The Brain and Learning Differences

When teaching students with learning differences, it is very important to understand how the brain functions and how it related to the student's learning disability.

How the Brain functions:

Life Skills-Left side of the  Brain:

• Handwriting
• Language (spoken and written)
• Reading
• Phonics
• Working with details and facts
• Talking
• Following Directions
• Listening to spoken language

Life Skills-Right side of the Brain:

• Spacial Relationship (where things are on a map, relationship of one object to another in space)
• Shape and pattern recognition
• Mathematical computation
• Sensitivity to Color
• Singing and music
• Art Expression
• Creativity
• Visualization
• Feelings and emotions

Where do Learning Differences Fit?

Reading Disabilities:

Unexpected difficulties with learning to decode words, to read fluently, and to comprehend what one reads.

Writing Disabilities:

Unexpected difficulties with expressing thoughts in written format.

Math Disabilities:

Unexpected difficulties with number facility and applying mathematical concepts.

Language Disabilities:

Unexpected difficulties with oral expression and listening comprehension  

Accommodations for Writers with Disabilities

How do you choose the appropriate accommodations for a student?  The answer is whichever and however many are necessary to give the individual an equal opportunity to learn and grow in their setting.  The following are examples of accommodations that students can utilize in the classroom:

Assignments:
Reduce the number of written assignments
Reduce the length of the assignments
Provide extended time on writing assignments
Accept tape-recorded written assignments as an alternative to written assignments
Permit oral dictation of written assignments to a teacher

Examinations:
Provide more time on in class exams
Administer exams orally
Allow alternate methods for displaying content mastery
Provide alternate exam formats that do not require extensive writing
Allow the student to write all exam responses on a computer

Taking Notes:
Provide the student with copies of the class notes
Provide tape recordings of the class lecture
Limit or eliminate copying requirements from both the board

Grading:
When grading assignments do not penalize for errors in basic skills, such as punctuation, misspelling, or poor handwriting
Grade the student on improvements, rather than comparing his or her writing performance to peers.

Peer Support:
Provide opportunities for the student to work on writing assignments in small groups
Provide the student with a same age peer to assist with writing task

Technology:
Encourage the student to use a spelling checker when editing papers
Encourage the use of technology
Encourage the student to use spelling and grammar correction programs before turning in assignments

What is Dyslexia?

Understanding Dyslexia is one way to have a deeper understanding of the reading process. Following is the definition of dyslexia from the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Services).

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin.  It is characterized by        difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities.  These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the attempt of effective classroom instruction.  Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impeded growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.  

After reading and understand what dyslexia is, one would think that all areas of cognitive thinking would be affected, but that is not the case.  Perhaps what puzzles educators and parents the most is that students who fail to learn how letters represent speech sounds and how sounds are represented by letters in words often are good thinkers and are talented in other areas.  Because dyslexia is domain specific in the brain, the cognitive abilities such as reasoning, comprehension, vocabulary, syntax, and general IQ score typically are unaffected.  In fact, although IQ score and reading in the typical reader influence each other over time, IQ score and reading are not linked in the reader who has dyslexia.  Therefore, interventions and planning are very critical when educating someone who has dyslexia.

Understanding the Differences Between Spoken and Written Language

To understand written language, it is important to consider the differences between spoken and written language, and the complexity of the writing task.  Below are examples of differences between spoken and written languages.

Spoke Language                                                                        

• Relies upon listening and memory
• Is less structured
• Relies upon immediate, personal, literal, inferential,                                                                 and emotional interpretations
• Requires dual monitoring (what is being said and what one planes to say)
• Requires planning what will be said next, perhaps with a goal in mind
• Involves communication with a known audience with immediate feedback
• Provides visual cues to support meaning (such as gestures and expressions) 

Written Language

• Provides permanent record
• Is more structured; requires exact word choice, and formal sentence and paragraph instruction
• Provides opportunity for review and evaluation of interpretations
• Requires simultaneous monitoring of numerous abilities 
• Requires planning of communication while keeping writing goals in mind
• Provides punctuation marks to express meaning

Understanding the Major Components of Written Expression

The major components of written expression include the following:

• Handwriting: Handwriting requires numerous skills.  To write legibly, students must recall the appearance of the letters and then coordinate the motor patterns needed to form the letters.  Students must also judge the amount of space that is needed between the letters and words and try to position the letters on the writing lines.  This will take practicing their fine motor skills, letter memory and letter formation.  

• Spelling: Of all the basic skill areas, spelling is the most difficult for many students.   Spelling is much more difficult than reading because the person has to recall and reproduce the entire word correctly, not just recognize it.  This skill includes Semantics, Morphology, Orthography, and Phonology.  

• Usage: The rules involved in written language are more involved than those of spoken language.  To communicate in writing with clarity, students must master rules involving capitalization, punctuation, and syntax.  

• Vocabulary: Another critical area of effective writing is selecting descriptive words.  For students with language impairments. their written language mirrors their spoken language.   For students with learning disabilities, a discrepancy often exist between their oral and written vocabularies, with their oral vocabulary being more vast than their written.  In order for students with Learning Disabilities to learn new vocabulary, they must have knowledge of words, understand morphology and word retrial.  

• Text Structure: Written text are designed and organized to convey and represent ideas for a particular purpose.  Organization of text requires the abilities to plan, translate, and review what has been written.  In addition, the instructor must determine the student's knowledge of narrative and expository writing.  

Dyslexia, A Multi-sensory Approach

What does a Multi-sensory Approach mean in regards to teaching students with Dyslexia?  Take a look at the diagram below:

Based on this resource, Dyslexia can affect, depending on the severity, multiple areas of learning.  This is why students who have Dyslexia will need to learn the structure of the English Language through a Multi-sensory Structured Learning Program.  The structure of the English Language includes the following:

• Phonology and Phonological Awareness
• Sound-Symbol Association: visual to auditory, auditory to visual, blending, segmenting
• Syllables: types and patterns for division
• Morphology: base words, roots, affixes
• Syntax: grammar, sentence variation, mechanics of language
• Semantics: meaning

In order to teach these areas of the English Language instruction should include the following:

• Simultaneous multi-sensory : visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile
• Systematic and cumulative
• Direct Instruction
• Diagnostic teaching and automaticity
• Synthetic and Analytic Instruction

In order for a Multi-Sensory Structured Learning Program to be effective, instruction should be in small groups, no more than five, and should be taught by a trained Dyslexia Instructor.  In addition, instructors use structured lesson planning and ongoing monitoring of progress to organize instruction and chart the growth of the skills.  Also, an added benefit to this type of instruction is that it helps students with executive function difficulties deal with them in the classroom while learning the basic skills of reading.

No Red Marks

Most students with Specific Learning Disabilities in the areas of Written Expression have difficulties sharing with others their writing experiences.  This can be contributed to a number of different things such as embarrassment, not wanting to be labeled. or not having confidence.  In order for teachers to know how to differentiate instruction or assist students with Learning Differences they will need to know where to start.  Let's look at the writing sample below:

Translation: High beams one dark night a lady left the university.  She got into her van and started home.  When the lady got home she called the police because the man behind turned on his high beams again and again and again and again....

By analyzing this student's work, it appears that the student has difficulty with spelling, because the student's thought process and sentence structure seem to flow in a sequential order.   This is also a student who utilized his coping strategies by writing a story about a word that he knew how to spell which was "police".

In addition, If this student's teacher began marking all of his misspelled words with red marks, this would discourage the student to not want to continue to improve his spelling in fear of making a mistake.  Therefore, understanding the student's  learning deferences and classroom accommodations will assist the teacher in understanding how to intervene.