Learning Disabilities Essay Research Paper Approximately 10

Learning Disabilities Essay, Research Paper

Approximately 10 percent of the adult population have learning disabilities. Learning disabilities also affect about 5 to 10 percent of school-age children. Most disabilities occur in math, spelling, reading comprehension, oral expression, and written language. The most common learning disabilities are in reading. Children with learning disabilities also have problems with attention, memory, and behavioral problems as a result of frustration. The term “learning disabilities” covers a combination of possible causes, symptoms, treatments, and outcomes.

What is a learning disability? With at least twelve definitions that appear in professional literature, there is no exact definition. Most experts agree that the learning disabled have difficulties with academic achievement and progress and that discrepancies exist between a person’s potential for learning and what he actually learns. Learning problems are not due to environmental disadvantages, mental retardation, or emotional disturbance. The learning disabled also show an uneven pattern of language, physical, academic, or perceptual development. A learning disability is a disorder, which affects people’s abilities to interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain.

The regulations for Public Law (PL) 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA) define a learning disability as a “disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.” The Federal definition also states that learning disabilities include perception disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and development aphasia.

The are several types of disorders that are classified as learning disabilities. The two most common are Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Dyslexia. ADD is poor attention, concentration, and impulse control. Dyslexia is a learning disability characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral, or written language. An unexpected gap exists between learning aptitude and achievement in school. The problem is not behavioral, psychological, motivational, or social. It results from differences in the structure and function of the brain.

Students who have learning disabilities may exhibit a wide range of traits. Some of these characteristics are hyperactivity, inattention, and perception conditional problems. In spoken language, learning disabilities are delays, disorders, and deviations in listening and speaking. Students with learning disabilities in written language have difficulties with reading, writing, and spelling. In math, learning disabilities are evidenced in difficulty performing arithmetic operations or in understanding basic concepts. Learning disabled students also have difficulty with reasoning skills in organizing and integrating thoughts. Students affected by learning disabilities have difficulty in remembering information and instructions.

Since learning disabilities can cause a great deal of stress and frustration to a student it is important for parents and teachers to discover the problem and start to work on improvement. Sometimes a learning disabled student is labeled as lazy or disobedient. It is important to know the symptoms of learning disabilities because the sooner it is diagnosed, the sooner improvement can be made. Some common symptoms of a learning disabled student are: poor performance on group tests; difficulty discriminating size, shape or color; distorted concept of body image; reversals in writing and reading; general awkwardness; hyperactivity; slowness in completing work; easily confused by instructions; low tolerance for frustration; and difficulty making decisions. It is important to remember that no one will have all these symptoms and all people, even those who are not learning disabled, have at least one or two of these problems to some degree. Even among the learning disabled, some symptoms are more common than others are. Also, the number of symptoms seen in a particular child does not give an indication as whether the disability is mild or severe. It is important to consider if the behaviors are chronic and appear in clusters.

Learning disorders may be informally flagged by observing significant delays, usually a two-year delay in the primary grades, in the child’s skill development. Children can be informally flagged through observation, but an actual diagnosis is made using standardized tests comparing the child’s ability level to what is considered the normal development for a child of that age and intelligence. The outcome of the test relies not only on the child’s actual abilities, but also on the dependability of the test and the child’s ability to pay attention and understand the questions.

But what causes learning disabilities? No one knows what the causes are right now because there are still too many possibilities. The current leading theory among scientists is that learning disabilities stem from subtle disturbances in the brain structures and functions. Instead of dwelling on the causes, families should realize that there is a problem and move forward in find