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Understanding LD

Notes to consider before discussing characteristics of students with learning difficulties:

Although learning difficulties are usually described as a deficits in academic achievement, students with learning difficulties might have problems in other areas, such as social skills, memory and hyperactivity.

No one will have all these symptoms, but among students with learning difficulties some symptoms are more common than others.

A single students will not have deficits in all areas. In fact, he might exceed the abilities of his peers in certain areas. For example, a child might have above average ability in math but severe deficit in reading, written expression, and listening.


KINDS OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Academic Deficits:
  • It is usually during elementary school that students with learning difficulties start to show discrepancy between abilitiy and achievement.
  • The academic problems that show that student has a learning difficulty are in the area of reading, written expression and mathematics.

1. Reading:
Reading and related language function are the most prevalent difficulties among students. A students with learning difficulty may show problems in:
  • Basic Reading: such as struggling with oral reading tasks, reading in a strained voice with poor phrasing, gnoring punctuation, grouping for works like a much younger child.
  • Reading comprehension: the student may say words correctly but he does not understand what he has read.
 
Comprehension problems may include one or more of the following:
-Identifying the main idea.
-Recalling basic facts and events in a sequence.
-Making inferences or evaluating what has been read
It is very important to emphasis the negative impact of having a difficulty in oral reading on the child''s self esteem and confidence. Deficits in reading skills can also lead to acting out behavior and poor motivation.

2. Mathematics:
Students with learning difficulties may have problems in:
  • Math Calculations: such as the four operations, the concept of zero, regrouping, place value, basic math concepts and solving math problems.
  • Math reasoning: a student may be able to do math calculations but has a deficit in math reasoning and unable to solve a math word problem.
Often time allowed for students to complete solving a problem is an important factor in their success. 

3. Written Expression:
It includes a area of hand writting, spelling, and written expression, including mechanics and creativity. Read more on this kind of disability under "dyslexia" and "dysgraphia" .

Language Deficits:
Since language is our way of communication, deficits in this area have a great impact on quality of life in general and on the educational experience in specific.
Language deficits are found in the areas of: 

1. Oral Expression:
Oral expression which include difficulty in retriving words; and children often use a less appropriate word because the right word will not come to them. In addition, response rate and sentence articulation is usually slower than that of their nondisabled classmates, therefore; teachers should give them enough time to respond. Otherwise, the student's behavior might be interpreted as failure to understand or refusal to participate.

2. Listening Comprehension:
Difficulties in expressive language, such as the use of simpler words and less mature language and the confusion of sequences in retelling a story, might be an indication that students with.

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