PRESENTATION BY GULRUKH

Learning Disability

Definition:

"Specific learning disability" is defined as follows by IDEA:

The term "specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written,

which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,

spell, or do mathematical calculations.

Disorders included. Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain

injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

Disorders not included. Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the

result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional

disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Components from 6 different

Definitions:

By their nature are heterogeneous disorders.

Represent specific types of under achievement (i.e. a person demonstrates appreciably less

ability in some skills than in others)

Are probably the result of some central nervous system (CNS) dys-funtion.

Involve some form of psychological process (i.e. Intrinsic) disorder

Can be manifested in academic disorders

Can be manifested in spoken language disorders.

Don’t result from other conditions such as mental retardation, behaviour disorders, and so

forth

Can be manifested in thinking disorders. (derailment, poverty of

speech, tangentially, illogicality, perseveration, neologism)

TYPES OF LEARNING DISORDERS:

Dyslexia 315.00(F81.0)

a language-based disability in

which a person has trouble

understanding written words. It may

also be referred to as reading

disability or reading disorder.

Dyscalculia315.1(FB1.2)a mathematical disability in which a person has a difficult time solving arithmetic problems and grasping math concepts.

Dysgraphia 315.2(F81.

81)

a writing disability in which a person finds it hard to form letters or write within a defined space.

TYPES OF LEARNING DISORDERS

disabilities in which a person has difficulty understanding language despite normal hearing and vision.

a neurological disorder which originates in the right hemisphere of the brain, causing problems with visual-spatial, intuitive, organizational, evaluative and holistic processing functions.

DYSLEXIA:

Dyslexia is the name for specific learning disabilities in reading.

Dyslexia is often characterized by difficulties with accurate word recognition,

decoding and spelling.

Dyslexia may cause problems with reading comprehension and slow down

vocabulary growth.

Dyslexia may result in poor reading fluency and reading out loud.

Dyslexia is neurological and often genetic.

Dyslexia is not the result of poor instruction.

With the proper support, almost all people with dyslexia can become good readers

and writers.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

The Dyslexia Research Trust6 includes these as the most common signs and symptoms

associated with dyslexia:

Learning to read - the child, despite having normal intelligence and receiving proper teaching

and parental support, has difficulty learning to read.

Milestones reached later - the child learns to crawl, walk, talk, throw or catch things, ride a bicycle later than the majority of other kids.

Speech - apart from being slow to learn to speak, the child commonly mispronounces words,

finds rhyming extremely challenging, and does not appear to distinguish between different

word sounds.

Slow at learning sets of data - at school the child takes much longer than the other children to

learn the letters of the alphabet and how they are pronounced. There may also be problems

remembering the days of the week, months of the year, colors, and some arithmetic tables.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

Coordination - the child may seem clumsier than his or her peers. Catching a ball

may be difficult.

Left and right - the child commonly gets "left" and "right" mixed up.

Reversal - numbers and letters may be reversed without realizing.

Spelling - may not follow a pattern of progression seen in other children. The child

may learn how to spell a word today, and completely forget the next day. One

word may be spelt in a variety of ways on the same page.

Phonology problems - phonology refers to the speech sounds in a language. If a

word has more than two syllables, phonology processing becomes much more

difficult. For example, with the word "unfortunately" a person with dyslexia may be

able to process the sounds "un" and "ly", but not the ones in between.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

Concentration span - children with dyslexia commonly find it hard to concentrate for long, compared to other children. Many adults with dyslexia say this is because after a few minutes of non-stop struggling, the child is mentally exhausted. A higher number of children with dyslexia also have ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), compared to the rest of the population.

Sequencing ideas - when a person with dyslexia expresses a sequence of ideas, they may seem illogical for people without the condition.

Autoimmune conditions - people with dyslexia are more likely to develop immunological problems, such as hay fever, asthma, eczema, and other allergies.

Types of Dyslexia:

The types are identified by the nature of the problem within the central nervous system /brain.

Trauma Dyslexia

Usually occurs after some form of brain trauma or injury to the area of the brain that controls reading and writing. It is a permanent brain injury rarely seen in today's school-age population because it results from severe head injuries.

Primary dyslexia

It’s a dysfunction of, rather than damage to, the left side of the brain (cerebral cortex) and does not change with age. Individuals with this type of dyslexia are rarely able to read above a fourth-grade level and may struggle with reading, spelling, and writing as adults. Primary dyslexia is passed in family lines through their genes (hereditary). It is found more often in boys than in girls.

Secondary/developmental

Type of dyslexia is felt to be caused by hormonal development or malnutrition during the early stages of fetal development. Poor parenting, abuse, neglect, and/or poor nutrition during the developmental years 0 to 5 are also known causes. Developmental dyslexia diminishes as the child matures. It is also more common in boys.

Dyslexics & Milestones

Treatment:

Integrative Approach:

Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory- LDDI

Description

The learning disabilities diagnostic inventory (LDDI) is an assessment device composed of

items taken from the research and theoretical literature on specific learning disabilities

(LD) especially as it pertains to the neuropsychological aspects. The items represent

specific observable behaviours associated with LD in listening, speaking reading writing

mathematics and reasoning.

Consists of:

six independent scales, each with 15 easy-to-rate items.

Stanines are used to identify the likelihood of intrinsic processing disorders in the six

areas—Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Reasoning

also to conduct a profile analysis to determine the extent to which a student’s LDDI profile

reflects that which is associated with learning disabilities.

Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory

AGE RANGE:

Identify learning disabilities in children ages 8 to 17.

TIME PERIOD:

The LDDI can be completed in 10 minutes by a teacher or speech-language pathologist who is familiar with the student’s skills.

Scales & Forms

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Writing

Mathematics

Reasoning

Worksheet:

LDDI SCORING

RAW SCORES Total number of points rated

for each scale.

Don’t tell anything in particular, just help in finding out stanines.

STANINES Stanines are converted from

raw scores using the tables in the appendix.

Standard scores with a mean of 5 and a standard deviation of 1.96) and percentiles

Identify the likelihood of intrinsic processing disorders in the six areas assessed by the lddi.

Conduct a profile analysis to determine the extent to which a student’s LDDI profile reflects which is associated with learning difficulties.

PERCENTILES Percentile ranks represent

values that indicate the percentage of the distribution of a representative sample of individuals of the same age group

Psychometrics of the Test:

Reliability

Internal consistency reliability coefficients exceed .90 for all scales. evidence for

stability and inter-scorer reliability is also provided and coefficients are in the .80s

and .90s.

Thus, the LDDI can be used with confidence to yield consistent results.

ValidityThese studies involved extensive item selection and differentiation examinations,

which included confirmatory factor analysis; as well as studies that examined the

lddi’s relationship to age, academic achievement, group differentiation, gender,

and ethnicity-all of which support the validity of the lddi scores. Factor analysis

research also validated the lddi’s factor structure. These studies all provide

evidence that the LDDI yields valid results that can be used with confidence to

identify the presence or absence of learning difficulties in children and

adolescents.

Controlling for Test Bias

The LDDI was built to minimise the effects of bias

First, the effects of bias were controlled and minimized through the inclusion of

minority groups in the normative sample.

Second, the examination of reliability and validity information was presented for

the different racial, ethnic, and gender groups.

A particularly powerful element of content-description validity is the demonstration

of excellent internal consistency reliability for the different racial, ethnic, and

gender groups.

Finally, the use of differential item functioning analysis was used to reduce item

bias during item selection. Delta score values were used to remove items that

appeared to be biased against targeted groups.

the LDDI will tell you the extent to which students’ skill patterns in a

particular area (e.g., reading, writing) are consistent with those individuals

known to have LD in that area (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia).

STRENGTHS AND

LIMITATIONS

INTERNAL CONSISTENCY

RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS EXCEED

.90 FOR ALL SCALES. IN ADDITION, EVIDENCE FOR

STABILITY AND INTERSCORER

RELIABILITY IS PROVIDED, AND

COEFFICIENTS ARE IN THE .80S

AND .90S. THUS, THE

LDDI CAN BE USED WITH

CONFIDENCE TO YIELD

CONSISTENT RESULTS.

STRENGTHS

CONTROLLING FOR TEST BIAS

LDDI WAS BUILT TO MINIMIZE THE EFFECTS OF BIAS. NUMEROUS STEPS WERE TAKEN TO DETECT AND ELIMINATE SOURCES OF CULTURAL, GENDER, AND RACIAL BIAS. FIRST, THE EFFECTS OF BIAS WERE CONTROLLED AND MINIMIZED THROUGH THE INCLUSION OF MINORITY GROUPS IN THE NORMATIVE SAMPLE. SECOND, THE EXAMINATION OF RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY INFORMATION WAS PRESENTED FOR THE DIFFERENT RACIAL, ETHNIC, AND GENDER GROUPS. A PARTICULARLY POWERFUL ELEMENT OF CONTENT-DESCRIPTION VALIDITY IS THE DEMONSTRATION OF EXCELLENT INTERNAL CONSISTENCY RELIABILITY FOR THE DIFFERENT RACIAL, ETHNIC, AND GENDER GROUPS. FINALLY, THE USE OF DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING ANALYSIS WAS USED TO REDUCE ITEM BIAS DURING ITEM SELECTION. DELTA SCORE VALUES WERE USED TO REMOVE ITEMS THAT APPEARED TO BE BIASED AGAINST TARGETED GROUPS

LIMITATIONS

THE LDDI IS LIMITED TO A

SINGLE LANGUAGE WHICH IS

ENGLISH, WHICH LIMITS NON-

ENGLISH SPEAKING CHILDREN TO BE ABLE TO TAKE THE TEST.

ALSO, THE TEST IS RATED BY THE

EXAMINER SO THERE IS NO

MEASUREABLE SCORE THAT

CAN BE COMPARED AGAINST

OTHER CHILDREN’S SCORES; IT

IS OPINION-BASED AND VARIES

BETWEEN EACH EXAMINER

PRECAUTIONS:

The examiner should heavily focus on the child during the assessment to

ensure a proper rating. If they are rated incorrectly, the consequences of a

poor rating could be devastating to the child’s future. The area should be

well lit and the seating comfortable for the child. Because there is a

listening section of the LDDI, the room should be quiet and easy to hear to

avoid all potential distractions and interruptions. The scale should not be

used as basis for planning individual instructional program

THANKYOU FOR

LISTENING

ANY

QUESTIONS!