Learning Disabilities, Research Paper Example

Learning disability is a problem that affects the ability of the brain to receive; process, analyze and even store the information. These problems usually make students have a difficult time to learn as quickly as someone who is not affected by learning disability. This problem is usually caused by unknown factors or factor. Learning disability is not an indication of intelligence level. A person with learning has trouble performing some specific types of tasks or skills if left to do them or figure them alone. There are several kinds of learning disabilities where most of those students affected can actually have more than one kind. Certain types of learning disabilities interfere with the ability of the person to focus or concentrate and usually causing the mind of someone to wander away. Other types of learning disabilities make it difficult for student to read, write or even spell a word. They are others who are even unable to solve simple math problems. There has never been cure for learning disability or even ways of fixing it. Despite that people with the learning disability can succeed in school or college and go on with life successfully (Rourke, 1989).

They are several types of learning disabilities which can be categorized depending on the type of information processing that is affected or even by specific difficulties that are caused by the processing deficit. These include information processing deficit which may fall at one of the four stages of processing information which include the input, integration, storage and output. During the input stage, the information is perceived through senses like the auditory perception or visual. Visual perception difficulties can cause problem when recognizing the position, size and shape of the seen items. Auditory perception difficulties make it difficult for one to screen out the sounds so as to focus on them like the sound of a teacher in class. Some children are unable to process the tactile input like being insensitive to pain.

Integration is another stage where the perceived input is interpreted, categorized and placed in sequence to be related to previous learning. Usually a student with difficulty in this area finds it hard to tell a story in correct sequence, he is also unable to memorize the information sequences like the days of the week. He is able to understand new concept but incapable to generalize it to other parts of learning. They are also able to learn the facts but they cannot be able to put those facts together to see it as a big picture. The third stage of information processing is where the learning difficult may occur is storage stage whereby the problem can be short term or even long term memory. Most of the problems here occur in the short term memory, which makes it difficult for one to learn new materials without many more repetitions. Visual memory difficulties can hinder learning to spell. Output is another stage of information processing where information comes from the brain through the words i.e. language output, through the activities of muscles like gesturing, drawing or even writing. Difficulties with the output of the language can generate hitch with the spoken language like answering a question when demanded whereby one must retrieve the information stored, organize the thoughts and put the thoughts into the words before speaking them.

Another type of learning difficulty is the specific learning disability. The learning difficulty information processing can be manifested in a number of ways. It is possible for a person to have more than one problem which is a condition usually referred to as co-occurrence or co-morbidity of the learning disability. Some of these specific learning disabilities are reading disability which is very common. It usually comprises of 70-80 percent of all students with learning disabilities. This reading disability can affect the any reading process which includes fluent and accurate recognition of words. Dyslexia is a term that is used to refer to reading disability. The ability to break the words into the component sounds and also difficulty of matching the combination of letters to precise sounds are general indicators of reading disability. Writing disorder is another type of deficit which includes impairments in spelling, ideas organization, handwriting and composition. Another type of disorder is math disorder which usually causes difficulties in the learning of the math concepts like the place value, the quantity and time, memorization of math facts difficulty, difficulty of organizing the numbers and even the difficult of knowing how the problems are organized on the page.

Nonverbal learning disability often manifest in the poor visual-spatial skills, motor clumsiness, math difficulty, poor organization skills and problematic social relationship. It has been noted that these individuals have specific strength in verbal domains like the early speech, early reading, large vocabulary, excellent rote memory, and eloquent self expression. Another specific type of learning difficulty is dyspraxia which is sometimes referred to as motor planning. It usually refers to variety of difficulties with the motor skills. Dyspraxia is usually associated with causing difficulty with single step tasks like combing hair or even waving goodbye, multi-step tasks like getting dressed or brushing teeth. It also causes difficulty with establishment of spatial relationships like being able to position one object accurately in relation to another. Disorder of listening and speaking that occur with the learning disabilities which include the memory difficulty, the executive functions and social skills. The last specific learning difficulty is auditory processing disorder which is mainly the difficulties of comprehending more than one task at a time.

Learning disability can be identified by clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists and school psychologists. This is mainly through a combination of academic achieving testing, intelligence testing, social interaction and aptitude and classroom performance. There are other areas of assessment that include cognition, attention, language abilities and perception. The information that results from all that assessment is used to determine whether the academic performance is corresponding with cognitive abilities (Lerner, 2000).

It is possible to intervene on this disability by making the person gain the important skills before moving to the next level or even by practicing very much. One may also be instructed directly through an intensive instruction which is highly structured. It is also important to correct the mistakes immediately they occur and assessing the progress frequently. It is also advisable to give out special equipment for learning like the word processors, talking calculators, computer, electronic spellers and dictation programs. In classroom, a person with learning difficulty can be assisted by being provided with various classroom adjustments like special seating assignments, quiet environment and even modified testing procedures.

They are various causes of this learning disability that include problems that may occur during the pregnancy and birth, heredity, environmental impacts like the poisons or toxins which can be exposed to young children or infants, poverty and accidents after birth. These are the likely causes of the learning disabilities in many children or even adults.

References

Lerner, W. (2000). Learning disabilities: theories, diagnosis, and teaching strategies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Rourke, B. (1989). Nonverbal learning disabilities: The syndrome and the model. New York: Guilford Press.