Learning Disabilities : Developmental Consequences

Learning Disabilities: Developmental Consequences

(image taken from:http://www.keithsrevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/alienation-ioana-harjoghe-ciubucciu.jpg) 

"Students with learning disabilities represent by far the largest proportion of students identified with exceptionalities in the province [of Ontario], at approximately 43%. ... Universal acceptance of a definition of learning disabilities continues to elude those who care about this special need. Assessing the presence and extent of a learning disability in a manner that produces clear, indisputable results does not seem to be possible."  (Beckett et al., pg 102)

"Their performance is inconsistent; they show great variability in areas of functioning and large differences between areas of skill. ... No child with learning disabilities will display all behaviour, while the disparate characteristics of the population means that additional behaviours may exist in some children." (Winzer,pg 138-139)

Cognitive Development

Per Winzer; students with learning disabilities possess average or above average intelligence and yet they do not acquire academic skills at grade expectancy and may lag in some or all academic areas.

They do not have deficits in the actual ability to learn but seem to have performance deficit instead. These problems relate to metacognition, an awareness of basic learning strategies and ones own learning style. Their learning strategies, or lack thereof, prevent them from using their personal abilities to their best advantage.

Communication

"The term language learning disabilities is used to refer to the 60-80% of all students with learning disabilities whose base deficits are in language and reading. ... In the classroom, these may be the students who sit at the back and hope that the teacher won't call on them. They rarely volunteer answers and when they are asked to speak they may be hesitant, stumble over words, and use a sparse vocabulary.  For these students, problems are often apparent at every level of the language hierarchy - listening, speaking, reading, and writing. ... Deficits in one area spill over to affect others."  (Winzer, pg 141)

Academic Achievement

Academic underachievement is the hallmark of the learning disabled population. The gap between achievement scores and grade expectancy level widens as students with learning disabilities progress through high school. It is estimated that 56% of students with learning disabilities have difficulty completing homework. (Winzer pg 142-3)

• READING: Reading problems are the major cause of poor school performance and affect 15-20% or more children and adolescents. If reading skills are still poor by the end of grade 3, then the chances for improvement are low. Children diagnosed after grade 3 with a reading disability fail to show any noticeable improvement in their skills.   A problem with word recognition skills can be related to poor memory and visual processing skills. Since comprehension is influenced by decoding skills, reading is seriously affected in the student with decoding problems. 

• WRITTEN EXPRESSION: Poor reading leads to poor spelling. Spelling impairments are widespread among the learning disabled population. In addition, these students have great difficulties with written expression, showing poor spelling, gross disorganization, disconnected thoughts, incorrect syntax, and poor grammar skills.

• MATHEMATICS: An estimated 5-8% of the general school population is believed to have some form of arithmetic disability. This number is higher among students with learning disabilities with approximately 25% of these students having difficulty in mathematics.  Basic skills such as counting, writing numerals and basic arithmetic are found to be deficient. As well, terms such as 'sum', ' plus', 'and' & 'total' are easily confused by students with less developed math vocabularies. 

Perceptual Development

"Perception involves the use of the senses to recognize, discriminate , and interpret stimuli. Students unable to process perceptions accurately are said to have perceptual disorders, sometimes referred to as psychological processing deficits. Children with learning disabilities may have problems with perception and with recognizing, discriminating, and interpreting incoming stimulus data." (Winzer text - online)

Motor Problems

Laterality refers to an internal knowledge of the differences between left and right; directionality is an awareness of left and right in the environment outside the body. The failure to establish laterality, directionality, and dominance may account for many reversals and similar confusions in children's reading and writing.  (Winzer, 147)

Co-ordination

In the fine motor domain, children with non-verbal learning disabilities perform significantly below average on  standardized tests of visual and motor functioning and struggle with skills such as tracing, cutting, colouring, and handwriting. Poor motor skills may correlate with adverse social interaction. (Winzer, 149)

Social and Emotional Development

"Significant numbers of children with learning disabilities suffer social and emotional complications, which may exist alone or may contribute to learning deficits. Problems occur in social adjustment, social perception,self-concept, and motivation. Many students with learning disabilities lack systematic and organized judgement. They have difficulty perceiving the affective status of others, have problems socializing, making friends, and establishing positive family relationships." (Winzer - online)

A Day in the Life...of Alice