Learning Disabilities

1. Major Areas

1.1. Reading Decoding Comprehension Math Computation Math Concepts and Applications Written Expression Spelling Writing - mechanics, organization, sentence structure, grammar

2. If decoding is labored – negatively affect comprehension Test to see if student understands orally Fluency and comprehension go hand in hand Labored fluency will negatively impact comprehension

3. Reading Decoding

3.1. Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness Rapid naming speed and auto-maticity Double deficit theory (deficits in both rapid naming and phonological awareness)

3.1.1. Rapid Naming Example

3.2. Reading Disability Myths

3.3. Core intervention in teaching children how to read is explicitly teaching sound/symbol rules and helping them to map the correct sound to the correct letter and sequence it correctly

3.3.1. Save these videos below for class

3.4. Phonemic and Phonological Awareness

3.4.1. More videos

3.4.1.1. More videos!!! Great for multi-sensory strategies

4. Comprehension

4.1. Other students can read perfectly, but can’t tell you anything about the passage - comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding

4.1.1. Accommodation examples - break passage up into smaller parts, ask guided questions throughout, use visuals and organizers, provide frames to help structure extended response type questions

5. Writing

5.1. Spelling/Reading Connection - If you have difficulty decoding – you will have difficulty spelling

5.2. Organization difficulties - Some students have great ideas – but can’t get them on paper

5.3. Executive functioning affects writing organization

5.4. Some spell fine, but organization is so poor and disjointed, that they can’t make sense of what they want to say

6. Math

6.1. Difficulties with precision and act of computation

6.2. Difficulty understanding real world representations of math problems

6.3. Difficulty remembering previously learned steps or concepts

7. Use of Direct Instruction Strategies to Explicitly Teach Skills (we will review these in class)

7.1. Curriculum structured around mastery learning

7.2. Sequenced, scripted teacher-led lessons

7.3. Small-group instruction (4–10 students)

7.4. Lessons presented in small steps and at rapid pace

7.5. Frequent teacher questioning and student response

7.6. Multi-Sensory Phonemic Awareness

7.7. Phonemic Awareness Multi-Sensory Strategies

7.8. Tapping out Phonemes

8. I see many students who had writing specific goals who had both LD and ADHD

9. Difficulty with sequencing multiple steps of a math problem

10. Difficulty solving word problems and application based problems - knowing what operation, identifying information, setting up problem to solve