Assessing

Learners with
Specific Learning
Disabilities

WMSU Prepared by:

SHELA S. ROSALES, PhD
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Specific Learning Disability
A child with specific learning disabilities is one who has a
disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or in using
language, spoken or written. This disorder may manifest
itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak red or
do mathematical calculations. Such disorders include
perceptual handicap, brain injury, minimal brain
dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.
Learning disabled does not refer to children who have
learning problems that are primarily the result of visual,
hearing or motor handicap, intellectual disability,
emotional disturbance or environmental, cultural or
economic disadvantage.

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Specific Learning Disability

This disorder may manifest itself in an

imperfect ability to listen, think, speak red or
do mathematical calculations. Such
disorders include perceptual handicap, brain
injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia
and developmental aphasia.

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Specific Learning Disability

A child with specific learning disabilities is

one who has a disorder in one or more of
the basic psychological processes involved
in understanding or in using language,
spoken or written.

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Specific Learning Disability
Learning disabled does not refer to children
who have learning problems that are
primarily the result of visual, hearing or
motor handicap, intellectual disability,
emotional disturbance or environmental,
cultural or economic disadvantage.

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Characteristics:
• Difficulty reading is the most common
characteristic of students with learning
disabilities. It is estimated 80% of all
children identified as learning disabled are
referred for special education services
because of reading problems.

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Characteristics:
• Many students with learning disabilities
show one or more of the following
characteristics: deficits in written
language, underachievement in math,
poor social skills, attention deficits and
hyperactivity, behavior problems, and low
self-esteem/self-efficacy.

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Characteristics:

• The fundamental, defining characteristic of

students with learning disabilities is
specific and significant achievement
deficits in the presence of adequate
overall intelligence.

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Characteristics:

• In addition to their academic and social

skills deficits, students with learning
disabilities possess positive attribute and
interests that teachers should identify and
try to strengthen.

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Identification and Assessment

Five forms of assessment are frequently

used with students with learning disabilities:
1. Norm-referenced test compare a child’s
score with the scores of age mates who
have taken the same test.

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Identification and Assessment

2. Criterion-referenced test, which compare

a child’s score with a predetermined mastery
level are useful in identifying specific skills
the child has learned as well as skills that
require instruction.

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Identification and Assessment

3. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is

a formative evaluation method that
measures a student’s progress in the actual
curriculum in which she is participating.
CBM is the primary means of assessment in
RTI models.

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Identification and Assessment

4. Direct and daily measurement involves

assessment of student’s performance on a
specific skill each time it is taught.

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Identification and Assessment
5. Response to Intervention (RTI), a
promising approach to the prevention and
early identification of learning disabilities,
uses curriculum-based measurement for at-
risk children’s progress during one to two 10
to 12-week trials of intensive individual or
small-group instruction with scientifically
validated instruction. Failure to respond to
the treatment suggest a learning disability.

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 Checklist for the Identification of a
Learning Disabled Child
Directions: Put a checkmark (/) on the space
corresponding to the behavior or condition
manifested by the child.

_____ 1. Looks typical but doesn’t learn

typically.
_____ 2. Is intelligent, often gifted

_____ 3. Has a short attention span.

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 Checklist for the Identification of a
Learning Disabled Child
_____ 4. Has reading, spelling, writing or math
achievement that are significantly
below child’s capability level.
_____ 5. Is easily distracted.
_____ 6. Has poor listening skills.
_____ 7. Has trouble following directions.
_____ 8. Doesn’t seem to be trying, acts lazy or
is defiant.
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 Checklist for the Identification of a
Learning Disabled Child
_____ 9. Sometimes uses immature speech
and language.
_____10. Confuses left and right.
_____11. Sometimes uses immature
movements, is awkward, clumsy.
Shows poor motor coordination (i.e,
reaches one hand out and the other
hand follows)
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 Checklist for the Identification of a
Learning Disabled Child
_____12. Exhibits immature behavior.
_____13. Displays general disorganization, poor
organization of time and space.
_____14. Often has difficulty with task
employing paper and pencil.
_____15. Produces many reversal (i.e. “b”
instead of “d”) and rotations (i.e., “b”
instead of “q”) in written work.
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 Checklist for the Identification of a
Learning Disabled Child
_____16. Is consistent in behavior and work.
_____17. Frequently displays exceptional ability
in the arts, sports, science and
verbalization.

Interpretation: A pupil who manifest these

behaviors may have a learning disability. So
he/she should be further tested or referred to
diagnosticians. 19
Note: Download more checklist and scales
for LD online.

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 Dyslexia
DEFINITION OF DYSLEXIA

(1) “Dyslexia” means a disorder of constitutional

origin manifested by a difficulty in learning to read,
write, or spell, despite conventional instruction,
adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity.
(2) “Related disorders” includes disorders similar
to or related to dyslexia such as developmental
auditory imperception, dysphasia, specific
developmental dyslexia, developmental dysgraphia,
and developmental spelling disability

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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 provision of
effective classroom instruction. Secondary
consequences may include problems in reading
comprehension and reduced reading experience that
can impede growth of vocabulary and background
knowledge. (Adopted by the International Dyslexia
Board of Directors, November 12, 2002).
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 Characteristics of Dyslexia

The primary difficulties of a student identified as having

dyslexia occur in phonemic awareness and manipulation,
single-word decoding, reading fluency, and spelling.
Secondary consequences of dyslexia may include
difficulties in reading comprehension and/or written
expression. These difficulties are unexpected for the
student’s age, educational level, or cognitive abilities.
Additionally, there is often a family history of similar
difficulties.

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Dyslexia

The primary reading and spelling

characteristics of dyslexia are as follows:
•Difficulty reading real words in isolation;
•Difficulty accurately decoding nonsense
words;
•Slow, inaccurate, or labored oral reading
(lack of reading fluency);
•Difficulty with learning to spell.

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Dyslexia
The reading/spelling characteristics are the
result of difficulty with the following:
•The development of phonological
awareness, including segmenting,
blending, and manipulating sounds in
words;
•Learning the names of letters and their
associated sounds;
•Phonological memory (holding
information about sounds and words
in memory);
•Rapid naming of familiar objects, colors,
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Dyslexia

Secondary consequences of dyslexia may

include the following:
•Variable difficulty with aspects of reading
comprehension;
•Variable difficulty with aspects of written
composition;
•A limited amount of time spent in reading
activities.

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Common Signs of Dyslexia:
The following signs may be associated with dyslexia if they
are unexpected for the individual’s age, educational level, or
cognitive abilities.

Pre-school:
•May talk later than most children;
•May have difficulty with rhyming;
•May have difficulty pronouncing words (i.e., busgetti for
spaghetti, mawn lower for lawn mower);
•May have poor auditory memory for nursery rhymes and
chants;
•May be slow to add new vocabulary words;
•May be unable to recall the right word;
•May have trouble learning numbers, days of the week,
colors, shapes, and how to spell and write his or her name.27
Common Signs of Dyslexia:

Kindergarten through third grade:

•Fails to understand that words come
apart;
•Has difficulty learning the letter names
and their corresponding sounds;
•Has difficulty decoding single words
(reading single words in isolation)—lacks a
strategy;
•Has difficulty spelling phonetically;
•Oral reading is choppy and labored
(nonfluent);
•Relies on context to recognize a word. 28
Common Signs of Dyslexia:
Kindergarten through third grade:
•Fails to understand that words come apart;
•Has difficulty learning the letter names and their corresponding sounds;
•Has difficulty decoding single words (reading single words in isolation)—
lacks a strategy;
•Has difficulty spelling phonetically;
•Oral reading is choppy and labored (nonfluent);
•Relies on context to recognize a word.

Fourth grade through high school:

•Has a history of reading and spelling difficulties;
•Avoids reading out loud;
•Reads most materials slowly;
•oral reading is labored, not fluent;
•Avoids reading for pleasure;
•May have an inadequate vocabulary;
•Has difficulty spelling;
•may resort to using less complicated words in writing that are easier to
spell. 29
Dysgraphia – a writing disability.
Symptoms
•Cramped grip, which may lead to a sore
hand.
•Difficulty spacing things out on paper or
within margins (poor spatial planning)
•Frequent erasing.
•Inconsistency in letter and word spacing.
•Poor spelling, including unfinished words or
missing words or letters.
•Unusual wrist, body, or paper position while
writing. 30
Dysgraphia Characteristics
Handwriting:

Combination of:
•Fine-motor difficulty
•Inability to remember motor patterns associated with letters
•Inability to revisualize letters.
.
Types of graphomotor dysfunction:
•Motor-memory dysfunction (inability to combine motor output and
memory input)
•Graphomotor production deficit (inability to produce graphomotor
movements, awkward pencil grip, and muscle coordination)
•Motor feedback difficulty (trouble tracking location of pencil, face too
close to the paper, use of larger muscles or joints to write)

https://www.edubloxtutor.com/dysgraphia/
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Dysgraphia Characteristics
Spelling:
•Language awareness and memory problems (including letters and words)
•Difficulties analyzing sounds, syllables, and meaningful word parts
•Problems learning other symbolic codes (i.e., math facts/symbols)
•Difficulty comprehending spelling rules, patterns, and structures (in older
children); lack of phonemic awareness (in younger children)
•Those with dysorthographia have orthographic memory problems (i.e., visual
memory for spelling)
.
Written composition:
•Production problems (overly simplistic; too many common words; or complex
with errors in syntax, morphology, or semantics)
•Memory capacity deficiencies (short-term, long-term, and active working
memory)
•Unsophisticated ideation (difficulty selecting a topic, brainstorming, researching,
thinking critically, coming up with ideas, etc.)
•Organizational problems (don’t know where to begin, confusion with steps)
.
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Warning signs

In early writers:
•Tight, awkward pencil grip and body position
•Avoiding writing or drawing tasks
•Trouble forming letter shapes
•Inconsistent spacing between letters or words
•Poor understanding of uppercase and lowercase letters
•Inability to write or draw in a line or within margins
•Tiring quickly while writing
.

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 Warning signs

In young students:
•Illegible handwriting
•Mixture of cursive and print writing
•Saying words out loud while writing
•Concentrating so hard on writing that
comprehension of what’s written is missed
•Trouble thinking of words to write
•Omitting or not finishing words in sentences

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 Warning signs

In teenagers and adults:

•Trouble organizing thoughts on paper
•Trouble keeping track of thoughts already written down
•Difficulty with syntax structure and grammar
•Large gap between written ideas and understanding
demonstrated through speech
.

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Dyscalculia – mathematics disability.

Typical symptoms include:

•difficulty counting backwards.
•difficulty remembering 'basic' facts.
•slow to perform calculations.
•weak mental arithmetic skills.
•a poor sense of numbers & estimation.
•Difficulty in understanding place value.
•Addition is often the default operation.
•High levels of mathematics anxiety.

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Dyscalculia Characteristics

Pre-school
•Has trouble learning to count
•Struggles to connect a number to an
object, such as knowing that “3”
applies to groups of things like 3
cakes, 3 cars, or 3 friends
•Struggles to recognize patterns, like
smallest to largest or tallest to
shortest
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Dyscalculia Characteristics
Primary School
•Has difficulty learning and recalling basic number facts such as
number bonds, e.g. 6 + 4 = 10.
•Still uses fingers to count instead of using more advanced strategies
(like mental maths)
•Poor understanding of the signs +, -, xx and x or may confuse these
mathematical symbols
•Struggles to recognise that 3 + 5 is the same as 5 + 3 or may not be
able to solve 3 + 26 ‒ 26 without calculating
•Has trouble with place value, often putting numbers in the wrong
column.
•May not understand maths language or be able to devise a plan to
solve a maths problem.
•Finds it difficult to understand maths phrases like greater
than and less than
•Has trouble keeping score in sports or games
•Has difficulty working out the total cost of items and can run out of
money
•May avoid situations that require understanding numbers, like
playing games that involve maths.
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Dyscalculia Characteristics
Secondary School
•Struggles to understand information on charts and
graphs.
•Has trouble finding different approaches to the same
maths problem, such as adding the length and width of a
rectangle and doubling the answer to solve for the
perimeter (rather than adding all the sides).
•Struggles to learn and understand reasoning methods
and multi-step calculation procedures
•Has trouble measuring items like ingredients in a simple
recipe or liquids in a bottle.
•Lacks confidence in activities that require understanding
speed, distance and directions, and may get lost easily.
•Has trouble applying maths concepts to money, such as
calculating the exact change
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Dyscalculia Characteristics
Adults
Typical symptoms include:
•difficulty counting backwards
•difficulty remembering ‘basic’ facts
•slow to perform calculations
•weak mental arithmetic skills
•a poor sense of numbers & estimation
•Difficulty in understanding place value
•Addition is often the default operation
•High levels of mathematics anxiety

Source: Maths Explained

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dyscalculia/