Education
Perspectives on Parenting©
by Nancy Lambert Davenport
Nancy Davenport's Column:
For Richardson News 09-05-99
Copyright Nancy Lambert Davenport 1999
"Types of Learning Processes"
Last week, I listed many of the symptoms people, especially children, may display if they have learning disabilities. It's not easy to identify these because there is no definite rash or fever, no single clear indicator, but with work and a competent diagnostician a disability can be pin pointed. When that is done teachers and parents can then more accurately intervene with modifications to the learning process. First though the disability must be identified and named.
According to Dr. Larry Silver in an article called "A Look at Learning Disabilities in Children and Youth" in The Learning Disability Association of Montgomery County Newsletter, November 1991, there are four basic types of disabilities within the learning process - input, integration, memory, and output disabilities.
INPUT
Our eyes, ears, and muscles are the three main ways we receive information in order to learn. This input process is called perception. Some people see letters differently - reversed or upside down, or they may skip words altogether when they read, having a devastating effect on their comprehension. Some people may have poor depth perception so are accident prone. Others have trouble with auditory input. They may confuse similar words, have trouble distinguishing important sounds from background noise, or process a conversation too slowly to be appropriate. Still others, may have kinesthetic disabilities causing trouble with coordination and touch sensitivity.
INTEGRATION
Many people have trouble sorting out information once it has reached the brain. They have trouble with time and dates and telling a story in the order of events. This sequencing problem for young children might even involve putting clothing on in the wrong order. People with integration difficulties may also have trouble with abstraction. They may take everything literally rather than seeing even basic symbolism. Often jokes or puns are lost on them. This aspect of disability plays havoc with a person's organizational skills both in life and in learning. Their school notebooks and rooms will be a mess, but also organizing their thoughts can be difficult. Social skills are also damaged.
MEMORY
Even if a person can receive information accurately (input) and can sort it out (ietegration), they may have trouble retrieving that information later. A learning disability in this area usually affects the short-term memory. Someone will forget his spelling words from the night before but remember the details of an event that occurred two years before.
OUTPUT
Getting information to come out of the brain can be in the form of spoken language or muscle activity like writing or gesturing. A person may be able to get as far as receiving information, sorting it, and remembering it, but he may have trouble telling you about it. He may be able to communicate spontaneously in a casual conversation, but get confused when demands are made for an organized presentation of thoughts. With output disabilities a person may have either gross or fine motor deficits when trying to accomplish tasks. This person will have trouble with running, climbing, tying shoes or have poor handwriting. He will have trouble getting thoughts down on paper but can tell you very clearly what he wants to communicate.
None of these descriptions are definitive because there are no clear lines when diagnosing learning disabilities and also there may be multiple learning disabilities. These descriptions provided by Dr. Silver and modified by me may at least get a teacher or parent started in the right direction helping a student with learning disabilities actually learn.
Return to Top of Page
Return to Table of Contents
Return to Home Page
Nancy Lambert Davenport
EMAIL: ndavenport@ticnet.com
URL: http://www.nancyldavenport.com