Learning disabilities are a group of disabilities that can affect a person’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information. These difficulties cannot be explained by health, culture, or environmental factors. There are many students in schools with these leaning disabilities in both the academic and non-academic settings that are getting overlooked. The students that are most commonly being overlooked are those that suffer from Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NVLD). In 1967, Helmer Rudolf Mykleburst and Doris Johnson, researchers on learning disabilities, were referred to a residential group of children who did not have verbal language problems but had a range of symptoms that interfered with the everyday school functions …show more content…
The right hemisphere has a greater capacity for handling complex visual perceptual information between different regions of the brain and better process new information (Sands and Schwartz). Byron Rourke, a leading investigator in the disabilities has proposed that NVLD involves a destruction or disfunction of the white matter that is in the brain. Damage to the right hemisphere can result in complex syndromes. This includes attentional disorders, visual-perceptual disorders, affective and emotional difficulties; things that are often present in a child with Nonverbal Learning Disabilities. These neuropsychologial deficits contain the children’s capacity to function in the academic, social, emotional to vocational domain. The brain dysfunctions affect the children’s behaviors, social interactions, feels about themselves and others, and the emerging personality patterns …show more content…
Both of the disabilities are neuro-developmental abnormalities involving functions of the right cerebral hemisphere (NLD Ontario). There is overlapping between the two, this includes physical awkwardness, social intrusiveness, and social isolation. Studies that have been conducted by the Yale Child Study Group have suggested that up to eighty-percent of children who meet the criteria for Aspergers also have NVLD. No studies have been done in the other direction, but it is likely that it is the same. Both have no delays in cognitive development and speech. Early verbal ability is one of the sign of Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, they are extremely verbal and early readers. 20 out of 21 similarities including a verbal over spatial discrepancy. The largest problem in both disorders are social relationships, where they are often misunderstood and accused of rudeness, laziness, lack of acting, and having a poor attitude. Although there are these similarities between the two, they are different. Both syndrome have unique characteristics, but both have great
First, the teacher needs to know what symptoms to be aware of, and then discuss with parents the best course of action. In the case of dyslexia, a child would benefit from slowing down, more time given “These children require more intensive instruction of longer duration of the kind provided in the third tier of RTI models” (Tunmer and Greaney pg 239) and more one on one instruction. In slowing down the child has more time to listen, prepare them, and use reading methods that work for them. Children with dyslexia have the chance to excel when they can listen to books on tape while following along and also if given the opportunity to type their work on a keyboard. Providing the child with larger print and in some instances a customized assignment with familiar words would help the child. “Speaking is natural, and reading is not. Reading is an invention and must be learned at a conscious level.” (Shaywitz pg 99) Giving the child ample reading time will improve their abilities. If a child has math anxiety because of dyscalculia they may benefit from learning to finger count, using manipulatives and hands on math problems. Make sure the child understands one concept before moving on to the next step, possibly be verbalizing what they know, and allow them the time they need to finish assignments. As a teacher you can help the
Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, by Dillenburger, K., and Keenan M., published in 2009, summarized Nov 19, 2009
2. People with autism have problems with abstract and conceptual thinking. Some may eventually acquire abstract skills, but others never will. When abstract concepts must be used, use visual cues, such as drawings or written words, to augment the abstract idea. Avoid asking vague questions such as, "Why did you do that?" Instead, say, "I did not like it when you slammed your book down when I said it was time for gym. Next time put the book down gently, and tell me that you are angry. Were you showing me that you did not want to go to gym, or that you did not want to stop reading?" Avoid asking essay-type questions. Be as concrete as possible in all your interactions with these students.
Eleven-year-old Anna is outgoing and bright. She attempts to work hard, but her progress in school has always been slow. She is a year behind her peers, particularly in her English class and her teachers have slowly begun to reduce their expectations of her. Her parents are worried because her confidence for learning is decreasing, and there is less motivation for her to do homework and class assignments. A psychologist found that her intelligence is in the gifted range, but she has difficulty in making out written symbols. It is easy to make the assumption that Anna seems merely as a child who is slow intellectually, but when taking a closer look, it shows that she is just as intelligent but happens to suffer from a learning disorder. Students with learning disorders have brain impairments that make it difficult for them to acquire skills and knowledge accurately and fast enough to keep pace with average academic progress (Encarta, 2003, p.1). The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the causes of learning disorders, various types of disabilities, their causes, and finally how in today’s modern era assistive technology is able to reduce the frustration of students and increase their level of performance.
The National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (1998) have defined learning disabilities as a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical skills (IJCP, 2013). Learning is acquisition of new knowledge, skills or attitude. Children during their early years of development learn to understand the spoken language first and then learn to speak. Subsequently during the school years learn to read, write and do arithmetic according to their age and intellectual capacity. But some children may not be able to learn one or more of these skills as per their age and intellectual capacity (Dr.Shah & Dr. Bhat, 2007).
The classroom is a diverse place where learners from all different genres of life meet. Included in these learners are those that display learning disabilities. According to the British Columbia School Superintendent’s Association, ‘learning disabilities refer to a number of conditions that might affect the acquisition, organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or nonverbal information. These disorders affect learning in individuals who otherwise demonstrate at least average abilities essential for thinking and/or reasoning’. They also posit that ‘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,
Most education centers focus on speaking, listening, writing, and logic making right brain learners struggle more excessively in the classroom. Right brain learners excel more in a classroom when the lesson involves images, colors, emotions, and/or the lesson is being taught through a story. Putting a child in curriculum that is friendly to the brain will and does make all the difference. However, most children can learn to accept and learn will in left brain curriculum with little to no struggle. Except, it is believed that children who learn slower or have a learning disability are more likely to be right brain learners. Knowing this, teachers can tweak teaching strategies to get all children learning to their best abilities (Right Brain vs. Left Brain). There are definitely compelling ideas relating to right-brain versus left-brain study however we have unveiled reason to be suspicious
Who would have thought as a physician there’s so many ways to communicate with your patients and their families? After having so many years in medical school most people would like to think that it’s common sense when speaking to a patient, patient’s family, coworkers and even supervisors. Sadly, many fail to realize that being in medical school doesn’t mean you also obtain the correct social skills when telling a patient’s family that he or she is dead. Communicating with patients are key to solving unexplainable causes when the data cannot prove it. Talking to the patient, learning where they have been, what’s been going in their body, and how they feel are important for patient care and can even help diagnose that patient. In the medical
Communication is key. The study of communication is far more complex and deeper than just the function of conversation. Communication takes many forms varying from spoken and written words, to the commonly overlooked nonverbal cues. In life, every person will communicate differently. Effective leaders, however, must learn to perfect these different forms of communication and be able to apply them in the appropriate situations. The success of a leader is reliant on their ability to communicate as a whole. The intent and concentration of this paper is to show how the importance of nonverbal communication affects the credibility and success of a leader.
"I'm just starting my sophomore year in college.... I first knew I had a learning disability when I was in first grade. A learning disability is like any other disability, but in this case it's the learning process that is disturbed. There is something that's stopping me from learning in the average way. I know it's not that I can't learn. I can, but I learn differently and it's often much harder for me....
You show that you care about who they are as individuals, and you want them to flourish in your classroom. I can apply both articles to my education class because they show me how to run my own classroom. Concordia College is preparing me to be able to teach a classroom of young students on my own. Articles one and two have taught me that when planning my way of teaching I must be aware of how important social-emotional development can be. Brock L. Eide and Fernette F. Eide (2006) support my belief in saying, “It requires completely assessing the physical, medical, neurological, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, educational, and psychological aspects of the child’s development, to see where breakdowns in the child’s attentional or behavioral control mechanisms are occurring.”(pg.46-59) While there are many activities a consultant can show a teacher to use to help promote awareness of emotions, there are many simple ways to do it on your own, such as having the children work in groups. By having the children work in groups or simply with a partner, they are improving social skills and learning how to control their emotions around others. Although no one can avoid having students who will struggle greatly with social-emotional development, it is our responsibility to know how to handle these students. The success
Communication is very crucial in life, especially in education. Whether it be delivering a message or receiving information, without the ability to communicate learning can be extremely difficult. Students with speech and language disorders may have “trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say” (Turkington, p10, 2003) Each of these problems can create major setbacks in the classroom. Articulation, expression and reception are all essential components for communication. If a student has an issue with articulation, they most likely then have difficulty speaking clearly and at a normal rate (Turkington, 2003). When they produce words, they may omit, substitute, or even distort sounds, hindering their ability to talk. Students who lack in ways of expression have problems explaining what they are thinking and feeling because they do not understand certain parts of language. As with all types of learning disabilities, the severity can range. Two extreme cases of expression disorders are dysphasia and aphasia, in which there is partial to no communication at all (Greene, 435, 2002). Individuals can also have a receptive disorder, in which they do not fully comprehend and understand information that is being given to them. They can experience problems making sense of things. “Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning” (National Institutes of Health, 1993, p1). Whether children have difficulty articulating speech, expressing words, receiving information, or a combination of the three, there is no doubt that the tasks given to them in school cause frustration. These children experience anxiety when...
Therapy at home is just a beginning and other methods should be used at school and with a counselor. The mother will be taught to teach her son modeling behavior. When the son becomes anxious, the mother should remain calm. Reminding the child he has survived these scenarios before, and providing the mother with relaxation tips that she can use with Ben when he is feeling anxious. Encouraging the child to participate in activities outside and praising him often. The mother can also read books to Ben that describe different range of emotions and explain what each emotion feels like and explain they are normal emotions. Teaching Ben to talk about these emotions can be an effective strategy, however there are other interventions that will be taken effect in order to ensure that it is working. At school the teachers will be implementing interventions as well. At first, the student can begin attending school with shorter days, and increase gradually. Provide the student with a safe place and a person, in case he begins to feel anxious. Teaching Ben relaxation techniques to help him deal with his anxiety.
Nonverbal communication is communicating with other people without using any words whether they are written or spoken words (Ruesch & Kees, 1956). Anything nonverbal we do such as eye contact, facial expressions, touching, gestures, body movements, posture, general appearance and dress, our voice tone and smell send strong messages; it doesn’t matter if we were speaking or if we were being completely silent (Segal, Smith, Boose, Jaffe, n. d., para. 2). Usually when you are talking to a person, the person uses all five senses to receive your interaction with him: 83% sight, 11% hearing, 3% smell, 2% touch and 1% taste (The Definitive Book of Body Language, 2004). As Mark Twain said, “Actions speak louder than words” and what that quote basically means is that your behavior and actions count more than the words you are saying. Nonverbal communication speaks more than the words you say so you can say whatever you want to say but it is the nonverbal things like your tone and facial expression that tells what you really mean. Nonverbal communication is important because it tells you what the words do not tell; feelings, mood etc. (Lynn, 2012).
Teaching requires a strong relationship between the teacher and students. Nonverbal communication is vital, if underestimated, in building this trust. Nonverbal communication is “all those elements of a communication which are not essentially linguistic in nature” (Smith, 1979, p. 637). Some aspects of nonverbal communication include eye contact, facial expression, gestures, touch, proximity, posture, vocal qualities, and artifacts (Smith, 1979; Johnson 1999). These all interact with verbal communication and have many meaning that can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. As such, it is up to the teacher to be sure that their intentions are clear.