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Children
with Special Needs -> Learning Disabilities and
IQ
Learning disability
is a central nervous system (CNS) disorder that affects
the learning functions of an individual. If a person has
a learning disability, the course of gathering and processing
information becomes a very difficult task. This also means
that information is hard for the brain to retain. Since
this disorder inhibits the brain to mince and store different
information, retrieval, and even recollection, is also
affected. When information is not properly stored, the
CNS finds it difficult to transmit signals to translate
them into physical actions such as writing and speaking.
The concern
of learning disabilities among children is growing even
in a fully developed country such as the United States.
Because of its growing cases among children in the US,
the urgent need in finding alternative education patterns
gave way to the passage of Public Law 101-476, or the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in
Congress.
IDEA generally
addresses that learning disability is a basic psychological
process disorder when it comes to written and spoken language,
and understanding them. This manifests in a person's faulty
ability to think, listen, write, read, speak, spell and
even do logical or mathematical computations. The term
learning disability also defines scopes of perceptual
handicaps, dyslexia, developmental aphasia, minimal brain
dysfunction and even brain injury. However, mental retardation;
hearing, visual and motor disabilities; and emotional
disturbances, are not defined by IDEA as learning disabilities.
Environmental, economic or cultural disadvantages are
not also within IDEA's learning disabilities definition.
Contrary to
common perceptions, learning disabilities are not synonymous
with a person's IQ or intelligence quotient. Children
with average intelligence can be afflicted with learning
disabilities too. The severity of this condition is evident
in a child even in early grade school years and becoming
more apparent as the child reaches higher educational
levels. A student with learning disability finds it manageable
to obtain better grades in early schooling, but gradually
finds keeping up with school works more taxing in the
presence of longer assignments, note taking, and lecture
analysis, while advancing to secondary school level.
To make the
learning process effective for students with learning
disabilities, there must be a strong support service in
educating them, along modification in the teaching process
and right accommodation. Support network means parents,
professional staff, special education teachers, general
classroom teachers, resource room teachers are in close
cooperation. Effective strategies include the use of simple
vocabulary terms and short sentences; clear and precise
instructions and expectations; making use of tape recorders,
computers for school exercises and activities, and other
self-correcting materials that give direct feedback as
classroom-teaching tools; practicing students' listening
skills thru oral exams; and engaging in skill-enhancing
social activities at home and school.
Students suffering
from learning disabilities and its problems are not always
immediately diagnosed that is why 35% of these students,
not including students undetected with learning disabilities,
are already out of school when they reach secondary level.
This further pushes researchers to find better ways for
early diagnosis of learning disabilities than the current
method of "discrepancy diagnosis". This tool measures
the discrepancy in a child's IQ score or aptitude and
the child's actual school performance measured by an achievement
test. This is somewhat a "retro" diagnosis since this
technique allows children to fall behind school before
diagnoses are made. Researchers are doubling up their
efforts to find ways that are forward looking to do away
with students' default and catching up position in education
to qualify for services,
Currently,
research is on its full circle to study more facets of
learning deficit in one child. Experts are also determining
the role of language disorders in learning disabilities,
especially in reading, in children afflicted with early
language disorders. Studies are also touching up on genetics.
Identifying the symptoms early snags bigger chances of
intervention. IDEA may have paved the way in understanding
learning disabilities but there are still more to explore.
Children
with Special Needs -> Learning Disabilities and
IQ
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