Introduction
Individuals who are suffering from learning disabilities need attention, reinforcement, and care. The delivery of the stated elements allows them to appear with a robust wisdom of self-worth, self-assurance, and the willpower to behave actively in critical situations. Continuous research provides evidence that attests to the ability of children with learning disabilities to adopt and learn. Consequently, it is the responsibility of teachers and schools to foster the integration of these children to teach them to cope and learn, as well as to compete favorably and hold their knowledge with their heads held high among their counterparts in school. Teachers and schools play a significant role in supporting individuals who have learning disabilities. They serve to understand the diverse learning disabilities, identify the difficulties of the sufferers, and propose solutions for addressing their learning problems. The identification and understanding of learning disorders are found to be significant in promoting the well-being of sufferers. However, it is a difficult task for the management to identify and understand the learning issues present in among disabled individuals and come up with long-lasting solutions. As a means to determine the role of teachers and the institution in proposing solutions for the individuals with learning disabilities, this research paper reviews different studies, textbooks, authenticated web sources, and reports. It is the goal of this paper to reach out the readers and provide an insight as to the result of the study in a short document. This research paper spreads knowledge about the challenges faced by individuals having learning disabilities and how they can be overcome through the roles of teachers and school where these students are studying. Further, it is the aim of this research to answer the three questions as what are learning disabilities, how can they be identified in students, and how can they be managed by teachers and the school?
Learning Disabilities can be broadly described along two lines of thought according to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). These two broad spectrums include a general term that describes a psychological disorder or inconsistency in some of the processes needed for the act of understanding and language used for speech or writing. This shows an impaired ability to pay attention, engage in thought process, read, write, speak, spell or carry out mathematical calculations. Moreover, it also refers to such learning problems resulting from other disabilities caused by internal or external causes such as retardation, emotional imbalance or the effects of the environment, culture or an unfavorable economic situation.
This explains why the disabled students find it challenging when trying to get basic educational skills or understand academic content. Learning disabilities display various characteristics and are based on individual differences among people with this problem. It usually shows up in the form of disconnect between the students’ cognitive abilities and attendant achievement in areas like reading and writing, speech or even mathematical skills. In some cases, students with learning problems experience difficulties when it comes to relating on a social level. Students could also experience learning difficulties across several academic subjects or situations. For example, a student with a learning disability may have great mathematical and listening skills on one hand, but poor reading skills on another. Sometimes, students with learning disabilities may have excellent reading and speech skills, but may struggle to express themselves via the written word.
There are several types or forms of disabilities and they are classified into three broad spectrums; the disabilities could be temporary, relapsing and remitting or long-term (permanent). The major classifications of learning disabilities include;
Dyslexia: It refers to a reading disability that comes about as a result of the inability to process graphic symbols.
Dyscalculia: It is not a well-known learning disability which affects a person’s ability to carry out mathematical calculations.
Dysgraphia: This is a learning disability that develops as a result of an individual’s difficulty in being able to express their thoughts in text (writing) and graphically too. It is generally known as extremely poor handwriting skills.
Other wider spectrums of learning disabilities include but are not limited to different causes, including loss of hearing abilities, poor vision or complete blindness, problems related to learning disabilities such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, dyslexia, or dyscalculia, challenges with movement, severe health challenges like epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, migraine headaches, or multiple sclerosis , cognitive disabilities relating to mood, anxiety and depressive disorders, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Asperger’s disease and other Autism related disorders, and brain injuries that have permanent scarring.
There are several sources and resources that deal with the issue of learning disabilities in students. The internet on its own provides a very accurate and robust database of efforts that have gone into the research process for students battling learning disorders. Websites belonging to academia, international organizations and other non-profit organizations carry years of research work. Moreover, other information that can provide schools and teachers with the needed resources for successfully managing and grooming students with learning disabilities across a broad spectrum of cases. This research paper will heavily make use of online resources to determine the causes of learning disabilities and how teachers and schools can go about handling each case with tact and understanding.
With the increasing rate of learning disorders such as autism and Asperger's in students today, it is necessary to seek deeper knowledge and understanding of what schools are up against and try to offer solutions and strategies for handling the matter. This research paper will not only make this come to pass, but it will also create an avenue for learning new and innovative ways to attack the issue of learning disabilities in students while reaching out to other educators in similar circumstances. This can be very beneficial as it has a way of reminding us that the struggle is real and there is a network of people out there all looking for solutions.
Factors responsible for learning disabilities
It is difficult to pinpoint an exact factor for learning difficulties because there could be several factors responsible and each case come with its associated complexity. The exact factors that can be attached to all categories of learning disabilities in most cases could be just as much as the learning challenge. People who have these difficulties may experience challenges at an early or later stage in reading, computing, writing, expression, memory recall among many other issues. This is why it is difficult to pinpoint a specific factor of learning difficulties because one learning challenge can be as a result of several different reasons.
Evidences suggests that certain differences in the make-up of the brain in students with learning disabilities could be responsible for their disability. Further studies have also revealed that learning difficulties as a result of disabilities may result from a number of factors. They may be inherited from the family line, or be as a result of a medical problem or other environmental factors such as substance use and abuse.
Research efforts to determine the factor of students’ learning disabilities have so far been unsuccessful. Findings have, however, revealed that it is better and more important to determine the unique educational needs of a student with a learning disability than trying to find out the factor alone. This will help in designing a plan that helps such students cope with the situation and make the best out of it.
For establishing an engaged classroom where each scholar is honored, it appears necessary to make use of certain language that places the student as a top priority over and above the learning disability. Learning disabilities often lead to stigmatization and these labels given to students with a learning challenge could foster a false stereotype. This makes people believe that students with learning disabilities, they will not have the same or similar capability levels as their counterparts.
It is generally better to make reference to that incapacity solely regarding the condition. Taking an example, it sounds better to say “The student, with a disability” rather than “The disabled student” because this places emphasis while noticing scholar as an important factor in the situation, instead the reality the possession of disability of a scholar.
Diagnosis of learning disabilities
In learning and encouraging positive learning atmosphere for students with disabilities, the ability to identify and give a proper diagnosis of learning problems that students might possess stand to benefit the child, the teacher and the school. The job of being an educator is a tough one already and being able to come up with modifications in teaching skills and experience will ensure that the child is able to learn accurately. This will ultimately help in bridging the learning gap that others, including their parents may not be able to. It is very important that schools equip their teachers and other educators with the skills required to be able to identify students with learning disabilities.
It is established in a research that there are several strategies that can be employed in order to identify students with learning disabilities. Some of the strategies identified include problems in assimilation of new skills and overreliance on cramming, difficulties in understanding lessons relating to time, problems recalling actual facts, mixing up simple words, limited and slow coordination, and susceptible to accidents due to lack of awareness of surroundings, problems with phonetics, obvious errors in simple spelling and reading, coordination and planning difficulties, acting on impulse, mixing up number sequences and mathematical signs.
There is a need for teacher’s to be aware of the presence of student’s with disabilities in the classroom. Kafonogo and Bali (2013) used questionnaires, observation, interview and literature review gather as a means to establish whether or not the teacher were aware if one of their students is learning impaired. The case study included the participation of 100 learners and 100 teachers in the Kigoma region of Tanzania. It was established that about 15% of classroom students manifested one form of learning disability. It was also found that the teachers used methods such as observation, parental reports and academic progress to identify children with learning disabilities. However, the study showed that these methods were not sufficient to readily identify students with learning disabilities.
As a means to help teachers identify students who are learning impaired, various health and education scholars agreed on coming up with guidelines to identify students with learning disabilities. It was pointed out, however, that the determination of students with learning disabilities “cannot be made using a single criterion” (Bresko, 2014). Accordingly, experts suggested that regardless of the methods used to identify learning disabilities, three of the criteria presented below must be met:
a. Underachievement- this means that the learner does not achieve as adequately with children of his or her age. For instance, the observer may notice that the learner lag behind in terms of oral and written expression, listening comprehension, basic reading and simple mathematical calculation.
b. Existence of Appropriate Instruction-It must be determined that the underachievement of the child is not due to other factors such as the lack of appropriate instruction. Accordingly, a repeated and valid series of assessments must be conducted to gauge the learning development of the child.
c. Observation- The child should be observed during his or her exposure in the learning environment to determine the academic performance and behavior in the area of difficulty (Bresko, 2014). However, it should also be established that the learning disability of the child is not due to physical incapacity, economic disadvantage or the limited ability to express himself in the English language.
Billy was a regular student like every other student in the fifth grade class of the Fairview Memorial College except that he had been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). His parents had panicked that he would be treated obviously differently and considered taking him to a school for children with special needs. However, they felt that he might only get worse there and so decided to send him to a regular school believing he could cope. They explained the situation to the school authorities and pleaded that the school take special care when it came to Billy. In a one-on-one meeting, which the principal organized by Billy’s parents, he explained to them that trying to remedy the situation by not treating him differently would only make matters worse.
He made them understand that in order to approach Billy’s learning disorder needs, the school and teachers would need to treat him differently not solely for the reason of wanting him to fit in, but more importantly to identify the best learning methods for him and how to integrate him with the flow of the class. This will enable him to not lag behind, which might make him feel worse and ultimately cause him to start failing and lose interest in learning altogether.
Reforms for special education
The challenge in teaching student’s with learning disabilities is that while teachers are trained to work in a diverse classroom setting, their teaching certificate often restricts them to work as a special education teacher (Blanton et al, 2010). The needed reforms, as implied by Blanton et al (2010), is that teachers should have an adequate preparation to cater to the needs of all students, and that includes the learners with disabilities, who have the right to be integrated into the general education classrooms. It is important for the teacher to recognize that “teacher professionalism includes an ethic of persistence and belief in the learning capacity of every student in the classroom (Blanton et al, 2010).
Role of teachers and teaching methodologies
Moreover, teachers should plan the needed course of action based on the learning profiles of the students. It is appropriate to consult with parents as they play an important role in the overall development of the child. In addition to that, teachers can also Consult with colleagues and other school teams who can provide valuable “strategies and supports that might be more effective and alert the teacher to other considerations that might impact learning” (Ministry, 2011).
Adjustments of Instructions and Curriculum
In order to record success for students who have learning disabilities, it is necessary for the teacher, through several support structures which the school must provide focus on individual achievement, progress and learning. This will need detailed direct, individualized and intensive instructions and strategies for students who might be struggling with the learning process.
Over 6 million disabled students with learning disabilities are being enrolled in public schools and these numbers keep increasing as more students with learning disabilities are being included in a normaclassroom settingng. Schools and teachers play a uniquely important role in educating special needs students. It is a generally known fact that students with various abilities and of various backgrounds seek inclusive classrooms that respect their individual needs. Like the students with special needs and special learning challenges, the regular classroom setting may pose some challenges that require careful accommodation and consideration.
Conclusion
The reviews of different studies show that there are successful strategies which can be employed by an instructor to impart students who experience learning disability and it is central to execute any of them for the intended achievements. It is established that achievement regarding scholar who has learning disability demands an emphasis on the achievement, progress, and learning of an individual and it is possible when particular, focused, customized, concentrated corrective directives are taken for a particular scholar who is struggling. It is not mandatory whether a scholar, having a learning disability is engaged in the common academic classroom or gaining knowledge in a particular educational setup, the need is to emphasize on activities which assess scholar to observe his or her achievement across the program. There are currently little or no adaptations when it comes to specific individual features of students with learning disabilities. It appears that including adaptations as an afterthought is highly ineffective. Further studies should be done to determine how the classroom setting can be adapted to suit the special neediest students and make learning easier and more fun.
Moreover, this research work helped in identifying some other strategies which teachers could use when dealing with students that have learning disabilities and they are to employ thematic teaching techniques to allow for integration of ideas and other connections. Consider that the presentation should be quick and lively, use pictures, diagrams, gestures and high interest materials, ask open-ended questions that require reasoning, and which stimulate critical thinking. Moreover, a discussion in a way that every student feels like a part of the class, reduce teacher talk time and strive to increase student responses in an effective manner. Additionally, structure the lesson so that it can be done in pairs or small groups for maximum student involvement and attention.
References
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