Children with Specific Learning Disabilities: Who are they & what do they need?

Children with Specific Learning Disabilities:Who are they & what do they need? Dr. Catherine CC LAM HK Society of Child Neurology & Developmental Paediatrics

Basic Facts • SLD is a group of disorders affecting listening, speaking, reading, writing reasoning or mathematical abilities. • Dyslexia is the most common in the group and most serious in its effects on the student

Dyslexia involves difficulty with LANGUAGE • Intelligence is not the problem • There is an expected GAP between their potential for learning and their school achievement

Individuals with dyslexia have a wide range of talents e.g. art, drama, entrepreneurial work etc. • They often have difficulty organizing themselves

Each dyslexic individual has different strengths and weaknesses • They may have additional problems e.g. attentional deficit, which is not a SLD • Often other members of the family have dyslexia or similar difficulties

Underlying bases for Dyslexia • Intrinsic neurological differences in the structure and function of the brain • Differences mostly found in the left brain • More common in males • It is present lifelong, but features can be improved through learned compensation

Diagnosis for Dyslexia • Physical check-up • Abilities test • Oral and written language tests • School performance and family background • Academic tests on reading, spelling, oral language, handwriting, composition • Evaluation of social skills/emotions • Development of IEP

Identifying symptoms • Preschool • delay in talking • difficulty with rhymes and rhythm • difficulty with remembering rote information, e.g. telephone no., names • difficulty in remembering and following directions

What to do Preschool • Follow up child’s verbal language skills • Read to child, encourage songs and rhymes • Note emerging literacy skills

Identifying symptoms • Primary School • difficulty in learning letter /character symbols and their sounds • unusual reading and writing errors • difficulty in remembering words over time • difficulty in comprehension from text • difficulty in organizing ideas in text writing

Other common features accompanying dyslexia: • poor pencil grip and handwriting • poor sense of time • poor organization and ability to keep belongings • poor study habits

What to do • Find schools and teachers who specifically know about the condition and how to help • Teaching should be evidenced based, supportive to the child, but demanding

Program should have: • direct instruction in area of deficit • multi-sensory approach to learning • systematic step-by-step teaching • appropriate accommodations

What accommodations All accommodations fall into 4 types: • Timing/scheduling • Setting • Presentation format • Response format

Accommodations for Dyslexia • Timing/Scheduling • more time in completing written work / exams • avoid closely packed multiple exam sessions

Setting • Testing in a small separate group • Limit distractions

Presentation Format • Larger print with less crowding • Questions and answers on same page • Directions in simple wording, child’s understanding checked • Test items read to student

Response Format • answers on large-spaced paper • students answers verbally • spelling etc requirements waived • aids allowed e.g. dictionaries • use of word processor

Equal Opportunity to Learn • Equal opportunity to access educational content • Equal opportunity to develop abilities • Equal opportunity to demonstrate abilities

Children with Specific Learning Disabilities: Who are they & what do they need?