THERE IS A BETTER WAY TO TEACH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING

DISABILITIES
Written by Jo Boaler and Tanya LaMar
(TIME, February 28, 2019)

CRITICAL REVIEW
By: Lina María Conde Cárdenas

Interest for human brain development has been an unsettled discussion between the different
researchers related to, as the scientific community, psychologists, educators, and some
worried parents. Jo Boaler and Tanya La Mar, expose in this article, the importance of
working beyond the establishments for many years in the education field in favor of learners
who are wrongly labeled in the school system.
Although in the article did not mention more authors than Norman Doidge, and some of the
links contained publicity, (reducing the credibility and reading rhythm) others instead, take
to the on line readers to other different studies related with the topic as in Cognitive tutoring
induces widespread neuroplasticity and remediates brain function in children with
mathematical learning disabilities (Luculano, T., Rosenberg -Lee, M., Richardson, J) that
goes into details on Mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) and some brain´s functions
that are involved in it. Disabilities in mathematics are part of the competencies with minor
success between students and the teaching practices in class make part of these findings.
The introduction encourages interest in the article for any kind of reader, thanks to the
language is easy to understand even with the scientific information. In addition to this, the
article is an invitation to researchers for proposing new learning alternatives based on the
brain´s ability to re-organize itself daily and create new brain pathways. Moreover, when it
speaks about what the scientists know over the brain pathways now, the expectations for
parents and educators increase.
To support this idea, Jo Boaler, and Lamar, present an example of how children with
mathematic disabilities with enough motivation and careful teaching can reach higher
achievements. It would be necessary to know results from other studies with different ranges
of age not only with younger children but also with young people and adults with these
characteristics. In this case the article would need to add more information about it.
As a teacher is possible to think, that to conduct an education focused on the inherent
characteristics of each learner is something that the Colombian Educational System is
working on but, yet the lack of resources summed to negligence, corruption and old fashioned
procedures and teaching practices make of this process something very slow. It is also
important to identify the practices carried out by teachers in the different areas to be
strengthened and to develop capacities for decreasing the weaknesses of their students.
In conclusion, it cannot be ignored that it is a topic with a high range of discussion and gives
rise to new ideas, opening the possibility to think about how the educational system has been
thought of and designed for.
That is why the article is relevant and invites to different readers who can create their own
opinions about the better way to front the learning disabilities.

Keywords: learning disabilities, math person, labels, brain pathways, mindset.

References
Lambert R., Tan P. (2017). “Conceptualizations of Students with and without Disabilities as
Mathematical Problem Solvers in Educational Research: A Critical Review