3. Facts about L.D.
Brain injuries can cause the brain to process
information in an unorthodox way.
Not all cases of L.D are from brain injury.
Currently 2.4 million students are diagnosed with
LD.
May be mitigated to support learning, living and
earning.
Students with LD represent the largest group served
by the IDEA.
5. Legislation
1969 - Congress passes the Children with Specific
Learning Disabilities Act. First time federal law
mandates support services for students with learning
disabilities.
1975 - The Education for All Handicapped Children
Act (PL 94-142), which mandates a free, appropriate
public education for all students. (This law is
renamed IDEA in 1990.)
2004 - Elimination of the requirement for a student
to show a "severe discrepancy" between intellectual
ability and academic achievement in order to be
6. Medical History
1887 – First use of the term "dyslexia" to describe a
"very great difficulty in interpreting written or
printed symbols”.
1963 – First use of the term "learning disability".
1996 – An MRI was conducted to look at the
activity in living brains – to identify the regions of
the brain that behave differently in dyslexics.
2005 – Identified a gene that had patterns and
variations that were strongly associated with
dyslexia.
9. Research
1930's & 40's – Goldstein linked defective
processing & reaction to visual information to brain
injury.
Heinz Werner suggests to adjust teaching style to one's
learning style.
Kephart – assumed that perception & motor
development was the basis for learning.
Frostig – Developed assessment measures & gross-
motor and & workbook program.
11. Research
1800's - Language competency yields academic
progress.
Gall – frontal lobe injury can yield loss of speech &
ability to remember words.
1860's – Broca believed language ability was
located in the left hemisphere of the brain. Good
teaching & parenting can stimulate new brain
functions.
12. Research con't
1950's – Eisenson theorized a lag in brain
maturation as possible cause of LD.
Osgood – Proposed the theory of decoding &
encoding.
Myklebust – Reinforced the need for tailored
curriculum.
13. Misidentification of LD
Poorly motivated,
Poorly taught,
Little home support learning,
Immature,
Slow learners in all areas of development,
Have English as a second language,
Average learners out of place in above-average
schools.
17. Male students
“Although males are far more prevalent than
females in our LD numbers, researchers feel
that
the male-to-female ratio is actually equal—but for
a variety of reasons boys are more likely to
come to our attention” (Roth-Smith, 2004).
19. Definition's
Developmental aphasia – expressive language
disorder
Dyscalculia – a math learning disability
Dysgraphia – a writing learning disability
Dyslexia - involves difficulty in learning to read or
interpret words, letters, and other symbols
Dyspraxia – a motor-skill development learning
disability
21. Home
IDEA implementation: http://www.ideapractices.org
Dunn, L. M. (1968). Special education for the mildly
retarded—Is much of it justifiable? Exceptio nalChildren,35, 5–22.
Legislative updates: http://www.nasponline.org
Gillespie, P. H., Miller, T. L., & Fielder, V. D. (1975). Legislative
definitions of learning disabilities: Roadblocks to effective service.
Jo urnalo f Learning Disabilities, 8 , 660–666.
Special education law: http://www.wrightslaw.com
International Dyslexia Association: http://www.interdys.org
Orton, S. T. (1937). Reading, writing and speech problems in
children. New York: W.W. Norton.
22. School
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (1999,March
12). Final regulations and comments from the U.S. Dept. of
Education. Federal Register, 64(48),12406–12672.
Cruickshank, W. M., Bentzen, F. A., Ratzeburg, F. H., &
Tannhauser, M. T. (1961). A teaching method for braininjured
and hyperactive children. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Werner, H., & Strauss, A. A. (1940). Causal factors in low
performance. American Journal of Mental Deficiency,45, 213–
218.
Legislative updates: http://www.nasponline.org
Kirk, S. A. (1958). Early educatio n o f the mentally retarded: An
experimentalstudy. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
23. References
NCLD Editorial Team. (n.d.). Learning disability
fast facts. Retrieved from http://www.ncld.org/types-
learning-disabilities/what-is-ld/learning-disability-
fast-facts
Roth-Smith, C. (2004). Learning disabilities: The
interaction of students and their environments. (5th
ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Editor's Notes
A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
Brain injuries can cause the brain to process information in an unorthodox way. Not all cases of L.D are from brain injury. Currently 2.4 million students are diagnosed with LD. They are life long and cannot be cured. May be mitigated to support learning, living and earning. Students with LD represent the largest group served by the IDEA.
History
Laws that have influenced how people with LD are taught in school and trained for life after school.
1887 – First use of the term "dyslexia" to describe a "very great difficulty in interpreting written or printed symbols”. 1963 – First use of the term "learning disability". 1996 – An MRI was conducted to look at the activity in living brains – to identify the regions of the brain that behave differently in dyslexics. 2005 – Identified a gene that had patterns and variations that were strongly associated with dyslexia.
Learning Through Vision
Forced responsiveness to stimuli. Subjects couldn’t help being distracted by objects and people around them, the slightest noise or movement, or even a fleeting thought. Figure-ground confusion. Subjects had trouble sorting out what was important (someone speaking to them) and what was not (the din of the dining room noise). This presumably happened because everything, important or not, grabbed their attention. Perseveration. Because they kept being distracted by the same stimuli, subjects repeated behaviors they had just engaged in over and over again, such as repeating themselves or continuing to tap a fork against a plate. Hyperactivity. They showed extreme purposeless activity. This too was caused by their reactions to whatever caught their attention, however briefly. Catastrophic reaction. Subjects broke down emotionally when they couldn’t control their bizarre perceptions and chaotic behavior. Setting goals and systematic follow-through to achieve a goal were impossible. Meticulousness. They became overly rigid in arranging their personal possessions and time schedules. This was a defense against the excessive stimulation and confusing misperceptions they were experiencing.
1930's & 40's – Goldstein linked defective processing & reaction to visual information to brain injury. Heinz Werner suggests to adjust teaching style to one's learning style. Kephart – assumed that perception & motor development was the basis for learning. Frostig – Developed assessment measures & gross-motor and & workbook program.
Learning Through Language
1800's - Language competency yields academic progress. Gall – frontal lobe injury can yield loss of speech & ability to remember words. 1860's – Broca believed language ability was located in the left hemisphere of the brain. Good teaching & parenting can can stimulate new brain functions.
1950's – Eisenson theorized a lag in brain maturation as possible cause of LD. Osgood – Proposed the theory of decoding & encoding. Myklebust – Reinforced the need for tailored curriculum.
Many students who are poorly motivated, have been poorly taught, have little home support for learning, are immature, are slow learners in all areas of development, have English as a second language, or are average learners out of place in above-average schools have been misidentified as LD. ISBN:
The level of confidence for predicting a learning disability rises as (1) the severity of the delays in language, attention, visual-perception, or motor abilities increases; (2) the child nears kindergarten age and the assessment criteria become similar to what and how children are expected to learn in school (e.g., measuring letter knowledge, attention span, and number concepts); and (3) environmental circumstances, such as economic disadvantages or parental encouragement, that can cause or overcome developmental delays are taken into consideration.
setting a percentage by which a child’s achievement must lag behind age or grade expectations given his or her intellectual potential. Achievement test scores are compared with the IQ score to determine whether there is a gap that represents severe underachievement. experts recommend using standard scores to deal with weak test score formulas It is clinical judgment that helps to fill in the picture and suggests whether there is any educational significance to the discrepancy. underestimate the intellectual ability of low income students Achievement tests used for LD identification should match the child’s classroom content as closely as possible to be fair.
Although males are far more prevalent than females in our LD numbers, researchers feel that the male-to-female ratio is actually equal—but for a variety of reasons boys are more likely to come to our attention.
The male may be more biologically vulnerable to brain damage prenatally and postnatally than the female. At birth males are one month less mature than females; they complete maturation at age 18, 2 years later than girls. Because males mature at a slower rate, research indicates that they often are unready for school entrance or the work of their Grade. In the event of right hemisphere damage, data indicate that boys’ left hemispheres may become overloaded with inappropriate right hemisphere strategies (global, holistic), thereby compromising the left hemisphere analytic, sequential reasoning skills that are so important to reading
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). (1999,March 12). Final regulations and comments from the U.S. Dept. of Education. Federal Register, 64 (48),12406–12672. Cruickshank, W. M., Bentzen, F. A., Ratzeburg, F. H., & Tannhauser, M. T. (1961). A teaching method for braininjured and hyperactive children. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. Werner, H., & Strauss, A. A. (1940). Causal factors in low performance. American Journal of Mental Deficiency,45, 213–218. Legislative updates: http://www.nasponline.org Kirk, S. A. (1958). Early education of the mentally retarded: An experimental study. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
