Group Two
What does this term mean? What things do we consider when we talk about learning difference… disability… and divergence.
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Group Two
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Throughout my years in High school and as an undergrad, I had only heard of one particular learning disability, dyslexia. I believed that dyslexia was a learning disability where people read and wrote words backwards so that prevented them from doing well in school. So that individual was considered "special" or a little "slow" and therefore they would receive special treatment academically.
I don't remember thinking that an individual had to be physically disabled inorder to have a learning disablity. Once I became a teacher in a classroom where inclusion is a part of the classroom culture, I began to learn a little more about learning disabilities and the various types out there.
To me an individual has a learning disabailty when he or she has trouble receiving, sorting, processing and retreiving information, which will then have an effect on their perrformance in and outside of the classroom. These types of students are then considered to have special needs.
I was surprised to learn that children with special needs are on both ends of the spectrum. I always thought that special needs students were students that performed below the average and above average student. I had no idea that the gifted and talented students were considered a part of the special needs subculture as well.
I agree with Kainjeri in that I too had a limited understanding of what "learning disabilities" means before I became a teacher and quite frankly I think my understanding is still limited. I understand learning disabilities to refer to a variety of learning habits/abilities that impairs a students learning. I have more questions on this issue rather than a clear definition to offer.
1) Does 'learning disability" and "special needs" mean the same thing?
When I think of learning disabilities, I think that means a student has a different way of processing and acquiring information. I assume that a "disability" is a learning process that slows how quickly a student can learn. I am very open to the reality that I am probably wrong on this assumption. I undrstand "special needs" to be a little different. That term seems more inclusive to me and includes students who are performing above avrage students for example. It is clear that I really do not know enough about special education, its termonology and the many distictions that affect our students. I'd be really curious to hear people's thoughts on the difference betwen these two labels.
2) If "learning disability" refers to students who are performing above and below average students than isnt the whole idea of a "learning disabled" student socially constructed?
If the only way to determine if a student is "disabled" or has a "speical need" is by comparing him/her to other students, then these labels are totally subjective. It seems to totally depend on the bell curve of how the majority of the population is performing, but depending on your location, culture, values etc, then your measures on what creates a learning disability will change. Again, perhaps this is not a profound thought for many of you, but it is important that I articulate this if for nothing more than my own understanding.
thanks!
While learning disabilities are not indicators of low intelligence, the term refers to people who have difficulty achieving their full intellectual potential, because of a deficit in the way the brain processes information. While there are six specific learning disabilities, we probably only notice the students with a math, writing, or reading disability… though there is also a disorder associated with listening. I am currently raising my two nephews who both have reading and math learning disabilities. I must say it is extremely difficult. They both excel socially, and physically, but are below basic academically. Though they are five and eight, their learning disabilities are very much apparent. This past school year they both received special services all year long, and they both attended schools that have continuously excelled academically according to Maryland standards. Still, they could barely complete classroom assignments. When I complete math homework with them in the evening, I wonder as to how much instruction they received in the classroom because at home they remember nothing. As a teacher, I force them to work everyday on basic skills, but it usually overwhelms them, and frustrates me. Still, I realize that I am extremely limited in the services I can provide. When I solicited the special education coordinators and math teachers for help (in order to reinforce the same operation processes learned in the classroom), they sent home practice worksheets and manipulatives that I already had them completing. So, is simply practicing going to bridge the gap? Is it possible for children with learning disabilities to truly rejoin their classmates, and feel competent among them?
When I hear the term “learning differences,” I think of learning styles. Learning differences simply refer to how people learn best. To that extent, teachers can create lessons based on how a student will best receive the information, but the student can also become more receptive to other styles with practice. Charter schools cater to learning differences, which is evident in their mission.
Having to agree with RachelG, I believe “learning divergence” is the same as learning differences. If someone can offer more research, please feel free to respond.
I appreciate Najla's articulation of "special needs" as being a more inclusive term than "learning disabled." (I am reminded of the T. Shakespeare article distinguishing between "disability" and "impairment" - so much social construction is based in semiotics!)
Growing up, I was taught that being identified as a TAG (talented and gifted) student was different from being an "honors" student (the point being that TAG shouldn't connotate intelligence but a particular way of thinking and processing ideas and information). Of course, TAG itself is a loaded term (who doesn't want to be called "gifted") but there were students in our TAG program who also attended Resource, the program for "learning disabled" students.
My intent is to illustrate that, as Najla mentions, special needs students might include the kid in your class who is a killer chess player but has trouble with reading comprehension. Students who think differently. I am curious about the intersection between "special needs" and learning modalities, or why my ELL students, who certainly have needs that are "special" to themselves and the way they process language, may not qualify as "special needs" under a medical classification.
It's funny that Rachael mentioned ELLs don't qualify as "special needs" because at my school they do fall uneder the same administrative department, have similar challenges with compliance with laws, and are generally thought of as having exactly that: special needs. When students need clarification on what this means they usually come to the conclusion that we all have special needs depending on what we're all good at. I realize that that's not an official label for the literally special (unique, peculiar, individual, characteristic, different?) needs of ELLs, but I agree it's funny that the term is so broad and yet not broadly applied.
In elementary school I knew that learning disabilities came in all shapes and sizes and that you could get called to the school psychologist's office for a variety of reasons. Some were good, some were bad. Some you could be proud of,some you couldn't. Smart kids got pulled out for enrichment, and kids that learned differently got pulled out so that they could do their learning differently. I think it's interesting that we use the word disability because is literally means "not able" when we know that's usually a misnomer. Actually, when I checked the etymology of "ability" it comes from an Old French word appearing in the 1300 and meaning "expertise at handling" something. it's interesting to think of students as expert learners…I guess we should think of them as such because we ask them to spend so much of their waking hours learning…and even if we didn't ask them to a combination of curiosity and experience would ensure that they would! So I guess it makes sense that someone who learns things in the time we expect them to in the way we expect them to would seem to be an expert learner, and someone who didn't learn it in the right time or right way would seem inexpert. This seems like a softer distinction to make: being inexpert at learning, instead of being un-able to learn. The former suggests a degree of hope.
"Learning differences," suggest an even larger degree of hope, but also, as Sally Smith notes in "No Easy Answers," a degree of fear because someone who learns differently must need to be taught differently, and we don't actually know too many ways to teach some things. It's not like body type differences that can be accomodated by a one-size-fits-all size and some elastic bands. There are some things (like reading) that so few educators know how to teach even one way that the idea that you'd need a bunch of different ways is a little overwhelming. OR…if you were thought of it like a scientist after their first cup of coffee, rtather than a teacher after their last period of the day, the prospect might be exciting. I am currently doing new teacher training at Teach For American's summer institute and its amazing to me the absolute brain power it takes beginning teachers to break down a standard into an objective and then visualize their way to a lesson that takes a zillion factors, guidelines and resources into consideration. My reinvigorated awe for the process is what makes it exciting to think of learning to teach in many many different wayus, and also scary because learning to teach well at ALL is so legitimately challenging.
It is at this point that I think "learning divergence" has the same effect on people's ears as learning differences. Divergence has a less neagtive undertone than difference sometimes has, but it still has the power to strike fear into a struggling teacher and inspire interest in an inquisitive researcher (or experienced teacher!).
Regarding Rachel G’s commentary on "learning differences," I think her suggestion that fear is at the root of many educators misgivings about students with learning disabilities is right on mark. “Knowing that someone who learns differently must need to be taught differently” places additional stress on a teacher. In the cookie cutter society we live in it's difficult for an educator to approach how to address the needs of student who learn differently. The additional responsibility can be daunting and may manifest feelings directly associated with fear. Fear of failure!
The thought process could be something like this; “How can I teach this student what they need to know?“ “What will happen if I can’t reach this student?” “Am I trying hard enough?” “What am I doing wrong?” “Have I taught them anything?”
As a new teacher, with three years of experience teaching the spectrum of learning disabled, from mild to severe, I have experienced this fear. Believe it or not, I have learned so much from this fear. It has forced me to think outside the box; to become formally educated in the strategies that will best serve my students, to talk to veteran teachers and to reflect on what is working and what’s not working.
I totally agree with Ericka's point. I clearly remember being in training institute and thinking that I didn't have to pay attention to the special education lecture because I was a general educator. Boy was I wrong! Not only was I constantly challenged and frustrated by the inclusion model, I noticed that many of my students who had not been labeled as special education students demonstrated similar learning disabilities. It was definitely a turning point in my teaching when I became more comfortable with differentiation and discovering what truly works for each child.
I think one of the biggest things I learned was how different each child who is labeled as a "special education child" can be. In one class I had 14 different special education students each with different strengths and weaknesses. One of my biggest critiques is how this label has created a catch-all mentality for those of us who are not in the classroom. As stated above there are many different learning disabilities and also special needs that seem to be all lumped together in this label. How can we work to give each child the appropriate attention that he or she needs?
Kami, you make some excellent points! I, too was shocked and amazed to find that as a general education teacher, I needed to know just as much about teaching and accommodating to special needs students in my classes as any special education teacher. I taught inclusion last year, and was so pleased with the model for instruction that I wished all of my classes were that way! This past year was for me, like Kami, a turning point in my ability to recognize and meet some truly struggling students’ needs. I got better at accommodating and changing lessons for my kids, along with creating multiple assessments to gauge their progress. In my opinion, like Rachel mentioned above, many teachers fear having to make those accommodations for their kids because they take SO much time and energy on the part of an already overworked teacher. Yet, without such accommodations, many students will fail because they cannot wrap their minds around the work to be done. In my opinion, having a learning disability means that you do not process material according to “normal” methods, meaning that you encounter many challenges in the sorting, ordering, analysis, and response to texts. You require varied explanations of assignments, and may have problems completing standard work. In short, the learning disabled child requires extra support and care in order to succeed in school.
I was interested in what torib3a says in her posting, “In my opinion, having a learning disability means that you do not process material according to “normal” methods, meaning that you encounter many challenges in the sorting, ordering, analysis, and response to texts.” What are the normal methods of processing materials?
I had many students this year who were not labeled as Special Education, but who consistently needing extra help to fully understand an English Language Art concept. Part of my duties as a teacher was to conduct an Academic Intervention class for these specific students. Even though they weren’t tested as having a disability in reading or writing, I would have to find a different way of presenting the material so that these children could learn effectively. I ended up thinking about the different learning styles, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc. and coming up with multiple ways of presenting a lesson. I then used the varied lessons in the regular ELA class and finding that all of the students increased their understanding. I also believe it made the lessons more fun for the students.
On page 21 of Sally Smith’s book No Easy// Answers, s//he gives the U.S. Government’s description of a learning disability, “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process involved in understanding and using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell and do mathematical calculations”. So my question is, could we break down the way each individual student learns and find that they fit within this definition?
I feel like it is our duty as teachers to try to differentiate what we teach everyday to reach not just the students who have IEP’s or who are in a special ed. classroom, but to also help the other students who don’t have an official “learning disability”, who may need to learn something in a different way. However, this is often easier said than done.
Just as many of you posted, I find it very hard to know how to evaluate the progress of children with IEP’s and special needs, whether they are labeled as special ed or not. The bar has been set by No Child Left Behind and we must find a way for all children to reach the benchmark dictated to us. We want all children will meet our high expectations, but is that fair to those who need more time to get there?
Because I taught a special education homeroom my goal was to develop accommodation for each student. However, I never received an inclusion teacher, or had access to IEPs. I did the best I could, but I have not experienced as much success as Tori and Kami. However, I now feel better prepared to combat this scenario, (should it happen again), and I will be able to move forward with strategies learned in this class.
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