Chapter 4

Learning Disabilities

• Learning Disabilities– A disability in which the individual possess

average intelligence but is substantially delayed in academic achievement. (Smith 125)

– Largest Special education category, with over 50 percent of all students with disabilities identified as having it as their primary handicapping condition. (Smith, 123)

Key Features of Definitions of Learning Disabilities

• Table 4.1– Intelligence scores within the normal range– A significant discrepancy between academic achievement and

expected potential– Not caused by other factors, such as cultural differences,

educational opportunities, poverty, or other disabilities: the exclusion clause

– Often manifested in language-related areas, such as communication, written language, or reading

– Problems intrinsic to individual involving that person’s central nervous system, specific deficits in information processing, or the ability to learn

– Learning problems specific and confined to one or two cognitive areas

Learning Disabilities defined by IDEA

". . . a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia."However, learning disabilities do not include, "…learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage."

How are students identified with a learning disability?

• Discrepancy formulas– The scores used in some states to determine eligibility for

services designed for students with learning disabilities– Formulas measure the difference between a child’s

potential, as measured by a standardized intelligence test, and the child’s actual academic achievement, determined by a standardized test

– Standard scores represent a measure common to all tests so that the results can be compared

– If students have a difference of 23 or more points between the scores they received on an intelligence test and on a n achievement test, they qualify for special education

Example• Suzi is 10 years old and in fourth grade• She is reading at the first grade level• Able to solve third grade arithmetic problems• Has difficulty writing an organized coherent

paragraph• Her standard score on an intelligence test is 100• Her standard achievement test is 72• She has been classified with a learning disability

because the difference is greater than 23, and she qualifies for special education

Problem?

• Students can be identified in one school district with a learning disability but not in another school district

• States differ from state to state on there eligibility of LD’s

• Do not factor in cognitive or social abilities

History of the Field• Learning disabilities was named on April 6, 1963

by Professor Sam Kirk • Kurt Goldstein began work with young men with

brain injuries after WWI– Distractible, confused, hyperactive

• Alfred Strauss and Heinz Werner continued Goldstein’s work

• IDEA passed in 1975, and initiated in 1977• Number of students with learning disabilities

have increased dramatically (chart 4.1)

Learning Characteristics

• Many researchers feel that the following learning characteristics impede students abilities to learn efficiently– Lack of motivation– Inattention– Inability to generalize– Insufficient problem-solving– Information-processing– Thinking skills

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

• Students who display hyperactive behaviors, have difficulty attending to the task at hand , and tend to be impulsive

• Affects 10 to 20 percent of the school age population

• Not all students diagnosed qualify for special education services

• Those who do have a co-existing condition of learning disabilities

• Controversy is ADHD an LD?

What do we do?

• Follow IEP’s for students with LD’s• Create learning strategies• Maintaining an organized structured

classroom• Introducing the lesson and its importance• Inclusion

Through Adulthood

• Follow up studies– How adults fare in society, and give us insight in

the nature of this disability, and support they need.

– Majority of students with LD’s drop out of school– Unemployed– Dependent upon their families