Specific Learning Disabilities

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, Language Processing

Disorder, Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities, Visual Perceptual/Visual Motor Deficit
by Larissa Pierce and Shanice Phelps
Federal Definition:
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 may
manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical
calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury minimal
brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who
have learning disabilities, which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps,
or mental retardation, or emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantage.
Laymans Definition:
Learning Disabilities are defined as a neurological condition that interferes with an individuals
ability to store, process, or produce information. These students are struggling to perform to
grade level excellence and the cause is not related to an intellectual or IQ deficit, cultural, or
environmental disadvantage.
Prevalence:
The prevalence for learning disabilities is approximately 3.5% of the school aged-population.
About 2.35 million pupils within the United States are identified as learning disabled. This
makes up 40.7% of students receiving special education. That far surpasses the other disabilities
that are prevalent in US school systems. There is a higher prevalence in males, minorities, and
those living in poverty (Cortiella & Hororwitz, 2014).

Warning Signs:

Difficulty reading and/or writing

Problems with math skills
Difficulty remembering
Problems paying attention

 Trouble following directions

Poor coordination

Difficulty with concepts related to time

Problems staying organized

Children may have difficulty with reading, writing, or learning that may not be indicative of a
learning disability.
Tips, Strategies, and Techniques:
Cognitive Training- covers a variety of educational procedures. It seeks to manipulate and
modify students underlying thought patterns and changes to effect observable changes in
performance.
What happens internally for the learner is just as important as what happens
externally
Self-Instruction strategy (students talk to themselves out loud while performing their task),
which makes students aware of the different steps in problem solving and gradually, brings these
strategies under verbal control.
Mnemonic strategies- memory tools to help students recall facts and relationships, which is
usually pictures or patterns of letters.
Direct Instruction (DI)- focuses on the characteristics or components of the task or concept to be
learned.

Produce gains in specific academic skills without worrying about possible

processing deficits

Key principle: For all students to learn both the curriculum materials and teacher
presentation of the material must be clear.
A highly organized instructional approach
The direct instruction strategy emphasizes controlling details of instruction to actively engage
students in the learning.

Drill and practice lessons

Teacher directed, precisely scripted, fast paced, and taught to small groups of
children (5-10)

Hand signals (clapping, snapping fingers) which results in choral or unison

responding by group. Correct answer praised incorrect corrective feedback.
Learning Strategies- approach to instruction focuses on teaching students how to learn- how to
become a more purposeful, active, and efficient learner.
The tools that individuals use to help themselves lean and recall material.

 The goal is to help students become more actively engaged and involve their own
learning.
The Strategic Instruction Model (SIM)- mostly used with adolescents the SIM can be applied to
all areas of learning the curriculum typically encountered by middle school and high school
students.

Emphasis on mastering cognitive strategies and empowering the student, a learner

strategies model is a natural complement to the general classroom curriculum

No one instructional approach can meet the vast complex needs of all individuals
with learning disabilities

References
Cortiella, Candace and Horowitz, Sheldon H. The State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends
and Emerging Issues. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2014)
What are the Indicators of Learning Disabilities Retrieved from
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/learning/conditioninfo/pages/symptoms.aspx
Gargiulo Richard M, (2015). Special Education in Contemporary Society 5e. United Kingdom:
SAGE publications, Inc
Introduction to Learning Disabilities (2007). In National Association of Special Education
Teachers. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
Types of Learning Disabilities (2015). In Learning Disabilities Association of America .
Retrieved February 11, 2015.