What is a Learning Disability?
Here is a great video to share with your students to help them understand learning disabilities.
Try this ACTIVITY to help you understand what someone with a learning disability such as Dyslexia might see when reading the passage. Start by reading the passage below.
Activity retrieved from: http://ctaeir.org/Unit%20Plan/Early%20Childhood%20Education/Human%20Growth%20and%20Development/HGD_6_Dyslexia%20simulation%20ee.doc
What are the possible implications for teaching/learning in the classroom?
- LD’s are usually diagnosed by the time children are in school because of the content in which a class room focuses – reading, writing, listening, math, speaking, reasoning…things that children with LD’s struggle with.
- It is a teacher and a parent’s responsibility to recognize and evaluate a child having difficulty and not learning at the expected levels.
- Some children may show signs of overlapping learning disabilities, while others may have one single, very mild learning disability that has little impact on their everyday life.
***Tips for Teachers***
How to include this child in an inclusive (regular) classroom?
References and links for further support:
- http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/
- http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/lbld.htm
- http://ldnavigator.ncld.org
Videos:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcuhJVtQ4iM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoM5HcfQBwE
- LD’s are usually diagnosed by the time children are in school because of the content in which a class room focuses – reading, writing, listening, math, speaking, reasoning…things that children with LD’s struggle with.
- It is a teacher and a parent’s responsibility to recognize and evaluate a child having difficulty and not learning at the expected levels.
- Some children may show signs of overlapping learning disabilities, while others may have one single, very mild learning disability that has little impact on their everyday life.
***Tips for Teachers***
- Learn as much as you can about learning disabilities, resources available and techniques and strategies you can use to help support the education and well-being of the student and make a difference in their life
- Emphasize strengths and interests of the student with positive feedback and lots of opportunity for practice
- Talk to specialists in your school about methods for teaching this student
- Become familiar with different methods of testing in which a student with an LD can show what they really know and what they have learned
- Make a point to teach your whole classroom organizational skills, study skills, and learning skills which can help all students, but particularly those with LD’s.
How to include this child in an inclusive (regular) classroom?
- break tasks into smaller steps, and give instruction both verbally and in writing
- give the student more time to finish schoolwork or take tests
- let the student with reading problems use textbooks-on-tape if available, but encourage them to follow along
- let the student who has difficulty listening borrow notes from a classmate or use a tape recorder
- let the student with writing difficulties use a computer with specialized software that spell checks, grammar checks, or recognizes speech.
References and links for further support:
- http://www.ldao.ca/introduction-to-ldsadhd/what-are-lds/
- http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/lbld.htm
- http://ldnavigator.ncld.org
Videos:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcuhJVtQ4iM
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoM5HcfQBwE