Middle School Mathematics Teachers, Essay Example

Thesis Statement: Although learning disabilities is a group of disorders connected with academic and functional skills, it is not a sign of low intelligence.

In general, learning disabilities include a wide range of disorders that affect a person’s ability to speak, read, write, spell, reason, listen, do math and organize information. But it doesn’t mean that a person with learning disabilities is “stupid” or “dumb”, the cause is just that the brain of such a person processes information differently than that of other people. The researches show that the child with learning disabilities may have an average or above-average intelligence, and may attend school, but such a child will need special attention from teachers and from parents.

Although, children with learning disabilities (LD) can be included in normal classes and can study together with other kids, the education of such children requires special preparation of teachers. In their article DeSimone and Parmar (2006) presented the results of their research conducted among middle school mathematics teachers. These results showed that teachers have little understanding of special needs required by pupils with LD, and that ordinary teachers’ education programs don’t give enough insight and preparation for teachers to communicate with and educate children with LD.

Still, it seems to me that even though education of children with LD requires more time, patience and insight from teachers, there are quite a lot of possibilities for them to communicate effectively with these kids and to achieve necessary educational results. The simple removal of kids with LD from the general education curriculum is not a solution to the problem. As the results in such a case these kids are also removed from the communication and integration with their peers, which causes a lot of mental and psychological problems for them and forces these children to continually reestablish themselves as members of the mainstream (McIntosh et al., 1993).  Therefore I think that it is a direct responsibility of teachers to learn how to deal with pupils who have LD, providing them with greater attention, but at the same time preventing them from feeling “different” or “not normal”.

First of all, it is all about the attitude. Teachers must provide their LD pupils with constant positive feedback, giving them more time and opportunities to practice their skills, more time to complete homework, schoolwork and tests. Secondly, technology should be used to help kids with LD complete their studies. For example, students with reading problems can use textbooks-on-tape; students with listening difficulties can use recorders to tape lectures; students with writing difficulties should be allowed to use a computer with specialized software that spell checks, grammar checks or recognizes speech, and so on. Additionally, pupils with LD require some classroom adjustments, such as special seating adjustments, quiet environment, modified testing procedures, alternative assignments, etc.

The research conducted by Cusimano (2001) showed that the emphasis in the education of children with LD should be placed on the development of specific learning skills as well as the general study and basic skills. Such learning skills include visual memory and visual perception, auditory memory and auditory perception. Most learning disabled kids have problems with attention, listening and recall, and so learning of auditory memory skills will help them to be able to learn and study with ease.

So a conclusion may be drawn that as it was presented in the article of DeSimone and Parmar (2006) teachers should have special preparation to deal with LD students. But nevertheless LD children should be by no means seen as not “normal” and mustn’t be isolated from other kids. It is the responsibility of their parents and teachers to make an education for them as much accessible and easy as possible.

References

DeSimone, J. R., & Parmar, R. S. (2006). Middle School Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs about Inclusion of Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 21 (2), 98-110.

McIntosh, R., Vaughn S., Schumm, J. S. (1993). Observations of Students with Learning Disabilities in General Educational Classrooms. Exceptional Children, vol. 60.

Cusimano, A. (2001). Learning Disabilities: There is a Cure. Lansdale, PA: Achieve Publications.

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