|
Robert K. Smith
School Psychologist
Dickinson Iron Intermediate
School District
A n,um~ber of times in this
eolu~nn I Iha,ve made reference
~ e hi,ldren with specific learn-
g disabilities. I ha.re discuss-
ecl the i,mporta~nce of early iden-
t[fi~atio~ and the ad~visabilRy of
retevRion ,i~n ~the kindergarten
rather than in the early elemen-
fatty grades, ~nd last week I dis-
cUSsed some of the activities
~hich help children get ready
to learn.
I think it a~ropriaCe to enter
ltJ~o a more thorough discussion
0~ ~he child with sped,tic learn-
lag disabili¢ies so that my read-
ers m~y gain some understanding
~f the Child ,and of his particular
Problems.
One of the most interesting
aspects in the qidentificati.on of
leve~l of a ggress'i'on a,nd o~ten
fighting with other children.
,Leading ~a,uthorities ~)n the sub-
ject are not in agreemen¢ as to
the number of ,cl~ildren ,so af-
fected. Studies ,on ,the subject
have revealed tha,t as little as
five per cen¢ or as many as 20
per cen,t of the total school en-
roll'ment may have specific
learzfing disabilities.
Th,e general characteristics of
the child with a specific learn-
i~g disability do not follow a
pa.r~icular p~ttern; hmve~cer, I
will try ~o list some af the char-
acteristics Which seexa ¢o Mfect
a large proportion of these chil-
dren.
I~ellectual capacity of the
child will range fro~ low aver.
age to above average and. occa-
sionally a bright child will be so
a~fe~ted. Learning disabiliJties
are normally pvedorninant in
re~ing,,,, arithme~bie and spelling.
~ child with lea~'ning disabilities
s ~he fact that .he .is .capable of A~ other ti,mes, general eoovdina-
I.~Ide variety, of h.ehavior and is ~ion is affected and prinCdng,
~etenCi~m, es aJm.o~ im,poss~ble to writing or drawoing may be ex-
erect. There are a nuTnber oftremely poor and the child might
sYVaptoms whi~ch give some clues maya in a jerky and erratic man-
a.s to his identi~y ,but an accurate her.
diagn,osis is not possible without Mater coordination is often af-
a thorovgh psychological exam-
The child wifih learning dis-
~bil~ies ,has been diagnosed
Over the years with a wide vari-
ety of medicaI4ype labels, the
~ost 'accurate, and currently the
~aost popular, of which is "mini-
~l~abrain d~"sfunvtion." A very
,. d definition of ~the term,
~r~tnimat brain dy~unetion"
footed and fi.ne muscle perform-
ance such a,s b,u~ttoning clothes,
tying shoes ~and cutting ~vi,th
~is~rs may be diffi,cul~t for the
child to a,ccompli~h. In the more
severe cases, the youngster may
experience difficulW in catch-
ing a bail, ridin~g a ,hi,cycle or in
learning to sw~m.
In a large number of cases,
the child is hyperactive. He
~ld indicate an ~mpairment or seems to be in consta,p,t motion
of development in some and ~lits from one object to an-
~aladl ,g~up of cells in a particu- other. He a,ppea,rs restless and
av segments of the brain ha~ing even when watching TV some
~do with one ,of Che ,pa~t of his body ~vitl be in con-
sensory
actions. Stated ,more simply, stan¢ mo¢ion.
~aean say cheat a tiny group of A lesser n,unvber 0¢ children
in cells is ~ailin,g to function heh~ve in an opposite manner
ProperlT, tlms causing a pro,b- and are slow a,nd often appear
in so,me aspect of learn,ing, to be daydreaming. These young-
~e~(iProble,m is most always cen- sters move, Chink and speak in
th in vision or i,n hearing and a slow and @pparently delibera~te
ne learning .~r~blem u sual,ly af- .manner.
feets the abili~y~ read. On ,the emotional level, the
child is area ,considered high
The 0r~bl, ems are not always ,s~crun,g and nervous. He is over-
~¢0afined to the ]earning area. ly sensitive and his .e~notional
~twa Che difficulty results in behavior eh,anges ~from respon-
behavior ,characteristics which sive ,and ,gentle to e:cplosi,ve, witch
irma disru~in:g ~oth at home and oceasion.al Cempev Cantruvns. He
!1 t~e classroom. The behavior is often aggressive and seems to
ge~lerally ~anges from simple get into a large n.umber of fights
(iarupti,on of activities to e ~hl$h width other children.
~,~____~_________,~_=..___;.Another ch.~racteristie of the
(~ child ~vith ~earning disability is
an extremely shore attention
nge blossom span and inabili~y ~ understand
instructions. O~ften the child
forgets Wh,a,t he is told ,to do al-
most immediately. He distravts
easily 'and ~a,n't seem to keep
ihis mind on any su,bj,ect more
than a b~ief moment.
The behavior of su,ch children
is often impulsi,ve and unpre-
dictable. They ~,ct with no i>l~n-
ning and little ,foresight. The
range of impulsive behavior is
very ~wide and covers an a~ay
~f und~esirable aeti~i¢ies from
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Let ~ne stress the ~act tha~ the
clvaracteristics ou~lined above
ate only xymptoms and that a
non,Iwafessional dia, gno~is should
never be made on the basis of
these ,types of activities. ~ a
child is h'aving learning trou.
bles in school and is ~so con-
sidered somewhat of a behav-
ior problem, he should he re.
ferred for a thorough psychologi-
cal exam~na, tion. Early 8etec-
tioa and diagnosis af the child
with learning difficulties are nec-
essary to ,provide the best types
o~ remed, iation.
Discussion of ,thi,s subject will
be continued in the next column.
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