Understanding Learning Difficulties Characteristics of Students with Learning

Understanding Learning Difficulties

Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities General Academic Disorders of attention Inefficient learning strategies distractibility hyperactivity perseveration Reading difficulties Possible difficulties with spatial orientation time concepts directions manual dexterity social perceptions organization memory perception decoding comprehension Mathematics difficulties basic skills quantitative thinking Written or oral language difficulties spelling grammar ideation handwriting copying/note taking vocabulary listening speaking 2

What is a Learning Disability? A person with a learning disability has difficulty taking in, remembering, or expressing information. The learning process can be divided into 5 steps: 1. Take in information through the senses. 2. Figure out what it means. 3. File it into memory. 4. Later, withdraw it from memory and “remember” it. 5. Feed it back to the outside world through some form of expression –speech, writing, action. (Duncan, 1983). Thus, for someone without a learning disability the learning process typically follows this path: INFORMATION taking it in MEMORY decoding then filing to memory EXPRESSION giving feedback through expression For someone with a learning disability there is a breakdown somewhere in these steps. It’s like having a short circuit in the central nervous system. Learning or recalling information can become an overwhelming task. 3