Module 2 : Learning Disabilities Learning Outcomes

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Identify the correct definition for a 'learning disability'
Distinguish a learning disability from other types of disabilities
Identify strategies to help a student with a learning disability

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 Introduction to Learning Disabilities

A learning disability is a specific impairment of academic learning that interferes with a

specific aspect of schoolwork and that reduces a students academic performance
significantly. A learning disability shows itself as a major discrepancy between a students
ability and some feature of achievement.

The student may be delayed in reading, writing, listening, speaking, or doing mathematics,
but not in all of these at once.

A learning problem is not considered a learning disability if it stems from physical, sensory or
motor handicaps or from generalised intellectual impairment (or mental retardation). It is also
not a learning disability if the learning problem really reflects the challenges of learning
English as a second language. Genuine learning disabilities are the learning problems left
over after these other possibilities are accounted for or excluded.

Typically, a student with a learning disability has not been helped by teachers ordinary
efforts to assist the student when he or she falls behind academically. What counts as an
ordinary effort, of course, differs among teachers, schools and students. Most importantly,
though, a learning disability relates to a fairly specific area of academic learning. A student
may be able to read and compute well enough, for example, but not be able to write.

Learning disabilities are by far the most common form of special educational need.

Example:
In the United States, learning disabilities account for half of all students with special
educational needs and anywhere from 5 to 20 per cent of all students, depending on how the
numbers are estimated (United States Department of Education, 2005; Ysseldyke & Bielinski,
2002).

Students with learning disabilities are so common, in fact, that most teachers regularly
encounter at least one per class in any given school year, regardless of the class level they
teach.

Defining learning disabilities clearly

With so many students defined as having learning disabilities, it is not surprising that the
term itself becomes ambiguous in the truest sense of having many meanings. Specific
features of learning disabilities vary considerably.

Any of the following students, for example, qualify as having a learning disability, assuming
that they have no other disease, condition or circumstance to account for their behaviour:
Albert, an eighth-grader, has trouble solving word problems that he reads, but can solve
them easily if he hears them orally.
Bill, also in eighth grade, has the reverse problem: he can solve word problems only when

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he can read them, not when he hears them.
Carole, a fifth-grader, constantly makes errors when she reads textual material aloud,
either leaving out words, adding words or substituting her own words for the printed text.
Emily, in seventh grade, has terrible handwriting; her letters vary in size and wobble all over
the page, much like a first- or second-grader.
Sarah, a tenth-grader, adds multiple-digit numbers as if they were single-digit numbers
stuck together: 42 + 59 equals 911 rather than 101, though 23 + 54 correctly equals 77.

With so many expressions of learning disabilities, it is not surprising that educators

sometimes disagree about their nature and about the kind of help students need as a
consequence.

Such controversy may be inevitable because learning disabilities by definition are learning
problems with no obvious origin. Common to all educators though is a belief that a variety of
solutions for helping students with learning disabilities should be experimented with.

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 Case Study: Assisting a student with a learning disability

Introduction
There are various ways to assist students with learning disabilities, depending not only on
the nature of the disability, of course, but also on the concepts or theory of learning being
used.

This case study looks at a girl with a learning disability called Sarah. She adds two-digit
numbers as if they were one digit numbers.

Stated more formally, Sarah adds two-digit numbers without carrying digits forward from the
ones column to the tens column, or from the tens to the hundreds column.

Example of Sarahs homework

This is an example of Sarahs math homework involving two-digit addition.

Three out of the six problems are done correctly, even though Sarah seems to use an
incorrect strategy systematically on all six problems.

Behaviourism: reinforcement for wrong strategies

One possible approach to assist Sarah is based on the behaviourist theory. It seems that
Sarah was rewarded so much for adding single-digit numbers (3+5, 7+8 etc.) correctly that
she generalised this skill to adding two-digit problems.

Changing Sarahs behaviour is tricky since the desired behaviour (borrowing correctly) rarely
happens and therefore cannot be reinforced very often. It might help for the teacher to
reward behaviours that compete directly with Sarahs inappropriate strategy.

The teacher might reduce credit for simply finding the correct answer and increase credit for
a student showing her the work of carrying digits forward correctly. Or the teacher might
discuss Sarahs maths work with Sarah frequently, so as to create more occasions when she
can praise Sarah for working problems correctly.

Metacognition and responding reflectively

Part of Sarahs problem may be that she is thoughtless about doing her maths. The minute
she sees numbers on a worksheet, she stuffs them into the first arithmetic procedure that
comes to mind. Her learning style seems too impulsive and not reflective enough.

As a solution, the teacher could encourage Sarah to think out loud when she completes two-
digit problems-literally get her to talk her way through each problem.

Constructivism, mentoring and the zone of proximal development

Perhaps Sarah has in fact learned how to carry digits forward, but not learned the procedure
well enough to use it reliably on her own.

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In that case her problem can be seen in the constructivist terms. Sarah has lacked
appropriate mentoring from someone more expert than herself, someone who can create a
zone of proximal development in which she can display and consolidate her skills more
successfully.

She still needs mentoring or assisted coaching more than independent practice. The
teacher can arrange some of this in much the way she encourages to be more reflective,
either by working with Sarah herself or by arranging for a classmate or even a parent
volunteer to do so.

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 Learning Disabilities Summary

A learning disability is a specific impairment of academic learning that interferes with a

specific aspect of schoolwork and that reduces a students academic performance
significantly.

Learning disabilities are by far the most common form of special educational need.

There are various ways to assist students with learning disabilities, depending not only on
the nature of the disability, of course, but also on the concepts or theory of learning being
used:
Behaviourism and reinforcement for wrong strategies
Metacognition and responding reflectively
Constructivism, mentoring and the zone of proximal development