LEARNING DISABILITIES

LEARNING DISABILITIES

According to the Dept. of Education of the U.S. (1992): Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process 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 to do mathematical calculations.
LD is a general term for heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities. These disorder are intrinsic to the individual, presumed to be due to CNS dysfunction, and may occur across life span.

Types of LD:
 Difficulties in reading (dyslexia) and writing (dysgraphia)
 Language Processing Disabilities i.e. language understanding and expressive difficulties (dysphasia)
 Mathematical difficulty (Dyscalculia)
 Behavioural problems with poor academic achievement e.g. ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyper Activity Disorder)
 All areas of academic challenges
 Fine motor disabilities
 Nonverbal LD and
 Visual-perceptual disabilities (low brain process visual information)

Causes of LD:
-Mathematical lag:- lag in mental and physical development for language and mathematical (academic) skills.
-Neurological disorganization: brain injury that inhibit neurological organization such as language, manual competence, visual, auditory competence etc.
-CNS dysfunction
-Malnutrition and vitamin deficiency
-Educational deficiency:- poor teaching attendance, curriculum, material, attitude and poor aspiration.

Life Span View of Learning Disabilities : Assessment and Treatment

Problem Areas: Delay in developmental milestones (eg. Receptive language, expressive language, visual perception, auditory perception, short attention span and hyperactivity)
Assessment: Prediction of high risk for later learning problems.
Treatment: Expert Support

Grades K-1
Problem Areas: Academic readiness skills (eg. Alphabet knowledge, quantitative concepts, directional concepts etc.) Receptive language, visual perception, auditory perception, gross and fine motor, attention and hyperactivity.
Assessment: Identification of LD
Treatment: Preventive direct instruction in academic and language areas, behaviour management and parent training.

Grades 2-6
Problem Areas: Reading skills, arithmetic skills, written expression, verbal expression, receptive language, attention span, hyperactivity, social-emotional and social skills.
Assessment: Identification of LD
Treatment: Remedial corrective direct instruction in academic areas behaviour management, self-control training and parent training.

Grades 7-12
Problem Areas: Reading skills, arithmetic skills, written expression, verbal expression, listening skills, study skills, social emotional and delinquency.
Assessment: Identification of LD
Treatment: Remedial corrective direct instruction in academic areas behaviour management, Tutoring in subject areas direct instruction in learning strategies (study skills), self-control training and curriculum alternatives.

Adults
Problem Areas: Reading skills, arithmetic skills, written expression, verbal expression, listening skills, study skills, social emotion.
Assessment: Identification of LD
Treatment: Remedial corrective direct instruction in academic areas. Tutoring in subject (college) or job areas. Compensatory instruction language using aids such as type recorder, calculator, computer, dictionary. Direct instruction in learning strategies.

Language and Communication Disorder
Definition:
Communication:- It is an interaction that transmits information, and establishes common understanding communication in the process of exchanging knowledge, ideas, opinions and feelings.
Communication disorder could be in both verbal and non-verbal.

Speech Disorder
It is any imperfection in the production of sounds of language, caused by lack of muscle co-ordination, poor voice quality or organic defects results in speech disorder.
Language Disorder
It is a communication problem in comprehending, expressing, or otherwise functionally utilizing spoken language.

Definition:
Speech disorders are problems with producing speech sounds (articulation), controlling sounds that are produced (voice), and controlling the rate and rhythm of speech (fluency).
Language disorder are problems with using proper forms of language (phonology, morphology, syntax), using the content of language (semantics) and using the functions of language (pragmatics).

Types of Speech and Language Impairment

Speech Impairment:- Speech is abnormal when it is unintelligible, unpleasant or interferes with communication. These are three types:- 1. Voice; 2. Articulation and 3. Fluency (eg: stuttering)
 Speech Voice:- Impairment in the production of oral spoken language due to absence of or abnormal production of vocal quality, pitch loudness, resonance and /or duration. Two aspects of voice are important – pitch and loudness.
 Articulation Fluency:- Abnormal production of speech sound, interruptions in the flow, rate, and/or rhythm of verbal expression. Articulation in the process of producing speech sounds.
 Fluency Problem:- are associated with the rate and flow pattern of a person’s speech. It involves hesitations or repetitions that interrupt the flow of speech. Eg. Stuttering.

Language Impairment:- These are three aspects of language: form, content, and use.
 Form:- Lack of knowledge or inappropriate application of the rule system. Three rule systems characterize form in language: phonology, morphology and syntax. [Phonology is the sound system of language; Morphology is the parts of words that form the basic elements of meaning and structures of the world. Eg. Prefixes, suffixes. Syntax determines where a word is placed in a sentence]
 Content:- relates to the intent and meaning of spoken or written statements. Inability to understand or correctly transmit the intent and meaning of words and sentences is also one form of language impairment.
 Use:- It’s a application of language in various communication according to the social situations.

Causes of Speech or Language Impairment:
Speech Impairment:- brain damage, malfunction of the respiratory or speech mechanisms, severely misaligned teeth and cleft lip or palate affects the production of nasal sounds.
Bad practices and Psychological causes:-
-Undue abuse of the voice by screaming, shouting, and straining can cause damage to the vocal cords and results in a voice disorder.
-Stress that creates stuttering – lack of fluency in speaking and repetition of sounds or words.

Language Impairments:
Organic Causes:- -brain injury or diseases damage to the CNS results in aphasia – inability to hear.

Environmental Factors:-lack of stimulation – punishment for speaking or being ignored trying to communicate.




Identification, Assessment and Intervention

Speech Impairment:- Identification has to be do on three aspects of speech – articulation, voice and fluency.
Articulation:- Those who do not use the right motor responses to form the sounds correctly. The speech mechanisms include tongue, lips, teeth, mandible (Jaw) or palate – to form speech sounds. There are four different kinds of articulation errors.
Substitutions, distortions, omissions, and additions;
Substitutions:- One sound is used for another. Eg: I see the rabbit ----(for that)—I tee the wabbit
Distortions:- Give the pencil to sally (the/p/is/nasalized)
Omissions:- A sound or group of sounds is left out of a word.
Addition: An extra sound is inserted or added to one already correctly produced. Eg. I miss her --(for that)—I missed her.
Voice:- Two general reason for voice problems in children—Organic cause (tumor) and a functional cause – Functional cause is due to uses of voices inappropriately – to low, or high in pitch or breathy.
Fluency:- The flow of speech breaks down. Stuttering is a fluency problem.

Language Impairment
Assessment of three aspects of language: form, content and use
Form: - To assess the form or structure of an language. Form cause errors in letter or sound formation, grammatical structure usage, or sentence formation. Those who are not mastered the rules of language might not be able to till the difference between sentences.
Content: - They do not understand the meaning of what is said to them and choose inappropriate words for oral communication difficulty in comprehending the written material in a textbook.
Use:- How appropriately a child uses language in social contexts and conversations.