Mrs.

Sharmishtha Oak
Coordinator, B.Ed.Spl.Ed.
YCMOU, Nashik
 Define learning disabilities
 Explain the types of learning disabilities
 Describe the characteristic of learning disability
 Explain the areas and tools of assessment
 Describe the various strategies for reading,
writing and maths
 Learning Disabilities (not Learning Disability) is a group of
disorders.
 Different children with LD have different combinations of
problems. The severity of the problems also differs.
 problems in a wide range of skills that children acquire and use.
These include listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, and
mathematical abilities
 listed problems are not just difficulties but are ‘significant’
difficulties
 We can observe the manifestations of the disability only. There is
no external and observable physical problem.
 Along with the problems mentioned above (point iii ), the child
may show problems in social skills, self-regulation etc. If a child is
showing only social skill deficits and problems in self-regulation,
then the child does not have LD.
 A person from different cultural background, social strata,
economic strata, impoverished background may also have LD, but
these conditions do not lead to LD. Children in schools where
poor teaching practices are found may also have LD
 Learning disabilities should not be confused
with learning problems that are primarily the
result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps; of
mental retardation; of emotional disturbance;
or of environmental, cultural or economic
disadvantages.
 For more elaborative definition please read
definition given on pg. 5 in SLM EDU293
chapter 1
The characteristics of children with dyslexia
 May be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds
The child often has difficulty separating sounds in words ( e.g.
knowing that the word cat has three sounds /k/ /a/ /t/ )
 Blending sounds to make words is difficult ( e.g. putting together
the three sounds /k/ /a/ /t/ to read the word cat)
 Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in
isolation)
 May have difficulty reading small words like at, to, said, and,
does etc.
 Makes errors in reading. e.g.
a. Letter reversals - d for b as in, dog for bog and vice versa
b. Word reversals - tip for pit
c. Inversions - m and w, u and n
d. Transpositions - felt and left
e. Substitutions - house and home
 LD has neurological basis

Dyslexia due to neurological dysfunction

Caused perceptual problems of auditory or visual

Problems in visual stimuli: /b/, /d/

Problems in auditory stimuli: difference between
two sounds
 Dyscalculia is a broad term for severe
difficulties in math. ‘Dys’ means disorder/
difficulty etc. in ‘calculia’ (Math). Thus, it
includes all types of math problems. It ranges
from inability to understand the meaning of
numbers to inability to apply math principles
to solve problems.
 Difficulty learning the meaning of numbers
 Trouble with tasks like sorting objects by shape, size or color
 Difficulty recognizing groups and patterns
 Trouble comparing and contrasting objects using concepts like
smaller/bigger or taller/shorter
 Difficulty in learning to count
 Difficulty recognizing numbers
 Matching numbers with amounts
 Poor understanding of the signs +, -, ÷ and x
 Difficulty knowing the use of these mathematical symbols
 Difficulty with doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
 May find it difficult to understand the words "plus," "add," "add-
together”
 Difficulty with times tables
 Poor mental maths skills
 May reverse or transpose numbers for example 63 for 36, or 785 for 875
 May have a poor sense of direction (i.e., north, south, east, and west)
 Apart from these basic arithmetic and Math skills, they
also show difficulty in functional math (understanding
time, money transactions, measurement etc.). Solving
problems based on quantitative thinking is also
difficult. Thus, time management, money
management, understanding whether to halve,
multiply, add or subtract is a problem.
 Many children who have dyscalculia may also have
dyslexia. Alternatively, at times, a
 person with dyslexia may show symptoms of
dyscalculia. This is because the person
 cannot understand the language of math and so may
appear to have dyscalculia.
 Many students who have LD demonstrate
problems in some areas of writing. When there
are significant difficulties in acquiring and
using writing skills it is called as ‘dysgraphia’
(dys meaning disordered and graphia meaning
writing).
 Problems in
 Handwriting
 Spelling
 Writing expression
 Poor colouring skills
 Incorrect grasp of the writing instrument
 Has difficulty copying letter from the board
 Cannot write letters from the memory
 Incorrect alignment of letters , the letters slant too
much
 Inconsistent spacing between two words and
between letters within a word
 Writes letters in reverse or mirror image
 Mixes capital and lowercase letters
 Distorts shapes of letters and numbers
 Puts too much or too little pressure while writing
 Spelling
 Performs poorly on spelling tests
 Exhibits weak word recognition skills
 Reverses and transposes letters
 Additions and Omissions seen in spelt words
 Repeatedly misspells the same words
 Written expression
 Difficulty forming sentences to communicate an idea
 Difficulty thinking of ideas while writing a composition
 Difficulty organizing the thoughts logically in a
composition or essay type answer
 The sentence structure may be wrong
 The choice of words to communicate the ideas is rather
limited
 Written compositions are rather short
 NVLD is a condition in which an individual
does not accurately process information that is
not verbal or linguistic in nature. Hence, the
person cannot process visual-spatial
information, facial expressions, or social cues
causing LD, which is NVLD.
 Has trouble recognizing nonverbal cues such as facial expression
or body language
 Shows poor psycho-motor coordination; clumsy; seems to be
constantly “getting in the way,” bumping into people and objects
 Has problem using fine motor skills e.g. tying shoes, writing,
using scissors
 Needs to verbally label everything that happens to comprehend
circumstances, spatial orientation, directional concepts and
coordination
 Has difficulty coping with changes in routing and transitions
 Has difficulty generalizing previously learned information
 Has difficulty following multi-step instructions
 Makes very literal translations
 Asks too many questions, may be repetitive and inappropriately
interrupt the flow of a lesson
 Imparts the “illusion of competence” because of the student’s
strong verbal skills
Specific intervention Strategies as per the type of LD
 Reading :
 Phonics
 Sight words
 Write the word ( target word) on a flash card
 b. Show the word to the student and say the word aloud
 c. Make a sentence using the word, as the word is shown
 d. Say the word again, pointing out to the word
 e. Place word cards with the target word and other words in
front of the student.
 Ask him/her to pick the card that reads the target word.
 f. If the student picks the word correctly, expose the child to
the next word. If
 the child cannot select the target word, point it out to the
student and say the
 word.
 g. Repeat the step until the child can select and read the sight
words correctly.
 Neurological Impress Method
In this method, the teacher and the student sit
side-by-side and read the same reading matter
nearly simultaneously. The teacher reads a little
faster than the student does and the student
quickly follows with reading. The teachers’
reading impresses upon the student the correct
reading and the student thus learns to read with
greater fluency. As the child spends more and
more time in this kind of paired-reading, the
teacher reduces the volume of her voice and
gradually the student reads by him/herself.
Using the finger or ruler to track the words
while reading
Writing:
 Handwriting difficulties:
 Providing exercises and activities to develop and
strengthen fine motor control will help in improving
the handwrititng
 Teaching the child what the correct body position to
write appropriately
 The pencil/ pen / writing instrument have to be
held firmly in the thumb, index finger and middle
finger
 Teachers should give multisensory input to learn
letter formation.
 Providing a ruled / square line paper to learn letter
and word spacing helps as well.
 Spelling:

 To help in learning spellings, we can teach the child

phonics. Teaching phonics involves teaching the
child the connection between the letters and the
sounds they make. Though most children learn the
sound-symbol association automatically, a child
with LD needs to be taught that explicitly.
 The way the child learns phonic skills, the child can
also learn to spell by learning spelling patterns , e.g.
word families – it family ( bit, fit, hit, kit, lit etc.)
 whole word approach can be used. The child, here
in, sees the word as a whole, tries to visualise the
word as a whole, write it as a whole while saying it
aloud. The child repeats this procedure until the
word is spelt correctly.
 Written Expression: Many students with LD
can write short sentences, but struggle when
they have to write paragraphs. We need to
teach the students techniques that will help
them break down the task of writing
paragraphs into smaller parts and attempt to
complete each one before putting the parts
together. For this, we can teach them the
strategy called POWER.
 P- plan what to write
 O - organize your thoughts and ideas
 W -writes the draft
 E - edits your work
 R- revises your work and writes the final draft
 Maths:
 The teaching of maths concepts very explicitly becomes very
important for children with LD. We cannot expect them to learn
the concepts by themselves without effort.
 Since children with LD have difficulties with directional concepts
like left–right, east-west, north-south etc. and this affects their
Math learning, these spatial concepts have to be taught to them.
The learning of these concepts then helps in learning the
placement of numbers and digits in alignment for computation.
 Training in understanding patterns in sequences is another crucial
learning. This helps develop quantitative reasoning (inductive
reasoning – drawing general conclusions based on specific
instances).
 E.g. - 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 In this number sequence, the child should
know what is the relationship of the first number with the second
and the second with the third and all the numbers with each other.
Only if the child can understand that the numbers are arranged by
skip counting by 5, the child can later learn the 5 times table. The
child can also learn and engage in using deductive reasoning. In
the same example given above, if the child can predict what
number comes after 25, the child has arrived at specific
 answer based on the rule that the numbers skip by five.

 Use square-line paper even for children in beyond
grade 3 and 4. Using square line
 paper helps the child to organise the space on the
paper to solve sums.

 v. Use colour coding to highlight important
concepts while solving sums. For example,
 use different colour pens to emphasize the units/
ones place, draw a box to write the
 28

 carry over number, use highlighter pens to identify
numbers that need to be regrouped
 to subtract ( bigger number from smaller number).

 Metacognitive strategies can be taught to the children to do word
problems. This is similar to the use of metacognitive strategies for
teaching reading comprehension. We will try to learn one specific
strategy – SQRQCQ
Survey – Read the entire word problem carefully to learn what it is about.
Question - Ask, "What question needs to be answered in the problem?"
Think about what the problem is asking.
Read - Read to find all the facts you need to answer the question. Look for
key words and terms like how much more, how many were left, all
together, total, difference that can help you to decide which facts are
needed to answer the question. Ignore any information that is not needed
to answer the question. Cross out any information not needed.
Question - Ask, "What computations must I so to answer the question?"
Decide if you need to add, subtract, multiply, divide, or do these
operations in some combination.
Compute - Write the problem on paper and do the computations. Check
to make sure your computations are accurate. Double-check your work.
Circle your answer.
Question - Ask, "Does my answer make sense?" You can tell if it does by
going back and looking at the question you tried to answer.