Learning Disabilities (5)

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Learning Disabilities

H1. How to diagnose and instruct learners with learning disabilities? (x3)

• I try to keep things simple. It's estimated that 85% of persons with LD have deep deficits in reading. Research from the neurosciences is clear that the processing difficulty for reading disabilities is phonological. So for verbal/reading LD, ask them to tell you the sounds of the vowels. I find that 95% of the persons I assess can't tell me the short vowel sound for the 5 vowels. They also have great difficulty reading pseudowords that follow regular spelling patterns, i.e., spong, drint, napkin, glysod). They are also poorer spellers than they are readers. So if they don't know the sounds that correspond to letters (phonemic awareness), can't read nonsense words, and have great difficulty spelling, teach them these 3 components.

Also, everything needs to be hands on, concrete, with multiple opportunities for practice. Just introducing a concept and going over it a few times is NOT enough. Their brains must be re-wired in order to "get it." Dendrites are grown only with practice, practice, practice. Anne Murr

H2. Has any research been done re: mental and brain injured?

H3. What is the connection between bi-polar disorder and learning disabilities?

• We don’t find it.
• This was probably my question, so I feel like I should take a stab at it. In my experience, bi-polar disorder (schizophrenia?) can be a learning disability in itself. I have some research on it in one of the piles on my desk as I was working with several bipolar students. They have good days and bad days. But essentially, what I found out was that they will get into thought process loops which on the outside look very much like someone with ADHD, but inside their heads something really different is happening -- because they sometimes become hyper-concentrated on something . For example, doing a simple addition problem can sometimes turn into a whole mind journey about one of the numbers they are adding. The consequence is that they still don't finish the addition problem. So I feel like the mental illness can sometimes definitely inhibit their performance on academic tasks. I think you would also find that there is a discrepancy between their IQ and their ability to complete academic tasks, especially when they are having bad period. How to teach these students (which I don't get all that often, but have one or two a year) is something I am still puzzling out.”
• From what I have learned about bi-polar, it's the extreme highs and extreme lows and is not schizophrenia. It's very possible to be bi-polar and ADHD. I had one student who was both, and he's now in prison because of his addiction to driving too fast when he as in a high. He was also LD - had the profile that I detailed above. Anne M.
• I would be interested in learning more if there is a connection…I would like to learn more about learning disabilities among ESOL learners.
• I currently teach people with severe mental illnesses. I help them improve their basic skills in order to pass the GED exam. I am unaware of any similar programs throughout the country and am interested in best practices information.