The definition of a learning disability can change from one area to another; however, the main concern is the disabilities are due to a problem in the central nervous system. The lack of having a specific definition can lead to learning disabilities being misdiagnosed or not being diagnosed at all. Not having a unified definition of what learning disabilities are can also lead to overdiagnosis of learning disabilities in children. This, along with unreliable and invalid assessments, psychologists who are not experienced in evaluating learning disability assessment results, and a teacher’s inability to distinguish between learning disabilities and behavioral issues, lead to the steady increase of learning disability diagnosis over the past 50 years. Learning disabilities are defined differently by different jurisdictions (Harrison & Holmes, 2012; Wolforth, 2012). Having a common, unified definition for learning disabilities can prevent problems a child may have throughout her education. If one psychologist follows the definition for learning disabilities based on the Diagnostic and …show more content…
The psychologist has to have a level of competence in factors that can influence the assessment results of children, i.e., they have short attention spans, they may be from a non-English speaking family, they may be too young for that specific assessment, etc. The psychologist also has to have a level of competence in the assessment in order to accurately interpret the results. The results of the assessments are what will set the tone for the child’s education going forward and will allow the family to understand that although a learning disability is present it does not equate to the child’s inability to
Learning disabilities are defined as the inability to process information and the inability to communicate effectively. This can cause problems during the child’s years in school. It is often characterized by as having a below average intellectual functioning level as well as below average adaptational skills.
A child will be assessed by an educational psychologist if there are concerns about their intellectual, communication and behavioural development. Assessments can be arranged by the SENCO or independently. The aim of the assessments is to find out why the child is not progressing and what support is needed in order for them to progress. Specific learning difficulties are often identified in this way such as Dyslexia, AHAD, Dyspraxia. Support and targets for the child are then set to help them achieve. The outcome of the assessments may involve the child referred to other professionals e.g. occupational therapist, optometrist, speech and language therapist, psychiatrist. The psychologist will advise the school on how to promote development for example, keeping verbal instructions simple. Keep stories and group activities short to match attention span.
IDEA defines a learning disability as a disorder in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. Learning disabilities are a life-long issue. Language problems that go untreated in the early years of school can continue into high school and adulthood. As a child who suffered with an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), early intervention was very important for me to progress in school. I continue to this day, to utilize and build on compensatory techniques taught by my grade school Speech Pathologist. Henceforth, I have been able to succeed in school, social settings and now in college.
Given the varying methods used to determine the presence of a specific learning disability, what conclusions might the team draw from the Response to Intervention description and the
At the beginning of the term, I had not considered how learning disabilities (LD) relate to DSM-5 criteria. I believed that LD referred to an umbrella encompassing many different disorders which impact academic functioning. I understood that LD vary in severity and impact a variety of different academic domains. For example, one child may be struggling in mathematics and be diagnosed as learning disabled in mathematics but not in any other area. From my understanding, the term learning disability has multiple meanings depending on who you are speaking with.
First grader Scott has exhibited behaviors of a suspected disability. With the receipt of written parental consent the evaluation process can begin. Under the obligations of Child Find specific procedures must be followed under state and federal law. Scott will be assigned a Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team (MET) is to evaluate the “five domains of development: “cognitive development, physical development, communication, social-emotional development, and adaptive development”. This comprehensive evaluation is to determine if Scott indeed has a disability or have a lag in development.
The field has not quite reached consensus on definitions of LD, and there are professionals as well as members of the public who do not understand them or believe they exist. For example, in a Roper (1995) survey of 1,200 adults, 85% associated LD with mental retardation 66% with deafness, and 60% with blindness. In Rocco's (1997) research, faculty "questioned the existence of certain conditions or if they existed, the appropriateness of classifying the condition as a disability" (p. 158). However, most definitions describe learning disabilities as a group of disorders that affect the ability to acquire and use listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or math skills (Gerber and Reiff 1994;
The Diagnostic Criteria for learning disabilities (according to the DSM V) is a specific learning disorder which is diagnosed through an examination of the child’s developmental, educational, medical and responses of various interventions that have been tried. The diagnosis is a constant difficulty in reading, writing, and arithmetic during the years of schooling. Symptoms can include imprecise or slow reading, writing that lacks clarity and content, and difficulty remembering mathematical reason and number facts. The academic level must be significantly below average in all areas; and the child’s difficulties cannot be explained by any other disorders and it has to interfere greatly with academic achievement, performance and daily living.
This will affect the accommodation and instructional strategies taken within the case. Some of the learning disability challenges may be caused by the language disorder and his struggle to efficiently process what he hears or reads. Similarly, his lack of attention to lessons may be related to language disability and his lack of understanding as much as the learning disability. His impairments in reading and written expression may be related to the specific learning disability as diagnosed, but it may be also related to the language disorder and his delays in receptive and expressive language skills. This overlap in challenges caused by both exceptionalities will affect the instructional strategies and accommodations used within the case. It may make it more challenging to decide which strategy would give better improvement results in regards to Liam’s processing as different accommodations and strategies work well for different exceptionalities. It will be challenging to find accommodations and strategies that work effectively for both of Liam’s
There are many factors that go into the diagnosis and treatment of developmental disabilities. It is something that will never go away on its own and requires lifelong treatment so that each person can achieve learning throughout their lifetime. This essay will discuss what a developmental disability is, how it is diagnosed, the types of assessments as well as their strengths and weaknesses, early intervention, various educational programs in place to help those with developmental disabilities, services available for middle-high school children, transitional programs to help these students succeed after schooling or go on to post secondary education as well as
Learning disabilities are becoming more and more common as the years go on. According to the life span development book “of all the children in the United States, thirteen percent from three to twenty-one years of age in the United States received special education or related servers in 2011-2012.” That is three percent higher than the amount of people with learning disabilities from 1980-1981. Studies have been and continue to be conducted to determine why learning disabilities are becoming more prevalent in American in recent years.
Learning disabilities are a life long struggle but if caught at a young age and early intervention takes place. The stress on the child and family is greatly reduced. Learning disabilities spread to every part of a child’s life affecting them socially. Teachers must remain professional and refrain from calling students lazy as in Adams case. A good teacher or specialist can demystify a learning disability and help a child’s
This thesis of mine examines the 19th century ideology of martial races, the belief in an idea that some groups of men were biologically and culturally more inclined towards the art of war; in order to explore how and why Scottish Highlanders, Punjabi Sikhs and Nepalese Gurkhas became linked in both military and popular discourse as the British Empire’s fiercest, most manly soldiers. I argue the connections that historians saw between these three groups demonstrate the historical instability of conceptions of race as well as the political uses and contradictory purposes to which such conceptions could be put. I also argue that the savage representations of masculinity that lay at the heart of martial race ideology were a crucial imaginative site upon which Anglo-Indian military elites responded to, and attempted to manipulate, historically specific global-imperial politics after 1850s, particularly with regard to the rebellion of 1857, Russian military
The sooner a learning disability is identified then the sooner it can be treated appropriately resulting in a more optimistic outcome for the student’s education as well as overall success.
The ambiguous behaviors and the incomprehensible symptoms can cause a lot of confusion. This confusion is one of the main reasons why some parents seek medical diagnosis of their children’s cases themselves. Parents reach out for doctors, or other experts, to provide them with an explanation for their children’s confusing behavior. When children end up ‘labelled’ with a certain learning difficulty, parents are actually relieved. To them, they have an explanation from an ‘expert’ for what is wrong with their children (Gillman, Heyman, and Swain, 2000, p. 397). With a label that explains the earlier confusion, the children, their parents, and their teachers are less perplexed and more alleviated (Archer and Green, 1996, cited in Lauchlan and Boyle,