Week 6 - Learning Disabilities Flashcards
Spatial dysgraphia
Spacing of words and letters
Motor dysgraphia
Motor execution of writing
Phonological dysgraphia
Remembering and blending phonemes to write words
Semantic dysgraphia
Rules governing how words and phrases can be combined
Assessment process
- Observe occupational performance
- Review history (what strategies have been tried/worked)
- Generate test hypotheses about what specific factor is impacting on occupational performance (performance components/self-perception)
- Consider their ability to participate in the assessment
- Consider performance across contexts (home/school)
LD Management: overall
- Multidisciplinary
- Occupation based
- School based
- Build on strengths
Management process
- Attend to specific occupational performance difficulties
- Strategies to compensate for occupational performance difficulties
- Address non-academic difficulties
- Support academic and vocational transitions
What LD management looks like in intervention
- Keep it simple
- Repetition
- Chunk
- Child-centred
- Motivation
- Reward
Quality of handwriting =
Legibility
Quantity of handwriting =
Speed
What 3 aspects are involved in skilled handwriting?
Environment
Task
Individual
Aspects involved in task demands
Nature of the task
Speed and accuracy
Environmental demands
- Writing materials
- Furniture (seating position)
- Ambient features (lighting, noise, blackboard distance)
- Expectations
- Exposure to instructions
Consequences of poor hand writing
Poorer marks
Avoidance of writing tasks
Slower time
Decision making for intervention
Where is performance breaking down Context for performance and intervention Implementation strategy (i.e. at school?) Goals
Features of effective intervention approaches
- Actively involve students
- Engage students in goal setting
- Involve multiple sensory systems for cuing and feedback
- Give visual and verbal cues
Features of ineffective intervention approaches
- Uses single learning method
- Only involves copying
Examples of acquisitional approaches
4QM
Co-OP
(focus on learning the skill)
e. g. handwriting:
- Modelling, tracing, copying, composing, self monitoring
Biomechanical approaches
Modifications to contest to improve handwriting
- Sitting, posture, paper position, pencil grip, writing implements, type of paper
Characteristics of a learning difficulty
● 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
Characteristics of a learning disorder
● Categorical definition (DSM-V) ● Lifelong, pervasive ● Doesn’t respond to intervention ● Neurological origin ● Academic adjustment, individualised learning strategies required ● Legally recognised as disabilities
What are the key features of a specific learning disorder and how do they impact on occupational
performance?
- 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
How is information processing impacted in specific learning disorders
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
How does impacted information processing relate to
task performance?
- 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
What is dyslexia?
Difficulty reading or interpreting words or symbols
How does dyslexia impact on performance?
- Difficulty with language system:
o Phonological – difficulty acquiring skills for converting letters into sounds
o Surface – difficulty learning to recognise words as whole units
What is dysgraphia?
specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression
How does dysgraphia impact on performance?
- 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
What is dyscalculia?
impairment in mathematics
How does dyscalculia impact on performance?
- 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
How may a learning disorder impact on self concept?
- 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
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?
- 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
When providing intervention for a child with a learning disorder, what aspects of performance will
be the focus of service delivery?
- 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
