Learning and Behavior Disorders

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Chapter 8
Learning and Behavior Disorders

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• History of ADHD
– It has been studied for more than 50 years.
– The APA finally decided on ADHD with three
patterns of behavior.
• Predominately hyperactive-impulsive type
• Predominately inattentive type
• Combined type

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
• Current attempts at defining ADHD
– Must rule out other causes.
– Clinical assessment of development as well as
academic, social and emotional abilities.
– Checklists and rating scales.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
• Causes and prevalence of ADHD
– There is no known absolute cause.
– Possible causes are genetics; one or more
parents is also hyperactive.
– Maternal smoking or drug/alcohol use during
pregnancy may be a factor.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
– Disorders that sometimes accompany ADHD
• Learning disabilities
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder
• Conduct Disorder
• Anxiety Disorder
• Depressive Disorder

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
• Intervention strategies
– Medication and behavior management
combined seems to be the best approach.
– Medication
• Psychostimulants are the most common.
• Increased attention and concentration.
• Decreased impulsivity and activity.
• It can cause sleep disorders, weight loss, and
increased blood pressure.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
– Special diet
• The Feingold diet is one tried method.
• Parents feed the child additive- and dye-free foods
to lessen hyperactive behaviors.
• Nutrition is key, but eliminating foods does not
solve the problem.

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(continued)
– Behavior management
• Reward positive behaviors.
• Evaluate the environment for a match between the
environment and the child to manage his or her
own behavior.
• Plan developmentally appropriate activities for all
children so that children are not inappropriately
labeled.

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Learning Disabilities
• Learning disabilities defined
– 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 the
imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, write,
spell, or do mathematical calculations.

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– It states clearly that a learning disability is not
the result of:
• visual, hearing, or motor handicaps.
• emotional disturbance.
• environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
• second language learning.

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Non disadvantaged ruling
• This excludes children who live in environmental or
economic disadvantage from being labeled
learning disabled.
– Academic ruling
• The definition states that there should be difficulty
in reading, writing, spelling, and mathematical
calculations. At what age?

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
• Risk indicators
– Predicting learning disabilities
• Observation of child
• Matching observation to performance measures
• Caution: Children can develop skills in a range;
looking for deviations from the range is a sign of
possible learning disability.

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Prerequisite skills
• These are skills needed to enter school.
• Comes through experience, learning and the
opportunity to practice and master developmental
skills.

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Sensory-motor difficulties (gross motor)
• Imperfect body control
• Poor balance
• Uncertain bilateral and cross-lateral movements
• Inability to cross body midline
• Faulty spatial orientation
– Sensory-motor difficulties (fine motor)
• Problems in buttoning, lacing, snapping, cutting,
pasting, and stringing beads
• Perseveration or repeating the same act or words

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Cognitive disorders
• Trouble organizing thoughts or processing
information logically.
• Abstract thought is difficult.
• Poor memory.
• Problems with generalizing information.

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Visual and auditory perception problems
• Visual discrimination
• Visual orientation
• Visual memory
• Visual tracking
• Visual-motor integration
• Auditory perception problems

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
– Language delays
• Receptive language
• Expressive language
– Social skills delays
• Bullying
• Withdrawn
• Aggressive
• Overdependent

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
• Response to intervention
– This allows a teacher to intervene with a child
without there being a required discrepancy
between ability and achievement.
– Tiered approach
• Screening and group interventions
• Target and short-term interventions
• Intensive instruction

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
• Pre-K RTI
– High quality instruction
– Tiered instruction and intervention
– Ongoing student assessment / progress
monitoring
– Family involvement

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Learning Disabilities (continued)
• Program considerations
– All children will show signs of learning
disabilities at one time or another.
– Children need environments that are positive
and developmentally appropriate.
– Schedules need to be consistent.
– Tasks need to be broken down into smaller
chunks of information.

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Behavior Disorders
• Behavior is extreme, chronic, and
unacceptable.
• Definitional issues
– Experts who work with these children prefer
the term behaviorally disordered because it
places the focus on the observable aspect of
the children’s problems: the behavior that is
causing problems in school and at home.

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Behavior Disorders (continued)
– The term emotional or behavioral disorder
means a disability characterized by behavioral
or emotional responses in school so different
from appropriate age, cultural, or ethnic
norms that they adversely affect educational
performance.
– Emotional and behavioral disorders can co-
exist with other disabilities.

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Behavior Disorders (continued)
– This category may include children or youths
with schizophrenic disorders, affective
disorders, anxiety disorder, or other sustained
disorders of conduct or adjustment when they
adversely affect educational performance in
accordance with section (I) (Forness &
Knitzer, 1992, p. 13).

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Behavior Disorders (continued)
• Prevalence
– 1% of school aged children are identified with
serious emotional or behavioral disorders.
– Behavior problems may be seen in preschool
aged children.
– Intervention imperative when behaviors are
becoming a child’s habitual way of responding
to stress and frustration.

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Behavior Disorders (continued)
• Depression
– Changes in emotions, motivation, thoughts,
and physical well-being.
– Children growing up with depressed parents
are likely to have bouts of anxiety and
depression.
– Low self-esteem may be associated.

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Behavior Disorders (continued)
• Anxiety
– People who experience excessive fear, worry,
or uneasiness.
– Some fears may even become phobias.
– Fears are normal, but when taken to the
extreme, they can cause multiple maladaptive
behaviors.

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Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Usually present by age three
• Deficits in social communication and social
interaction
• Restricted repetitive behaviors, interests
and activities

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Prevalence
– More prevalent in boys than in girls.
– Identification is increasing.
– More children are being diagnosed by age 3.
– An overlapping condition that varies from child
to child.

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Advances in autism research
– Genetic links
• Mutations seen in children of older fathers.
• Slight association with mother’s age.
– Impact of environmental pollutants
• Pesticides may increase risk of autism.
• High levels of air pollutants during pregnancy and
1st year of life may increase risk of autism.

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Problems that may accompany ASD
– Intellectual disability
– Seizures
– Fragile X syndrome
– Tuberous sclerosis

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Other forms of Autism Spectrum Disorder
– Rett’s disorder
• Diagnosed predominantly in females.
• Typical development for 18 months than loss of
abilities in gross motor, speech and hand use.
– Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Intervention
– Applied Behavior Analysis
– Discrete Trial Training
– Best approach is individualized
• Other interventions
– Dietary interventions
• Food allergies and insufficient vitamins or minerals
– Chelation
• Removing heavy metals from blood stream

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Autism Spectrum Disorders (continued)
• Medications
– Used to treat behaviors such as aggression,
self-injury, tantrums.

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Eating and Elimination Disorders
• Pica
– The craving of nonfood items.
• Soiling and wetting
– Persistent wetting may be a sign of an
infection.
– Child may have an intestinal virus.
– Diabetics have trouble with bladder control.
– Strange bathrooms may cause an undue
stress on a child.

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A Final but Important Note
• Every child can exhibit behavior problems
at one time or another.
• It is cautioned to not prematurely label a
child.
• It is not how a child is classified but how a
child is cared for that is the most important
issue when addressing behavior and
learning problems.