Life is not so much a“

matter of holding good

cards but of playing a poor
”hand well

Robert Louis Stevenson

How many teachers in this room have classified
learning
disabled students in their classrooms?

Raise your hand!

How many teachers in this room , whom in your

opinion, have non classified learning disabled
?students in their classrooms

Raise your other hand!

How many teachers in this room have classified
or non classified learning disabled students in
their classrooms who are being given remedial
?intervention in school

Lower one finger!

How many teachers in this room have classified

or non classified learning disabled students in
their classrooms who are being given remedial
?intervention after school

Lower one finger!

How many teachers in this room find
?this scenario familiar
First they push the parents to do a
.diagnostic test
!Then they say……Oh, he/she is diagnosed
Discussion ends…cause he/she is
.diagnosed
The discussion shouldn’t end…it should
!start
 A learning disability interferes with someone’s
ability to store, process or produce information

Such disabilities affect both children and

adults

Its not always immediately obvious that a

person has a learning disability

They can be quite subtle and go

undetected throughout life
 For the students we see in our classrooms,
learning disabilities create a gap between a
students true capacity and his or her day to day
performance

The most straightforward indication is academic

failure or underachievement by someone who
seems capable of more

Levine 1984
 While they will always have a learning disability,
they can be taught strategies to compensate. We,
as classroom teachers, can help in this process
 Five Areas of Agreement
The learning disabled have difficulties with academic.1
achievement and progress, discrepancies exist
between a person's potential for learning and what he
actually learns
The learning disabled show an uneven pattern of.2
language development, and/or motor-development,
academic development and/or perceptual
development

All learning originates within the brain .3

and, consequently, a disorder in learning can
be caused by a dysfunction in the central
nervous system
Learning problems are not due to an .4
environmental disadvantage

Learning problems are not due to .5

intellectual disabilities or emotional
disturbances
 In Other Words
The term learning disabilities refers to a
neurobiological disorder in one or more of the
basic processes involved in understanding spoken
.or written language

It may influence an individual’s ability to speak,

listen, read, write spell, reason, organize
.information or do mathematical calculations
 Math Nonverbal
Reading Written
Disorder Learning
Disability Expression
Disorder (Dyscalculia) Disability
(Dyslexia)
(Dysgraphia)

Reading Writing Spelling Handwriting Math Visual-

Spatial
Difficulties Difficulties Difficulties Difficulties Difficulties
& Social
Difficulties
 Skill Areas That May Be
Affected By Learning Disabilities
Receptive & Expressive Attention / Concentration
Language
Auditory/Phonological Memory
Processing
Metacognition
Visual-Motor Processing
Visual Processing Organizational/Study Skills
Social Skills
Does not focus when a lesson is
presented; short attention
span, easily distracted, poor
concentration; may display
hyperactivity
Problems in processing auditory
or visual information
difficulty interpreting visual(
)or auditory stimuli
Underlying language disorders;
problems in language
development, listening,
speaking, and vocabulary
 Poor at recognizing sounds of
language; cannot identify
phoneme sounds in spoken
language, and cannot manipulate
these sounds
Does not know how to go about
the task of learning and
studying; lacks organizational
skills; passive learning style,
does not direct his own
learning
 Difficulty with gross motor
abilities and fine motor
coordination
exhibits general awkwardness(
)and clumsiness
Poor in tasks requiring written
expression, spelling, and
handwriting
Does not know how to act and
talk in social situations;
difficulty with establishing
satisfying social relationships
and friendships
Difficulty with quantitative
thinking, arithmetic, time,
space, and calculation facts
 About 80% of students with
learning disabilities have
disabilities in reading;
problems in learning to decode
words, basic word recognition
skills, or reading
comprehension
Looking just at the learning
!disability is too limiting

Students with learning

disabilities manifest
strengths and weaknesses
in !different mental
processes

Teachers need to look at

students’ islands of
!competence
Four Classifications in Practical Terms

The student who had no trouble acquiring.1

reading in his L1 in the first and second
grades

The student who had no trouble acquiring.2

reading in his L1 in first and second grades
but in the third and fourth grades had reading
comprehension difficulties
 The student who had trouble acquiring.3
reading in Hebrew but with learning
strategies was able to overcome his
difficulties and now reads relatively fluently
in Hebrew

The student who still has trouble.4

reading Hebrew
 Moreover, there is little
understanding of the fact that it is
not a matter of having students with
learning difficulties do a class or
activity over again; it is a matter
of having them do it differently

Vulnerabilities in language skills are

exacerbated for ELL students,
especially those with learning
disabilities, because those students
are trying to learn not only language,
!but a new language
These researchers believe that if
the learning style of the student
is at odds with the style required
to succeed in the classroom,
serious learning problems can
occur
We as teachers should
focus on the students’
diverse strengths and
help them approach
learning from their
.strengths

Although the research is

not clear, all students do
not learn in the same way
 Learning Styles
All learners have preferred ways of receiving new
.and sometimes difficult information

Awareness of these modalities for language

teachers are important so that they can
accommodate to the individual differences and
.learning styles
 Sensory Modalities
When we teach using the students'
different sensory modalities the class
as a whole receives information in one or
several channels

This Multisensory approach can also

reinforce a learner's use of their less
developed senses

Grinder, 1989
 Howard Gardner’s work on multiple
intelligences and the different ways that we
each learn, remember, perform, and understand
may be helpful

Of similar importance is Betty Edwards work on

the roles that the left-brain and the right-
brain play in our thinking, reasoning and
complex mental functions

Teachers can improve the learning climate for

many students and most assuredly for those
with a learning disability by planning tasks so
that differing intelligences are called upon and
by balancing the involvement required of each
hemisphere of the brain
 Researchers believe that students
with stronger visual processing skills
may learn better through sight word
or language experience methods and
that students with stronger auditory
processing skills may learn best
through phonics methods

Lerner, 2006
 I Teach Everyone Like They
!Are LD
Beginning learners of a second language do not
have native speaker competence in English
phonology

Thus, their language and literacy development

must take a somewhat different path than
from a native speaker's development

Many believe their path takes on qualities of a L1

learning disabled student, demanding a highly
individualized approach with linguistic
instruction and remediation (Jannuzi, 1998)
Here are some suggestions that
are easy to incorporate into
classroom routine; naturally,
different strategies will be of
more or less value to different
students, particularly with a
culturally and linguistically
diverse class
Reduce the level of distraction in the room

Always write the page number and

exercise number on the board so
that the LD student can always
find his place without asking
Whenever appropriate, present material
using graphic and/or sensory media

Combine both auditory and visual

stimuli, say it and write it on the board
whenever possible

Use videos, demonstrations,

and concrete materials
 Give the gift of time
whenever it is at all
possible

Students with learning

disabilities may require
extra time to complete
in-class and homework
assignments as well as
tests
Consider administering tests
in alternative formats such
as orally or on computer

Have students use a word

processor to whatever
extent is possible

Word processing makes

rewriting and revising so
much less laborious, its value
is immeasurable for those
students with fine-motor,
sequencing, spelling and
other language manipulation
problems
Make it easy for students to
ask for repetition; bear in
mind that it is important to
use the same language when
you do repeat so that you do
not change the construct and
defeat the purpose of the
;repetition

Frame material by relating it

to past classroom or personal
experience and highlighting
new material;
Whenever possible, cluster
material so that it is
;organized by category
 Don’t issue too many instructions at
the same time. Break tasks down into
their component parts and issue the
instructions for each part one at a
time

Allow time in advance for

students to think about
items to be covered in class.
Provide plenty of pre-
discussion, pre-writing, pre-
reading lead time and other
pre-teaching activities
Begin each lesson with a review
of what has been learned

Tell students the goal of the

lesson

Reorganize the seating to help

students by placing students
with special needs near the
teacher
 Counsel student so your
expectations are clearly
understood
Set up expectations for
behavior. Give positive
feedback when behavior is
satisfactory
”..……I like it when you“

Give feedback when behavior

is not satisfactory
”..……I want you to“
 Really get to know the student.
Target his strengths and help him
shine in these areas

Assure him that you care how

!she/he feels
Use an assignment calendar
to give student a clear idea
of due dates
If student cannot read text,
use tape-recorded books in a
listening center or assign a
peer to read to the student

Upload a “Read Aloud” program

so your student can hear the
digital text read aloud from the
computer by an automated voice
Allow student extra time on
timed tests if they are not
standardized tests
Provide student a quiet
setting free of distractions
in which to take tests
Talk with student to
determine prior knowledge
and begin instruction at the
appropriate level of
understanding
 Use multiple-choice or
matching tests instead of full
recall tests

Give open-book study sheets

to student and to parent two
weeks before major test so
parent can review information
several times with the
.student
Keep daily parent-teacher
notes
Allow student to use larger
print books

Give parent a set of texts

and papers to use at home
with child if homework is not
taken home or because it
gets lost on during its
journey
 Use special materials:,
computer, spell check, tape
recorder, electronic
dictionary
Use rewards to stimulate
work completion
Use high-interest material of
student’s choosing when
possible
Assign peer tutor or cross-
aged tutor to help child

Enroll students in a remedial

program in school

Encourage remedial program

outside of school
 Allow student choice of
assignments

Provide alternative
assignment, at a lower level
Increase student-teacher
time

Increase student-aide time

Sit with child to initiate work

Prioritize tasks to be done

Shorten assignments

Give extra time at recess, at

lunch, or after school for
completion of assignments
Furnish written directions to
the student at his desk

Assign student buddy to help

with directions

Provide immediate feedback

of results
Work with special education
teachers to help all students
Use differentiated
instruction to take into
account the learning styles
and learning needs of all
students in the class
Summarize what has been
learned at the end of each
lesson
Provide positive support for
all students

Teach all students study

skills

Allow sufficient practice of

the concepts or skills for all
students
Use colored markers on the
whiteboard to differentiate
and emphasize

Have students number with 1

2 a pencil the lines in a story

Have students use a “Window

Tracker” for reading if they
continuously lose the line
they are reading in texts
 Life is not so much a“
matter of holding good
cards but of playing a poor
”hand well

Robert Louis Stevenson

?How to Play a Poor Hand Well

If provided with the right

support, a teacher of a student
with learning disabilities can help
the student succeed in school by
both fostering the student’s
strengths and recognizing his
weaknesses