Republic of the Philippines

ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

Maigao Campus
Miagao, Iloilo

ED 6: Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education

Unit 6 lesson 2: Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities

Jhun Cris Nares

BEED II - B

Learning Disabilities

 Primarily described as deficits in academic achievement (reading, writing

and mathematics) and/or (listening or speaking)
 Have significant problems in other areas, such as social interactions and
emotional maturity, attention and hyperactivity, memory, cognition,
metacognition, motor skills, and perceptual activities.
 Presumed to be a central nervous system dysfunction, characteristics can
be manifested throughout the life span – early childhood through adult.

Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities

1. Academic deficits
- The academic problems that identify a learning disability fall into areas
of reading, math, and written expression.

Dyslexia – a child with severe deficits in reading.

Dyscalculia – a disability in math.
Dysgraphia – a learning disability in writing.
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
Maigao Campus
Miagao, Iloilo

2. Language Deficits
- Language deficits are found in areas of oral expression (expressive
language) and listening comprehension (receptive language).

Auditory Processing Deficits – a child with disability in listening.

3. Social-Emotional Problems
- Social skills deficits of children with LD include resolving conflict,
managing frustrations, initiating or joining a conversation or play
activities, listening, demonstrating empathy, maintaining a friendship,
and working groups.

4. Attention Deficits and Hyperactivity

- Attention is a critical skill in learning.
- Conte (1991) suggest that to be effective learners, children must be
able to initiate attention, direct their attention appropriately, sustain
their attention according to the task demands and shift attention when
appropriate.

5. Memory Deficits
- Students with LD have deficits in short-term memory, working memory,
and long-term memory (Hallahan et al., 2005)

6. Cognition Deficits
- Cognition refers to the ability to reason or think (Hallahan et al., 2005)
- Students with problems in this area may make poor decision or
frequent errors.
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
Maigao Campus
Miagao, Iloilo

7. Metacognition Deficits
- Metacognition as ‘thinking about thinking” – Hallahan and Colleagues,
2005.
- Students with problems in this area might have difficulty focusing on
listening, purposely remembering important information, connecting
that information to prior knowledge, making sense out of the new
information, and using what they know to solve a problem.

8. Perceptual Differences
- Perceptual disorders affect the ability to recognize stimuli being
received through sight, hearing, or touch and to discriminate between
and interpret the sensations appropriately.

9. Motor Skill and Coordination Problems

- This area has been de-emphasized in identification of an intervention
for children with LD. It is common for children to display problems in
gross motor areas and fine – motor deficits.

Nonverbal Learning Disability – students with this disability are reported to

have unique pattern of strengths; they talk early, talk a lot, and have good
vocabulary, and memory for detail.
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
Maigao Campus
Miagao, Iloilo

ASSESMENT

ED 6: Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education

Unit 6 lesson 2: Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities

1. It is a deficits in academic achievement.

a. Learning Disabilities
b. Learning Impairments
c. Learning Difficulties
2. Whish is not an example of academic deficits?
a. Dyslexia
b. Dyscalculia
c. Dysmenorrhea
3. It is a deficits which are found in areas of oral expression and listening
comprehension.
a. Language Deficits
b. Memory Deficits
c. Cognition Deficits
4. It talks about the deficits in short-term memory, working memory and long
term memory?
a. Metacognition Deficits
b. Memory Deficits
c. Cognition Deficits
5. It affects the ability to recognize stimuli being received through sight,
hearing, and touch.
a. Perceptual Differences
b. Coordination Problem
c. Attention Deficits
 Republic of the Philippines
ILOILO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
Maigao Campus
Miagao, Iloilo
6. It de-emphasized in identification of an intervention for children with
learning disabilities.
a. Motor Skills
b. Metacognition Deficits
c. Cognition Deficits

7-15 : Enumerate all the characteristics of learning disabilities.

Prepared by:

Jhun Cris Nares

BEED II-B