Characteristics Of Language-based Learning Disability: Practice Report

According to the American Disability Act (ADA) (2019), a disability is defined as physical and/or mental impairment that limits the daily living of an individual and the performance of general activities. This include individuals with a diagnosed, recorded, and/or treated disability and those who do not have a disability but are considered as having a disability. A communication disability is the difficulty to receive or send a message, understand and comprehend the meaning of the message, and decipher graphic symbols (ASHA, n.d.) This disability may be hereditary or developed by multifactorial aspects, can range from mild to severe, and be evident in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech (ASHA, n.d.). On the other hand, according to Newhall (2012), language disability refers to a variety of difficulties that are present in both oral and written communication involving lack of comprehension and expression of the sounds of letters and words. Generally, this type of disability is caused by problems or alterations in the neurological systems together with environmental factors.

The Masters in Special Education (n.d.), establishes that the most common students’ learning disabilities are dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and processing deficits. Students with dyslexia present difficulties with reading and comprehension of words and sounds, which lead to problems with reading, spelling, and pronunciation. For these students, the phonology and phonetics represents a trouble altering or limiting their ability to maintain and pronounced the correct sounds to form words or meaningful phrases. In addition, they present a phenomenon called tip of the tongue that produce misspeaking and halted speech disrupting their fluency (Cicerchia, 2016). A second disability that teachers encounters in the classroom is dyscalculia, which is related with an incapacity to resolve mathematical problems, manipulate numbers, and performed the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. (Nestor, 2018). This disability includes difficulties with the oral expression of mathematical concepts and operations. Dysgraphia refers to writing disabilities that can be with written expressions or with the basic writing due to difficulties with holding a pencil correctly. In this case, students are unable to organize their thoughts and translate these thoughts in written expression due to problems with the rules of grammar, the structure of sentences, and the conversion of sounds to words (Masters in Special Education, n.d.). Processing deficits consist of students that troubled with sensory data, auditory or visual, and have problems remembering important information (Masters of Special Education, n.d.). These deficits impact the way students analyze and interpreted what others are saying and express verbally what they are thinking. In addition, to the most common students’ disabilities, the Down syndrome and Autism are intellectual disabilities encountered frequently in the classrooms that affect communicative competence. These types of disabilities are more complex because they have different ranges of severity, generally are combined with other types of disabilities, and required special techniques and strategies for the learning process. All of these disabilities are challenges for students and interfere with their capacity and ability to use language and all of its components in an appropriate and effective way.

As an educator, teachers must develop and implement steps to help students with disabilities to overcome their challenges trying to achieve communicative competence. These steps, techniques, or strategies will depend in the type of disability, the needs of the students, and their capacities and abilities. However, there are some general strategies that are effective to help these students (TeacherVision Staff, 2007): (1) provide oral instructions to students with reading disabilities; (2) provide frequent progress checks to inform them about their performance and progress; (3) give immediate feedback; (4) make concise and short activities focused in communication skills; (5) provide praise and motivation; (6) repeat instructions and provide them in both written and verbal formats; (7) encourage cooperative learning activities in which students without disabilities work together with those with disabilities; and (8) create a positive classroom environment. In addition to these strategies is important to develop a procedure for the students to ask for help, consult with the language pathologist for the development of activities, reinforce communication skills, use scaffolding techniques in lesson planning, use tactile and visual technology, devise alternate procedures with these students, use body language to support learning, and being patient when student is speaking. Brown and Ford (2007) states that supplementing learning with pictures, manipulative objects, and kinesthetic activities is important and essential to achieve communicative competence in students with learning disabilities.

During my practice as a teacher I encountered students with different types of disabilities. However, there was one particular student that had communication problems and disorders that difficult his process of learning English. This student presented problems with speaking, spelling, and writing. He also had difficulties matching sounds with letters and mixing the sounds to form words. I noticed that he read very slowly and formed a mess writing in his notebook. During a test, he was the last to finish the test because he takes too much time writing and presented many grammar errors. However, he was very creative and reasoned fast. The problem of this student was that he suffered from dyslexia and dysgraphia and, therefore, needed my assistance as a teacher. To help this student, I decided to apply different teaching strategies and took the necessary measures. For the correct formation of letters and numbers I used with the student gray block paper, with which he had the opportunity to practice the correct form and size of letters. At the same time, every day I spend some time practicing writing skills and gave him assignments and activities to be practiced at home. I implemented some accommodations and incorporate multisensory activities in the classroom that help him with handwriting. In addition, I administered frequently diagnostic assessment to evaluate the performance and improvement of the student, if any, and made the necessary adjustments according to the assessments results.

The detection of a student with a disability can be difficult and hard due to a lack of specific signs and symptoms. However, exists some signs that suggest the presence of a student with disabilities such as lack of enthusiasm for reading or writing, difficulties memorizing things, working slower than other classmates, trouble following directions, poor social skills, and frequent distractions that can even interrupt the lesson (WebMD, n.d.). If a teacher suspect that a student have a disability, is necessary to talk with the student’s parents for an evaluation with a professional and acquire a diagnosis. On the other hand, to help student with disabilities teachers must understand that these students need to be taught with different techniques and strategies and need accommodations to enhance the learning environment in the classroom. One recommendation to help students with disabilities is to maintain an organized and structured classroom and limit all the factors or material that could cause distractions to the student (Evans, 2019). In addition, the utilization of checklists, the organization of information and lesson material in the notebooks, and the implementation of breaks between lessons or activities are very effective and helpful for these students. During these breaks is recommended the playing of music or the use of multisensorial devices to cause a sensation of “reset” in students, enhance some skills, and prepare them for the next lesson. The provision of simple instructions and tasks that can be comprehended and manageable students with disabilities increases their probabilities of improvement and success. The vast majority of students with language disabilities requires individualized and differentiated instruction strategies in the creation of the lesson plan.

References

1. American Disability Act (ADA). (2019). What is the definition of disability under the ADA? Retrieved from: https://adata.org/faq/what-definition-disability-under-ada
2. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (n.d.). Definitions of communication disorders and variations. Retrieved from: https://www.asha.org/policy/RP1993-00208.htm
3. Brown, D., & Ford, K. (2007). Communication strategies for all classrooms: Focusing in English language learners and students with learning disabilities. Retrieved from: http://www.ldonline.org/article/19260/
4. Cicerchia, M. (2016). Does dyslexia affects speech? Retrieved from: https://www.readandspell.com/us/does-dyslexia-affect-speech
5. Evans, C. (2019). Five ways to help students with special needs. Retrieved from: https://www.specialneeds.com/activities/general-special-needs/five-ways-help-students-special-needs
6. Masters in Special Education (n.d.). 5 most common learning disabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.masters-in-special-education.com/lists/5-most-common-learning-disabilities/
7. Nestor, D. (2018). Dyscalculia symptoms: How does this impact your life. Retrieved from: https://blog.cognifit.com/dyscalculia-symptoms/
8. Newhall, P. (2012). Language-based learning disability: What to know. Retrieved from: http://www.ldonline.org/article/56113/
9. TeacherVision Staff (2007). Teaching students with special needs. Retrieved from: https://www.teachervision.com/special-needs/teaching-students-special-needs
10. WebMD (n.d.). Detecting learning disabilities. Retrieved from: https://www.webmd.com/children/guide/detecting-learning-disabilities#1