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##  Learning Disabilities Overview: Update 2002. ERIC Digest.                    

He lets out a sigh and slouches in his chair. Arms folded, he glares            at the book with a furrowed brow. After a moment, the boy glances at            his friend sitting across the aisle, leans forward to the book once             more, and runs his index finger along the lines of text. His lips               contort in an attempt to silently sound out the words that stare                back at him. He stops again, purses his lips, looks to the front of             the room, and raises his hand. When the boy's history teacher walks             over to the side of his desk, the boy quietly asks, "What does                  fed-er-al-ism mean?" 
This boy is one example of a student with                learning disabilities (LD). Individuals with LD typically look like             their peers, but  differ from them as well as others with LD in many            ways. For example, one person with learning disabilities may have               strengths in math and reasoning, yet weaknesses in understanding and            communicating what he or she hears or reads. Another person with LD             may demonstrate very different strengths and                                    weaknesses. 
Individuals with LD generally have average or above               average intelligence, yet they often do not achieve at the same                 academic level as their peers. Their weaker academic achievement,               particularly in reading, written language, and math, is perhaps the             most fundamental characteristic of individuals with LD. Significant             deficits often exist in memory, metacognition, and social skills as             well. Let's look a bit more closely at each of these                            areas. READINGIndividuals who have LD in reading have                     difficulties decoding or recognizing words (e.g., letter/sound                  omissions, insertions, substitutions, reversals) or comprehending               them (e.g., recalling or discerning basic facts, main ideas,                    sequences, or themes). They also may display other difficulties such            as losing their places while reading or reading in a choppy manner.             Some researchers argue that a difficulty with phonological awareness            or phonological processing-recognizing sound segments in the spoken             word-underlies reading disabilities, and this capability is                     requisite for understanding the relationship between written letters            and sounds (Torgesen & Wagner, 1998). 
Another term sometimes used             in conjunction with reading disabilities is dyslexia. Dyslexia may              be best understood as a type of reading disability. During early                childhood, children with dyslexia have difficulties learning spoken             language. Later in their school years, children with dyslexia have              trouble decoding and spelling words and, consequently, are likely to            experience comprehension problems also. 
A reading disability                  affects every aspect of an individual's life, from the early years              of school when children learn to read, to later years when students             are expected to read in order to learn specific content, and into               the community, home, and workplace where every person needs to                  acquire and understand written information. WRITTEN                           LANGUAGEFor students with LD, problems in written language can              occur in handwriting, spelling, sentence structure, vocabulary                  usage, volume of information produced, and organization of written              ideas. Moreover, individuals who have difficulties in one area may              demonstrate strengths in others. Many students with LD in reading               also have difficulty writing, since both areas are                              language-based (receptive and expressive). Difficulties with writing            affect a student's achievement in virtually every content area. For             example, students with writing difficulties may understand concepts             in science or social studies, but be unable to express their                    understanding on an essay exam or in a lab report. They may also                demonstrate considerable understanding in group or class                        discussions, but later turn in a homework assignment on the same                material that lacks clarity or organization. MATHPoor math                achievement may appear in difficulties differentiating numbers and              copying shapes (poor visual perception), recalling math                         facts (memory problems), writing numbers legibly or in small                    spaces (weak motor functions), and relating math terms to                       meaning (poor understanding of math-related vocabulary). Other weak             areas may include abstract reasoning (solving word problems and                 making comparisons) and metacognition (including identifying, using,            and monitoring the use of algorithms to solve math                              problems). MEMORYSome people with LD have weaknesses in                   working memory also. They have a difficult time processing                      information so that it can be stored in long-term memory. For                   example, some students with learning disabilities will "study" by               staring at notes or reading vocabulary words over and over again,               which are ineffective learning strategies. Consequently,                        difficulties in working memory can lead to difficulties in long-term            memory when a person needs to search for and retrieve knowledge in a            timely, organized manner. METACOGNITIONIndividuals with LD may            also have deficits in metacognition, the awareness of how one thinks            and the monitoring of one's thinking. Research suggests that many               individuals with LD do not know many effective cognitive strategies             for acquiring, processing, storing, and demonstrating understanding             of information. Weaknesses in metacognition then affect their                   understanding of when, where, and why their known strategies are                important, as well as their proficiency in selecting and monitoring             the use of strategies (Mercer, 1997). SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL                   CHARACTERISTICSStudents with LD may demonstrate social or                   behavioral challenges as well. Some exhibit fewer socially                      acceptable behaviors than peers, are unable to predict consequences             for behaviors, misinterpret social cues, or are less likely to adapt            their behavior to different social situations They are sometimes                neglected or rejected by peers. Coupled with academic weaknesses,               this experience can lead to lowered self-perceptions of competence              or worth among older individuals with LD. Others who have LD have               difficulty sitting at a desk for long periods of time in order to               attend to classroom tasks and may develop social or behavioral                  problems in response to their frustration with learning                         tasks. PREVALENCEMore than 50 percent of the students                     receiving special education services in the United States have LD.              The number of students identified as having LD and receiving special            education services has more than doubled since the original passage             of IDEA in 1975. Some educators estimate that between 5 and 10                  percent of children between ages 6 and 17 have LD. CAUSESNo               one is quite sure what causes LD. Some evidence indicates that LD               may "run in families," but that is not always the case.                         Environmental factors, from inadequate learning environments to                 exposure to harmful substances, may lead to LD. Recent studies using            imaging technology have found differences in brain structure between            students who have reading disabilities with oral language                       difficulties and those without disabilities. BEST                             PRACTICESResearch indicates that the best instructional                     practices for students with LD include direct instruction of                    specific skills and learning strategy instruction (Swanson & Hoskyn,            1998). Students with LD should be explicitly taught to complete a               variety of academic tasks in a step-by-step fashion. When taught                correctly, learning strategy interventions and direct instruction               provide students with appropriate modeling, practice, and feedback              to master skills and cognitive strategies for independent use in a              variety of situations in and outside of school. Successful strategy             and direct instruction programs include Self-Regulated Strategy                 Development for writing, learning strategies curriculum in reading,             writing, and memory from the Strategic Instruction Model, Direct                Instruction programs in reading and math, mnemonic strategies for               all content areas, and self-monitoring strategies. PROGRAM                    OPTIONSMost students with LD receive the majority of their                  education in the general education classroom. However, a continuum              of school services should be available to meet each individual                  student's needs. Support in the general education classroom can                 exist in the form of a special educator co-teaching with or serving             as a consultant to the general educator. Students may also receive              services in a resource room or a special classroom. In addition,                special schools are available for students whose needs cannot be met            in the regular school. The Individualized Education Program team                determines where a student with learning disabilities will receive              special education services. RESOURCESAdams, G. L., &                      Engelmann, S. (1996). Research on direct instruction: 25 years                  beyond DISTAR. Seattle, WA: Educational Achievement Systems. (ED 413            575) 
Hagborg, W. J. (1999). Scholastic competence subgroups among             high school students with learning disabilities. Learning Disability            Quarterly, 22(1), 3-10. 
Hallahan, D. P., & Kauffman, J. M. (2000).            Exceptional learners: Introduction to special education. Boston:                Allyn & Bacon. 
Harris, K. R., & Graham, S., (1999). Programmatic              intervention research: Illustrations from the evolution of                      self-regulated strategy development. Learning Disability Quarterly,             22(4), 251-262. 
Leonard, C. M. (2001). Imaging brain structure in             children: Differentiating language disability and reading                       disability. Learning Disability Quarterly, 24, 158-176. 
Lloyd, J.             W., Landrum, T. J., & Hallahan, D. P. (1991). Self-monitoring                   applications for classroom interventions. In G. Stoner, M. R.                   Shinn, & H. M. Walker (Eds.), Interventions for behavior and                    academic problems in regular classroom settings. Bethesda, MD:                  National Association of School Psychologists. 
Mercer, C.                      D. (1997). Students with learning disabilities (5th ed.). Upper                 Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Merrill. 
Raskind, W. H. (2001).               Current understanding of the genetic basis of reading and spelling              disability. Learning Disability Quarterly, 24, 141-157. 
Schumaker,            J. B., & Deshler, D. D. (1992). Validation of learning strategy                 interventions for students with LD: Results of a programmatic                   research effort. In Y. L. Wong (Ed.), Contemporary intervention                 research in learning disabilities: An international perspective. New            York: Springer-Verlag. 
Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M.                      A. (1992). Classroom applications of mnemonic instruction:                      Acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. Exceptional Children,             58(3), 219-229. 
Swanson, H. L., & Hoskyn, M. (1998). Experimental             intervention research on students with learning disabilities: A                 meta-analysis of treatment outcomes. Review of Educational Research,            68(3), 277-321. 
Torgesen, J. K., & Wagner, R. K., (1998).                     Alternative diagnostic approaches for specific developmental reading            disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 13(4),                 220-232. 
Council for Learning Disabilities                                    http://cld.cuesta.com/cld 
Division for Learning Disabilities,                 Council for Exceptional Children http:// www.dldcec.org 
LD Online             http://www.ldonline.org 
Learning Disabilities Association                     http://www.ldanatl.org 
National Center for Learning Disabilities              http:// www.ncld.org 
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ERIC Digests are in the public domain            and may be freely reproduced and disseminated, but please                       acknowledge your source. This digest was prepared with funding from             the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), US                   Department of Education, under Contract No. ED-99-C0-0026. The                  opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect               the positions of OERI or the Department of Education.                        **Title:** Learning Disabilities Overview: Update 2002. ERIC Digest.                    **Note:** Digest number E624.                                                          **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, Council for            Exceptional Children, 1110 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA                       22201-5709. Tel: 800-328-0272 (Toll Free); Fax: 703-620-2521;                   e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.ericec.org.                **Descriptors:** Academic Achievement,  Educational Practices, Elementary Secondary              Education, Incidence,  Instructional Effectiveness, Interpersonal               Competence,  Learning Disabilities, Mathematics, Memory,                        Metacognition, Reading,  Student Characteristics,  Underachievement,            Written Language                                                             **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests,  Related Services                                              
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