Activity 2.3 Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities interfere with a student’s learning and understanding of his or her entire life. Challenges, such as behavior, social, and emotional, interfere with a student’s learning, and commonly overlap with academic difficulties. Many students with learning disabilities exhibit these challenges, and may engage in further poor self-concept or self-esteem.

According to http://www.smartkidswithld.org/, the different kinds of learning disabilities are dyslexia, nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and executive function disorder. Dyslexia—I recall a young lady coming to a teaching credential course at the University of San Diego with dyslexia. The professor had her come to discuss the challenges she faced and the way her brain would sort out the sounds heard in spoken language, and how that inhibited her writing, reading, math, and spelling skills. She shared school work, as she was a high school student, and the hardships she endured when trying to write a complex sentence or comprehend social studies content. Persons identified with NLD often exhibit socially awkward behaviors and do not conceptualize the main idea or “big picture.” Persons with NLD struggle to learn nonverbal skills, and have difficulties with manipulating and exchanging the nonverbal information. Persons with ADHD or ADD have difficulty paying attention and using the appropriate amount of time on the information. Being a person with ADD, I am easily distracted; have difficulty processing (or comprehending) information, and; have high anxiety, due to my inability to focus, recall information, or deliver my thoughts comprehensively. Persons with executive function disorder struggle to control and manage day-to-day skills, such as planning and organizing, regulating emotions, and setting goals. Some key symptoms are failing to control emotions during a daily task. For instance, the person may begin to cry and throw a tantrum when it’s time to clean their room.

Through my own experience, the experience of my students, and readings and materials about LD, I have learned how it impacts the person developmentally, cognitively, behaviorally, socially, academically, and/or emotionally. As no two persons are alike, their remains signs and symptoms to be aware of, and strategies to employ for all learners. A learning disability affects the academic experience, which correlates with the person’s emotional, behavioral, social, developmental and cognitive understandings. All persons want to be “normal,” and this form of identifying the disability only labels the disability and not the person. Teachers should emphasize that learning disabilities are not diseases, and there aren’t “cures” for them. Simply, persons with learning disabilities need interventions, strategies, supports, and an environment that strengthens the whole person.