As a student and now an expert in Special Education, dealing with students with Diverse Learning Needs, including Emotional Behavior Disorders, (EBD), Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Asperger Syndrome, (AS), etc., etc., I want to share my experiences and expertise on one key area of Disability that is profoundly affecting our kids at various level of educational achievements—Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). I know Liberia, as a nation, is yet to put in place the infrastructures and the talents needed to create an environment suitable for the diagnosis, cognitive analysis and testing of kids suspected of having some form of learning disabilities; I hope this chronicle will however provide some insights into how we can begin to look at education, especially from the pre-school to K-12, or high school, as well as identifying and diagnosing students suspected of having learning disabilities.
By Edwin K. Bombo, [email protected]/[email protected]
This chronicle seeks to share three most important points, (characteristics of learning disabilities, ecological considerations, and building self-esteem and motivation), which I learned about, and have been teaching students with various forms of learning needs. Also, this chronicle will highlight how my experiences in learning disability have helped me in my teaching careers; and as a result of such learning experiences, how I intend to help other teachers adjust their teaching approaches, especially when dealing with kids suspected of having some form of learning needs; also, I want to acknowledge my students who helped to shaped my thinking about learning disability, or students with learning needs. As mentioned earlier, every aspect of my experiences and learning have been absorbing, and have given me an in-depth understanding about the intricacies of learning disabilities.
Characteristics of Specific Learning Disability (SLD):
Students with specific learning disability have averaged and above average intelligence, but may have difficulty acquiring and demonstrating knowledge and understanding. This may result in a lack of achievement for aged and ability level, and a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual abilities.
The specific causes of learning disability may not however be clearly understood; however, these disorders are presumably related to the central nervous system dysfunction. The effect of learning disability is manifested differently for each individual and can range from mild to severe. Certainly, learning disability may also be present with other disabilities, such as mobility, or sensory impairments. Also, people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have learning disability. With these cautions in mind, I can now briefly discuss some of the common characteristics of learning disability.
As noted above, disorders of attention may cause students not to focus when lesson is being taught; the student may have short attention span, be easily distracted, and have poor concentration ability; he/she can also be hyperactive or impulsive. Dysgraphia is a characteristic of learning disability that impedes a student’s ability to the physical task of forming letters and words using pen and paper, and may experience difficulty producing legible handwriting. The student may have poor motor skills. Dyscalculia; a person with dyscalculia has difficulty understanding and using math concepts and symbols.
Dyslexia: a person with dyslexia may mix up letters within words and sentences while reading. He/she may have difficulty spelling words correctly while writing. Also, letter reversals are common. Some may have difficulty navigating and route finding tasks as directions and spatial information, such as left or right, may easily confuse them. Dyspraxia: a person with this type of disability may max up words and sentences while performing task; often, there is discrepancy between language comprehension and language production. Non-verbal learning disorder; these are people with poor motor coordination, visual-spatial organization.
They also lack social skill, which are characteristics of non-verbal learning disorders. For a student with learning disability, auditory, visual, or tactile information can become jumbled at any point during transmission, receipt, processing. For example, it may take longer for a student with learning disability to process written information, lengthy reading or writing assignments. Tests may also be difficult to complete in a standard amount of time. Others who may have learning disability may be able to organize and communicate their thoughts in a one-to-one conversation, but may find it difficult to articulate the same ideas in a noisy classroom. People with learning disability may have difficulty spelling and subsequently have difficulty creating or editing text or sometime communicating in witting.
They may also have difficulty with attention, organization, time management, and prioritizing tasks are seemingly common.
Ecological consideration:
Learning, attitudes, and progress depend on positive interactions with the various environments. These environments, which include the home, the school, the social cultural and linguistic settings, may tend to influence the student’s desire and ability to learn. These environments are also an important feature of clinical teaching.
The home: the home is considered as the first home of the child. The experiences that the child undergo during the first five or six years, may tend to influence his/’her cognitive development and may also lay the foundation for later school performance. As the child first teacher, parents can provide intellectual stimulation and emotional well-being. Parents should consider themselves critical in the early development of a child. The development of self-esteem, self-concept, interest in literary, and curiosity about learning depend on the support and encouragement parents provide within the home. Parents should see themselves as role models for their child, and when their child experiences difficulty in school, a supportive family relationship becomes especially important. On the other hand, a dysfunctional home environment contributes to school problems. The child learning disability certainly may also have an impact on member of the family.
School environment:
The school environment is also a critical place that should enhance students’ learning. The school is a place where a substantial portion of the students’ day is spent, as such, school experiences can have a dramatic effect on the student. The relationship of students to peers, school personnel, (including teachers, aids, administrators, and office personnel), are an integral part of school experiences. The environment of the school encompasses more than just teaching and learning academic subjects. In addition to academics’ curriculum, students must cope with expected values, and behaviors. Students must also learn complex rules, such as learning how to be recognized, and how to demonstrate what they know. Students with learning disability are often times faced with even greater challenges in school. They often have unsatisfactory relationship with teachers, and classmates, receive less praises and acknowledgements for their efforts, and are more likely to be criticized, shown disapproval, and even ignored. Teachers who are sensitive to how such negative factors can discourage learning can take appropriate measures to provide an environment that is nurturing.
Social environment:
The social environment of students can also impact their learnings. Everyone needs mutually satisfying relationships with friends. Also, friendships serve as the basis for further social growth and provide opportunities to build confidence in the social domain. Seemingly, children who develop normally in the social sphere learn social skills in a casual and informal manner, thus assimilating through incidental experiences, and acting appropriately with people.
However, for many students with learning disabilities, the social environment becomes another sphere of gloomy failure. Often these students are not socially perceptive or proficient at showing good judgment and show subtle distinction to everyday living. They are unaware of how their actions affect others and how their behavior is interpreted. Certainly their unsatisfying social experiences, in turn, can adversely affect school learning. Many of the characteristics that underlie academic learning disabilities also create the disability in the social sphere. Again, teachers should be sensitive to strategies that help students with learning disabilities to cope with social problems and nonverbal learning.
Cultural and Linguistic Environment:
The cultural diversities of today’s society are seen in every school across the world. In any pluralist society, the student’s cultural and language environment is extremely critical. The school population certainly consists of students from many different ethnic, language, and cultural backgrounds. Hence, one great challenge to educators is to educate all students regardless of culture, geographic origin, socioeconomic status, or native language gauge. Truly, the school is a place where all children of all culture can share in the heritage and life of any society.
For students with learning disabilities, problems stemming from disabilities are often times compounded by the dimensions of the student’s cultural system. Understanding students’ culture and language background is essential for effective teaching; hence teachers should appreciate the unique contributions of each culture. Evidently, when children enter school, they have already absorbed in many of the values and behaviors of the culture in which they were raised, which may have major ramifications for school success- language may be one obvious consideration.
This is one reason school should not expect all children to be fluent in English; otherwise students from families that speak another language may be at a disadvantage. Seemingly, another consideration may be many schools expect students to work independently and to compete for grades and recognition.
This expectation may be in conflict with the attitudes of cultures in which cooperation and peer orientation are valued more than qualities of independence and competitiveness. Teachers should be sensitive to these issues, and should create an atmosphere that builds on cultural and linguistic diversities. Teachers should embrace culturally diverse students into their classrooms, recognizing the need for these students to find relevant connections among themselves and with the subject matter of the tasks students are to perform; establish a classroom atmosphere that respects individuals and their cultures. All of these can be achieved by providing current and relevant bulletin boards that display positive and purposeful activities and events involving culturally diverse people, a book corner with varieties of culturally diverse literatures, cross- cultural literature and discussion groups.
Building Self-esteem and Motivation:
The plight of students with learning disabilities cannot be overemphasized. These students often feel lost and frightened because they have suffered years of despair, discouragement, and frustration. Although effective teaching requires objective and thorough knowledge of the curriculum, skills, and methods, it also requires a subjective understanding of the student as an individual with feelings, emotions, and attitudes. Students with learning disabilities may often feel lost and frightened because they have suffered years of despair, discouragement, and frustration. They frequently experience feelings of rejection, failure, and hopelessness about the future that affect every subject they study in school and every aspect of their lives. Understanding of the Clinical teaching requires an affirming and positive teacher-student relationship.
Teachers should realize that learning disabilities might influence every aspect of the student’s world. Not only are teachers and parents dissatisfied with the child, but also the parent’s anxiety also often becomes uncontrollable. Often times parents wonder whether their child is unable to learn or is just plain laziness. Again if parents are assured that their child is normal, even the most loving parents can become so alarmed at their child’s inability to learn that they will sometimes tend to punish, scold and threaten, or even reward with the hope of producing desired results. Similarly, teachers also feel frustrated by their inability to reach the child. Sometimes the child tries his/her best to function under these adverse conditions, but then the failure continues, and the child becomes overwhelmed and devastated. These feelings lingered even after school and on weekends. The notion that the child can’t measure up continues to hang over the child relentlessly.
It is therefore an important responsibility for the clinical teacher to motivate students who have been failing, to build their self-concept and self-esteem, and to interest them in learning. Certainly success in learning may have a beneficial effect on personality, enhances feelings of self-worth, and rekindles an interest in learning.
Teaching students with any type of disability demands an in-depth knowledge of the multicultural issues affecting the lives of students. Similarly, teaching students with learning disabilities may require particular attention to the distinctive factors affecting their learning.
Information processing, changes that impact students’ learning, and the underlying effects that vary among various students with Learning Disabilities should be cultivated and areas of students’ weaknesses and strengths should also be maximized and appropriate adjustments made to enhance students’ learning.
My experiences over the years have harnessed my understanding that students with Learning Disabilities have high intellectual ability; I have also come to understand that disorders can be both severe and mild, and that it is highly probable that students with Learning Disabilities can perform above average. Given the proper instructions and settings, students with Learning Disabilities can do remarkable things. For example, the father of the first atomic bomb, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, the ingenious American inventor, Charles Schwab, Winston Churchill, and the list goes on. Certainly students with Learning Disabilities are not impaired in all academic areas; some may have difficulty in reading, yet may be very bright in mathematics.
Finally, the writer of this chronicle assumes all responsibility for errors of facts and judgment