It is generally true that the difficulties of children with a learning disability are not recognised early enough in school, and many of these children are considered simply to be lazy or uncooperative. In most countries, the
method for identifying children with SpLD is for an educational psychologist to assess the child’s level of intelligence using an intelligence test, and then to obtain accurate measures of ability in reading, spelling and mathematics. Any marked difference between level of intelligence (IQ) and level of attainment in these skills suggests significant ‘under-achievement’ and might indicate the presence of a learning disability.
The most widely recognised learning disability is dyslexia. Dyslexia is often defined as a ‘disorder’ causing difficulty in learning to read despite normal instruction, adequate intelligence and opportunity to learn. This
form of reading problem is thought to be present in approximately 2 per cent of the school population, although some reports suggest a higher figure. The oral reading performance of dyslexic students tends to be very slow and laboured, with great mental effort having to be devoted to the identification of each individual word. Comprehension of what has been read is therefore usually very poor. The child tires easily and avoids the frustrating task of reading.
A child with dyslexia typically exhibits the following problems:
- Difficulty in analyzing spoken words into separate sounds. This difficulty then causes major problems with learning phonics and spelling.
- Difficulty in recalling words from memory or quickly naming familiar objects. This difficulty in rapid recall then causes major problems in building a memory bank of words recognized immediately by sight, and in remembering letter to sound correspondences.
- Difficulty in making adequate use of the meaning of a sentence to assist with word recognition (teachers refer to this as a weakness in ‘using contextual cues’).
- Inability to develop adequate speed and fluency in reading.
- Weakness in understanding what has been read.
- Perception problems occur in some cases, resulting in frequent reversal of letters and numerals. A few children report distortion or blurring of print when reading.
In addition, many children with dyslexia also exhibit:
- hyperactivity and attention problems
- inefficient learning strategies
- emotional, motivational and behavioural problems due to persistent failure
- learned helplessness, anxiety and depression
- negative attitudes towards reading, writing and mathematics, and towards school in general.
In many cases of dyslexia, as in other types of learning difficulty, the children do not appear to have developed an effective system for approaching tasks such as phonic decoding, reading for meaning or writing a story. Their inefficient approach produces a high error-rate and much frustration. It has become popular in recent years to say that these children need to ‘learn how to learn’ so that they can tackle activities like reading and writing with a greater chance of success. The important thing to note here is that the current evidence suggests that children can be taught to use more efficient learning strategies; this will be discussed in practical terms later.
Dyslexia remains a controversial topic. While some experts argue strongly that dyslexia is quite different from any other form of reading difficulty, others regard it as simply a variation of the same problem. Reading disability has attracted an enormous amount of research interest over the past 50 years, but it is quite clear that this has not resulted in any major breakthrough in special teaching methods or instructional resources.
It is difficult to visualise that any teaching method found useful for children with general problems in learning to read would not also be highly relevant for other children identified as dyslexic – and vice versa. If we examine the literature on teaching methods for children with SpLD, we usually find a range of valuable teaching strategies that would be helpful to all children.
Any child with a learning problem requires assistance, and there seems little to be gained from seeking to differentiate between SpLD and ‘non- SpLD’ students; the need for high-quality, effective instruction is equally strong in both groups. But maybe parents feel more comfort in having their child classified as ‘dyslexic’ rather than ‘a weak reader’. All children who find learning to read and write difficult are best served by designing and delivering intensive high-quality instruction, rather than by identifying them with a label.
Read More : Specific learning disability
