
  gathering and the impact on capacity to gather information from them
  o Are they able to read instructions? E.g. attention, memory, written instructions, need to
  provide written responses
  o Do you need to gather information in the context where they’re most challenged?
  o E.g. will the clinical setting remove the challenges and make it difficult to gather valid
  information?
  ● - Look at occupational performance in context à where the greatest demands of
  information processing are going to be

Question 33

When providing intervention for a child with a learning disorder, what aspects of performance will
be the focus of service delivery?

Answer 33

• School based and occupation based where possible – where the issues are mostly arising
• Address occupational performance difficulties but may have to compensate for
  o E.g. electronic devices to compensate for handwriting difficulties – instead of improving
  handwriting itself
• Address non-academic difficulties
  o Self-esteem
  o Behavioural issues
• Supporting them in transitions from primary to high school where challenges become much
  greater
• Interventions needs to support strategies that will support their learning and memory
  o What is preventing acquisition of information?
  o What is causing difficulty using information?
  o How is this impacting on occupational performance?
  o What will best support acquisition and use of information to facilitate occupational
  performance?
• Importance of acquisitional approaches, scaffolding learning and strategy development