Learning Disabilities

Definition

Learning disabilities result from impairments in one or more processes related to perceiving, thinking, remembering or learning. These include, but are not limited to: language processing, phonological processing, visual spatial processing, processing speed, memory and attention, and executive functions (e.g. planning and decision-making).

Learning disabilities range in severity and may interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following:

Oral language (e.g., listening, speaking, understanding)
Reading (e.g., decoding, phonetic knowledge, word recognition, comprehension)
Written language (e.g., spelling and written expression)
Mathematics (e.g., computation, problem solving)

Symptoms and Assessment

Students with learning disabilities demonstrate at least average ability. On an individual assessment of cognitive ability or on a norm referenced achievement instrument that measures reading comprehension, written expression, or problem solving in mathematics, students will score at or above one standard deviation below the norm.

Despite this average ability, students with learning disabilities often experience difficulties in the acquisition of basic academic skills and/or in school performance and are characterized by unexpected academic under-achievement or achievement that is maintained only by unusually high levels of effort and support.

The severity of these academic difficulties is such that students demonstrate:

persistent difficulties in the acquisition of pre-academic skills such as recognition of letters and numbers in the early primary years; and/or
persistent difficulties in the acquisition of reading, writing and/or numeracy.

The assessment of a student with a learning disability should integrate information from a number of sources, for example:

information from the family about health, social-emotional adjustment, developmental history;
overall intellectual functioning, specific cognitive abilities, socio-emotional status;
pre-academic or academic skills; and
learning strengths and weaknesses, and their implications.

Strategies and Planning

Students with learning disabilities require an educational plan that builds on their strengths while remediating and compensating for their disabilities. Research suggests two main approaches for supporting students with learning disabilities:

intense direct instruction; and
instruction in learning and compensatory strategies.

This instruction may take place in regular classrooms, but this does not preclude the use of different learning environments such as small group instruction in a resource room, self-contained classes or other specialized settings. The goal of the placement should be to meet the students' educational needs.

Some ways to support students with learning disabilities could include, but are not limited to the following:

direct remedial, corrective, tutorial or skill-building instruction;
adapted, modified or supplementary curriculum and materials;
alternate instructional and/or evaluation strategies, including adjudicated provincial examinations;
use of equipment, including computer and audiovisual technology;
social skills training;
instruction and practice of self advocacy skills; and
learning strategies instruction.

My Education, My Profession

by Marian Minar