Characteristics of Students with Behavior and Learning Problems

1. Characteristics of Students with Behavior and Learning Problems Chapter 4

2. Etiologies of BD/LD/MMR • Biology: influences the neural, chemical, and functional aspects of the body. • Accounts for traits and conditions which are hereditary. • Are transmitted to the child from the mother and the father. • Examples of hereditary: schizophrenia, depression, and temperament.

3. Biological Influences • Birth • Prenatal: maternal drug/alcohol use, disease, maternal poor nutrition • Perinatal: brain damage from anoxia • Postnatal: brain damage from accident or shaken severely, lead poisoning,and encephalitis

4. Etiologies of BD/LD/MMR • Environmental Influences • Culture • Home: parenting styles • School: behavioral learning • Peers: social learning

5. Educational Classification based on IDEA categories Educational performance must be adversely impacted Definitions at federal level: states adapt Psychiatric Classification based on DSM-IV Medical and Mental Health Professionals make diagnosis DSM-IV diagnosis does not = qualification for special education in all cases Classification Systems

6. ADHD • DSM-IV diagnosis • Prevalence = approx. 5% • Different categories • Inattentive • Hyperactive/Impulsive • Combined: inattentive and hyperactive

7. Etiology Minimal Brain Dysfunction (MBD) historically Current hypotheses: chemical imbalance genetic predisposition neurotransmitter difficulties No definitive cause: continued debate Assessment diagnosed by a doctor, psychiatrist may use: behavioral checklists parent & teacher reports observation ADHD

8. Disturbance: IDEA Emotional • (i) a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance • an inability to learn which cannot be explained by other factors • an inability to build or maintain interpersonal relations • inappropriate types of feelings under normal circumstances • general pervasive mood or unhappiness or depression • tendency to develop physical symptoms related to personal or school problems • (ii) Does not include children who are schizophrenic or socially maladjusted, unless also SED

9. Internalizing Disorders • Anxiety - Withdrawal • generalized anxiety • phobias • OCD • panic attacks • anorexia, bulimia • depression

10. Internalizing Behavior • Psychotic behavior • hallucinations • delusions • schizophrenia • schizotypal (personality disorder)

11. Undersocialized Aggressive CD CD Attention Problems - Immaturity Motor Excess unaware of behavioral expectations Socialized Aggressive CD Socialized delinquency gang involvement truancy “looks up to other rule violators aware of behavioral expectations; covert attempts External Disorders

12. Autism: IDEA • Definition: a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects educational performance . Other characteristics associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or changes in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has a serious emotional disturbance.

13. Autism: DSM-IV • Under: Pervasive Developmental Disorder with Rett Syndrome, Asperger Syndrome • Characteristics • Range = mild to severe • Communication impairments • Relational impairments • Lack of fear • Perseveration • Self-stimulation & SIB

14. Etiology Historically = product of a cold, uncaring, “refrigerator mother” Currently = attributed to a neurological dysfunction or difference present at birth Assessment IQ assessed: 60% below 50, 20% = 50-70, 20% above 70 Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) Autism

15. Learning Disabilities: IDEA • Specific Learning Disabilities means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not apply to children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

16. Characteristics of SLD • Average or above average intelligence • Discrepancies in their ability to perform skills - inconsistent • Difficulty learning to read and write • Seem less mature than peers • Difficulty speaking, fumbles with words • Works slowly on papers, often performs many errors

17. Characteristics of SLD Cont. • Difficulty taking notes • Poor handwriting • Poor organization of schoolwork • Poor short/long term memory • Do not achieve to the expectations of parents and teachers • Can hear, but not understand what they hear (auditory perceptual problems) • Can see, but not make sense of what they see (visual perceptual problems • Understands more, than they write or express

18. Seven Specific Areas of SLD • Oral Expression • Listening Comprehension • Written Expression • Basic Reading Skills • Reading Comprehension • Mathematics Calculation • Mathematics Reasoning

19. Assessment for LD • IQ tests: WISC III, Stanford-Binet IV, Kaufman Assessment Battery (p.68) • Achievement tests: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT), Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery • Processing deficit: teacher report, TAPS, TVPS • In GA. For eligibility must have: • processing deficit; adverse ed. impact • average IQ (generally 80 or above) • severe discrepancy between IQ and Achievement (a difference of 20 or more points)

20. Mental Retardation • Definition by IDEA: Mental retardation means a significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child’s educational performance • Significantly subaverage intellectual functioning is defined as 2 standard deviations below the mean of an individualized IQ test. For example, the Mean of the WISC-III = 100 and a SD=15 points. A score of less than 70 is 2 SD.

21. MMR Characteristics • Significantly subaverage IQ • Adaptive deficits • communication, home living, self-care,work, leisure • Lack of mediational strategies • Poor short and long term memory • Lack of generalization of skills • Poor communication skills • Poor attention skills • Lacks external locus of control & fear of failure

22. Traumatic Brain Injury • Defined as: an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgement; problem solving; sensory,perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

23. Traumatic Brain Injury • Two types • closed head injury = no puncture to the skull (eg. shaken baby syndrome) • open head injury = puncture to the skull (eg. gunshot) • Characteristics • loss of consciousness • fine and gross motor problems • memory deficits • Etiology = 1st accidents, 2nd sports, 3rd violence/abuse • most common in males before age 10 or between 15-24 yrs.