TWI
for the Children
"Interview on Learning Disabilities
and
Attention Deficit Disorder"
Bonnie Miller
What are learning disabilities? Are these children delayed in all academic subjects?
Learning disabilities are not synonymous with mental
retardation. While mentally retarded children are behind their peers in all
areas of intellectual and social development, children with learning
disabilities have normal intelligence but have difficulties in only a few areas.
Their performance is uneven and inconsistent, with talents in some
aspects and delays in others.
Can learning disabilities be caused by emotional problems or family
problems?
Learning
disabilities are caused by neurological problems that affect how children
process and remember information and understand concepts.
Emotional and family problems can lead to difficulties in concentrating
and learning, but they do not cause learning disabilities, which are acquired at
birth or even before.
What kinds of academic problems do children with
learning disabilities have?
Some
children have difficulty comprehending and making
sense of what they see. They have
no physical impairments in their actual vision, but they find it hard to decode
letters or understand which sounds correspond to the letters.
Sometimes the words on the page appear to run into each other or off the
page or are backward or transposed with other letters.
So these children may have problems with reading; it takes them longer to
decipher words. They also may have
difficulty keeping their place when copying off the blackboard and find it hard
to concentrate on what the teacher is saying while having to take notes at the
same time. In mathematics, they may
reverse numbers or have difficulty putting digits in the correct column to solve
a problem.
Children
with learning disabilities may have auditory problems.
Their hearing acuity is satisfactory, but they may have difficulty with
auditory discrimination, making sense of the sounds that enter their ears.
They may confuse vowels or consonants that sound similar to each other.
They may also have slow auditory processing which is similar to what
people experience when they are first learning a foreign language.
When they hear a word or phrase, they may need to ask themselves, “What
does this mean?” As they are
undertaking this process, they may miss the next words or sentences, so it takes
a lot of concentration to comprehend what others are saying.
Teachers should be aware of this problem and present material in written
as well as oral ways. Children with
learning disabilities may have difficulty following a series of multiple
instructions, so teachers can help them by giving only one directive at a time.
All of these problems can cause children with learning disabilities to
work more slowly than others. In
addition, some children with learning disabilities think very concretely and
have difficulty with generalizations and abstractions.
Memory
problems are another area in which children with learning disabilities struggle.
They may have difficulty remembering information for a test, or their
memory may be erratic. Because of
these difficulties, children may become anxious before exams or lose confidence
in their ability to retain important facts and concepts.
Written
language
is
sometimes problematic for children with learning
disabilities. They may have
difficulty transferring their thoughts to paper.
In
addition, children with learning disabilities may also have poor motor
skills.
Fine motor control
problems affect their handwriting, which may
look messy and immature, with crossed-out words and poor letter formation.
Gross
motor skills
are also affected by learning disabilities.
These children may have difficulty knowing where their body is in space.
They have trouble distinguishing left from right and which side to start
on when writing. In addition, they
may have poor gross motor coordination, which affects their performance in
sports and causes awkwardness or clumsiness.
Organization
is another area influenced by learning disabilities.
The desks, backpacks, and bedrooms of these kids may be in disarray.
Although they may insist that they know where everything is, they find it
difficult to keep track and often even misplace finished assignments or lose
things that they need for school or their social life.
Tackling a large project is a major challenge because many children with
learning disabilities don’t know how to organize the assignment and have
difficulty breaking it down into steps that must be put in order.
When telling a story, they may mix up beginning, middle, and end. They may have difficulty with time and space concepts such as
before and after, yesterday and tomorrow, over and under, etc.
It sounds like these
problems can impact other aspects of their lives besides school.
Is this true?
Definitely!
Learning disabilities cause problems in living that affect
children every day of their lives. If
they don’t understand directions, these children may not comprehend important
instructions or plays when participating in sports.
They may also miss the date, time, and place to meet a friend because of
their weak auditory processing or memory problems.
Because they think concretely, they may not grasp the puns and nuances of
jokes. They struggle to keep things
organized and may become anxious when they are not able to understand crucial
information or cause-and-effect relationships. They may not be able to
articulate what they intend to say; the right words don’t come to mind
instantaneously. Social skills that come naturally to their peers may not be
as effortless for these children, and they may misinterpret people’s tone of
voice and facial expressions, resulting in inappropriate
responses.
Their organizational and social problems may cause their parents and peers
to criticize them. Friends, family,
and others may become frustrated and accuse these children of not trying hard
enough. They are trying, maybe
harder than children without learning problems, but because they don’t achieve
the desired results, they begin to feel badly about themselves and lose
confidence. This phenomenon results
in a vicious circle: trying hard,
not getting the intended outcome, negative feedback, low self-esteem, lack of
effort, loss of self-confidence, lower self-esteem, more negative feedback.
How common are learning disabilities?
There
have not been any epidemiological studies done in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but there
is no reason to believe that the prevalence is any different from that in the
U.S. where research on learning disabilities has been conducted for decades.
A conservative estimate is that 5-10% of children have learning
disabilities, and there are many more boys than girls.
This represents at least a few children in every classroom.
Do people outgrow learning disabilities?
Not
always, but they can learn to compensate for them. It is important that teachers draw on the child’s strengths
while remediating the weak points. Learning
disabilities often carry over into adulthood, but we find that many people with
these problems choose professions at which they can excel, and some, like
Einstein and Churchill, have made huge contributions to the world.
What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
This is a syndrome that affects 3-5% of the
school-age population. It stems
from neurological problems and involves neurotransmitters which are involved in
how a child pays attention. These
are not spoiled children who choose to misbehave or children who are suffering
from trauma or emotional problems that affect their concentration.
ADHD should be diagnosed by a psychologist or physician who has
experience with this disorder. The psychologist has the advantage of observing the child in
his natural school environment to see how the child responds in different
situations. The physician can
gather information on family background and medical history
to help make a diagnosis.
There
are three characteristics involved in ADHD.
Distractibility and
inattention
cause difficulties
for children in focusing on what is important in school and in other aspects of
their lives. These children pay
attention to too many things and are distracted by external
(noises, visual distractions) things in their environment as well as internal
distracters such as bodily discomfort or daydreaming. They have difficulty completing tasks that require sustained
attention.
Hyperactivity
is the second characteristic of ADHD, but not all children with ADHD have this
symptom. There are actually two
categories of ADHD, the inattentive type and the kind with hyperactivity and
impulsivity, which is more prevalent among boys.
Hyperactive children sometimes seem to be driven by an overactive motor
that keeps them moving and “on the go.”
They have difficulty sitting still and often fidget. They may make
extraneous noises that annoy others or talk excessively or ask continuous
questions.
Impulsivity
is the third characteristic of ADHD that affects children’s behavior in and
out of school. These children act
before they think, so they often get in trouble because they don’t stop to
consider the alternatives. They
rush through work, make careless mistakes, and have difficulty waiting their
turn. People in their environment may become angry when the
impulsive child interrupts or becomes impatient and demands what he wants right
now.
How can teachers and parents help these children?
As with Learning Disabilities, teaching which takes into
account the child’s cognitive style is important to facilitate the success of
ADHD children in school. Active
learning, small group work, short activity periods, and interesting ways of
presenting lessons are methods that keep these children focused on academic
tasks. Structure and behavior
modification, both at home and at school, help these children organize their
lives. Social skills training is
also effective for children who don’t automatically acquire these
proficiencies like other children their age.
And we can’t discount the importance of helping these children feel
good about themselves by finding strengths and interests to focus their energies
and provide positive feedback. High
self-esteem and motivation are key for children to keep trying and not give up
on themselves.
A combined program of behavior modification, specialized
educational adaptations, and, for some children, medication, can make a huge
difference to help children with
ADHD. Low doses of psycho-stimulant
medication have been used with hundreds of thousands of children in many
countries for decades. Rather than
sedating these children and making them lethargic, the medication sharpens
attention and enhances concentration so that the child is able to focus for
longer periods of time. Medication
is effective with up to 80%-90% of children who are correctly diagnosed with
ADHD, but it is important that it be monitored by a physician who is
knowledgeable about ADHD who uses feedback from the parents and teachers.
How can I learn more about Learning Disabilities and Attention
Deficit Disorder?
TWI for the Children has produced a video for parents and teachers
that discusses the symptoms of Learning
Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder and gives numerous suggestions for
classroom teachers for identifying and helping these children. The video and accompanying teacher guidebook are provided to
participants at TWI Training held in the Balkans.
These “training for trainers” seminars are held annually throughout the
Balkans so that these trainers can in turn take the video and other
materials back to their schools to educate other teachers.
There is also a plethora of information on learning
disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder in English on the Internet,
including numerous sites with information and suggestions for teachers, parents,
doctors, and others who are concerned about these issues.
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Updated: 01/26/2010