Activity 2.3 Misunderstood Minds

Misunderstood Minds has provided an effective and important reality of the challenges many students with learning disabilities endure. Being a person with ADD and auditory processing disorder, I found myself quickly shutting down and giving up on some of these activities because I already experience many of these everyday challenges.

Attention
Experience Firsthand
The attention video provides a glimpse of the social challenges students face when identified with learning disabilities. The boy who would go into the trashcan for his own excitement relates to the struggle of positive, social behavior. He stated that he was known for playing in the trashcans; thus, building a self-perception based on his need for hyperactivity, but in an inappropriate manner.

For the visual activity, for instance, I only read the first sentence and did not retain any of the content. After putting my best effort into the auditory portion of the “Experience Firsthand,” I again became easily frustrated and could not comprehend the directions from the teacher. In addition to the auditory clip being a glimpse for persons without a learning disability, my own auditory processing disorder made this activity more of a challenge.

In addition, I recall the auditory portions of Spanish tests during high school, and regularly failing these portions of the tests. My auditory processing disorder and ADD make it hard to focus and process the information being heard. Thus, I did not demonstrate my knowledge of the content, due to my inability of processing the information heard. This activity also correlates with the emotional challenges persons with learning disabilities face because I easily became overwhelmed and frustrated by my failing attempts. My failed attempts have induced much frustration in my learning experience, which has led to a fear of success and self-esteem. Namely, I have named my successes to the people who constantly support me (i.e., family, boy friend, principal, god mother, fellow colleagues, professors, and teachers). Over the years, I have used the strategies taught, and daily employ techniques to better serve the needs of my students.

Basics
Paying attention is the brain’s ability to filter the stimuli around us by sorting, organizing, prioritizing, and categorizing information. The ability to focus is a chronic problem for persons with ADHD. When I was in high school, I didn’t realize that I was missing portions of notes in my notebooks because I would be thinking about something else, or distracted by all of the stimuli, for long periods of time. As I have been identified with the inattentive and impulsivity characteristics of ADD, I do not exhibit hyperactivity. There is one student in my classroom who is very hyperactive and inattentive to instruction or on-task activities. I am aware of his behavioral characteristics, but am also aware of his age and developmental stage of learning, which is below grade level. Thus, I do not expect him to remain seated as long as his peers, but set goals for him to reinforce appropriate behaviors to help manage the behavioral challenges.

Difficulties
When reading about the “mental energy” of someone with a learning disability, I found the sleep and arousal balance and performance consistency very relateable to a student in my class. The mother says that her daughter receives at least eight hours of sleep, but she struggles to control the ability to sleep well enough at night. Thus, she is tired in class and has trouble getting up in the morning. Her performance is also inconsistent, where she concentrates and performs well at times, and does not concentrate and perform well at other times.

Responses
Many of the strategies provided are currently implemented within the classroom routine, procedures, and management. My students are learning how to efficiently and correctly complete tasks; thus, by providing short breaks, using buddies or small group leaders to jump-start activities, preparing students before asking them to respond, using maps and graphs, building listening skills and strategies, and more, are some of the strategies I use everyday for my students. I believe that self-grading might be too advanced for first grade students, but I do have them complete checklists to stress the importance of my expectations for them.

Reading
Experience Firsthand
As a first grade teacher, I instruct, model and guide my students towards ways of recalling, remembering, and understanding what was read. Phonemes are learned and practiced throughout the school year, and language skills are imperative for an effective reading experience. I teach these skills and strategies to my students so that they can become more effective and comprehensive readers. However, when I was growing up, I had trouble recalling or remembering what I read. I did not employ the strategies I learned for reading, and my comprehension and retention continued to fail.

Basics
Reading an important component of the first grade curriculum. By the end of the school year, they are expected to decode, comprehend, and retain what has been read. Fortunately, I demonstrate many of the strategies discussed in the last section. Last year, I had a student with a speech impediment, which led to low decoding skills, and little progress in reading skills. This speech impediment also linked with emotional and social challenges. During small group or buddy activities, he rarely spoke because he struggled to recognize the appropriate sounds of words. I recommended a speech pathologist, which resulted with a comprehensive and enjoyable reading experience. His social and emotional challenges continued to diminish because he mastered the sounds of letters and words.

Difficulties
The video of the student having trouble with retaining and recalling the information truly demonstrates what many students with learning disabilities struggle with. Key signs of reading difficulty for students with learning disabilities are trouble with: sounds and letters, understanding what was read, and remembering or understanding what was read. It is important for teachers to teach reading strategies to all students to help raise their reading levels.

Responses
In addition to the responses from the “Attention” section, encouraging the student to join a reading organization, and seek assistance from other professional organizations and support groups, strategies should be used in the classroom and at home. Building self-esteem is imperative for students with reading problems, and providing illustrations or additional materials should be used, if necessary. In the end, the teacher must model in various ways about the joy and many purposes of reading!

Writing
Experience Firsthand
“Making Writing Automatic” video provides a glimpse of the challenges students have with writing. The boy struggled to remember the grammar and logical sequence of writing, which is a process that many students master. The other boy who does not write notes quick enough is a common example of my learning problems in the classroom. Providing notes for the boy or an outline for him could help accommodate this learning problem.

Basics
There are many stages of writing development, and I find the sequential ordering of letters and numbers as very important. I use white boards and paper letters for the students to blend, segment, and decode words and their phonemes. Using a whiteboard is a fun tool for my students because they can work on their penmanship as they connect sounds of letters and form words.

Difficulties
There are many neurodevelopmental problems that impact the writing process, but an important component that I, as a teacher, must note is to use a writing portfolio to monitor progress of their work over time. This helps to identify the problems and develop strategies to ensure appropriate and individualized progress. I use a monthly writing journal for my students to evaluate their work in a consecutive and comprehensive manner. Following my observations and assessment of writing journals, I develop appropriate instructional strategies.

Responses
I find the responses for supporting students with writing problems to use the responses exemplified in the “Responses” reading and attention sections above. Emphasizing the feeling of empathy towards these students shares and reassures them, and further helping their anxiety of feelings of discouragement. Time is another important component that is realistic to the needs of the child. If time cannot be extended, then the writing length should be shortened.

Mathematics
Experience Firsthand
The multi-step problems and spatial activity require much more than simple arithmetic. Rather, the mathematics facts became very complicated because it requires more learning strategies and skills. Mathematics is very abstract, and the activities given demonstrate the process to higher levels of thinking, and struggle to recall, focus, or connect the concepts being built on one another.

Basics
Since mathematics has many rules, recalling the rules necessary to progress in math is vital. To solve problems both factually and procedurally, memory is required. I differentiate instructional methods and use more than one mode for mathematics lessons because it helps provide a meaningful learning experience for my students.

Difficulties
My current first grade class has many difficulties understanding many mathematical concepts. The mastery of number facts to 20 (addition and subtraction) is required of all students by the end of first grade. The students who have mastered this requirement does not always reflect their knowledge of connecting these numbers with actual quantities, objects, picture representations, or real world contexts. Also, since many of my students speak English as their second language, the vocabulary of math is confusing and not understood with the values or definitions in specific problems.

Responses
The strategies for mathematics are very similar to the strategies explained in the previous sections. I found the use of mnemonic strategies for solving word problems, such as TIPS: Think (read), Information (what do you need to solve), Problem (write equation), Solve. I instruct and model this strategy, but without the mnemonic. What a wonderful way for my students to remember it!