Learning Difficulties
Language-Speech Disorders
Learning Disabilities
Learning Difficulties/ Disorders
Learning Disabilities :
Speech disorders/ Impediments
Language Disorders/ Impairments
Receptive Language Disorders
Specific Language Impairment (SLI)
Expressive Language Disorders
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
Dysgraphia
Inclusive Strategies and Accommodations: UDL
Definition:Communication disorder that interferes with the development of language skills in children that have hearing loss and intellectual disabilities, affecting children's four language domains (reading, writing, speaking, and listening)
Signs and Symptoms: students have difficulty... ...
Exclusive Strategies and Accommodations:
Signs and Symptoms: some signs to consider a child may have the Receptive Language Disorders
Definitions:students have difficulties with understanding what is said to them. these students also have expressive language disorders.
Exclusive Strategies and Accommodations: ,
FM communication system in the classroom
Have extra time to process spoken information and directions,
Use special lighting or acoustics
Use sensory tools such as an exercise band that can be looped around a chair’s legs (so fidgety kids can kick it and quietly get their energy out)
Give responses in a form (spoken or written) that’s easier for them, Capture responses on an audio recorder
Use a spelling dictionary or digital spellchecker
Use a calculator or table of “math facts”
Listen to audio recordings instead of reading text
Work with text in larger print size
Record a lesson, instead of taking notes
Use visual presentations of verbal material
not seeming to listen when they are spoken to
appearing to lack interest when storybooks are read to them
difficulty understanding the meaning of words and sentences
difficulty remembering all the words in a sentence in order to make sense of what has been said
inability to understand complicated sentences
inability to follow verbal instructions
especially if the instruction is long or complicated
not babbling by the age of 15 months
not talking by the age of 2 years
an inability to speak in short sentences by the age of 3
difficulty following directions
poor pronunciation or articulation
difficulty putting words together in a sentence
leaving words out of a sentence.
putting words together,
learning new words
following the directions
using the grammar correctly
using complex sentences
finding the right words
understanding figurative languages
organizing storytelling and writing,
finishing reading tasks.
visualized schedules and directions
create fixed procedures that students can ask for help
tape or recorded instructions for students to review
augmentative communication technologies (FM) for some physically impaired students
encourage classroom discussion and participation
co-teacher presented in the classroom (SLP or other language-speech specialists
make a safe and positive environment for students to share their thoughts
allow extra time on their assignments and tests
incorporate students' interests with the learning content,
provide the verbal clues and prompts frequently
give instant and positive feedback often
color-coded cues and instructions
Have more social interaction time with their peers
Modify the formats of the learning outcome with the same learning objectives.
have students evaluated with "Speech-Language Pathologists(SLP)"
Early Intervention after diagnosed
regular visit with SLP, 2-3 times a week,
small group intervention in the class,
pull-out intensive instruction groups
extra grammar and vocabulary building groups
preview the vocabulary list with the students
quiet spot and extended time for students to finish off work or exams
printed materials with bigger fonts
encourage parents to support students at home.
speech-language therapy (one-on-one or as part of a group, or both, depending on the needs of the child)
providing information to families so that they can facilitate language growth at home
special education classes at school
integration support at preschool or school in cases of severe difficulty
referral to a psychologist for treatment (only if there are also significant behavioural problems).
Evaluation with licensed SLP
further evaluation with the psychologists,
Intensive intervention with SLP regularly.
Hearing and vision tested.
Definition:Expressive language disorder is a lifelong condition that impacts the ability to use language. People with this language disorder understand what others are saying. But they have a hard time expressing their own ideas when they speak.It’s also not a problem with intelligence.
Signs and Symptoms:
Using vague words, like thing or stuff
Having lower-than-average vocabulary
Having trouble finding words
Using simple sentences or short phrases
Using words incorrectly
Leaving out words
Being late to begin talking
Speaking quietly
Inclusive Strategies and Accommodations:
Modeling out for the students.
Take time, allow different types of outcome, written, or recorded.
Sentence frames to scaffold students' process.
color coded read materials
Math vocabulary list for students refer to when they are express their reasoning.
Make sure student understands what is being asked in a written assignment. Explain words like compare and contrast.
Graphic organizer to visualize their thinking.
Give all instructions both in writing and verbally.
allow students to use other ways to communicate
Give instructions/directions orally and in writing.
Allow student to use a word processor with a spelling checker.
Step-by-step instruction with instant feedback on each small finished task.
Exclusive Strategies and Accommodations:
Role-playing is another great way to build conversation skills.
Talk about characters in books or on TV and the plots. Ask your child to explain what happened in a movie you just watched. You can keep it simple—”What were the three most exciting parts?”
SLPs at schools work with kids one-on-one or in a small group of kids with similar challenges
ongoing assessment of the child's progress in relation to his or her goals, modifying them as necessary
provide intervention that is individualized, based on the nature of a child's deficits and individual learning style
enhancing phonological awareness skills, such as rhyming, and segmentations of the words.
building up vocabulary
Create work bank for each periodic time.
practice usage of the vocab and their relationships, such as (prefix, suffix, etc)
Allow digital technologies to assist students typing and writing.
Definition:is a term that refers to trouble with writing, it's under the umbrella of " Disorder of written expressions". Many experts say that dysgraphia as challenges with a set of skills known as transcription, handwriting, typing, and spelling.
Signs and Symptoms: students are having difficulty in:
Inclusive Strategies and Accommodations:
Exclusive strategies and Accommodations
Inclusive Strategies and Accommodations
Exclusive Strategies and Accommodations
Definition:Dyslexia is a learning disability in reading.a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.Kids who have it are often smart and hardworking, but they have trouble connecting the letters they see to the sounds those letters make.
Exclusive Strategies and Accommodations
Inclusive Strategies and Accommodations
Signs and Symptoms: students have difficulty in
Definition: students who are associated with significant difficulty understanding numbers and working with mathematical concepts. including weaknesses in understanding the meaning of numbers, and difficulty applying mathematical principles to solve problems.
Confusing or skipping small words like for and of when reading aloud
Having trouble sounding out new words
Having trouble quickly recognizing common words (also called sight words )
Struggling to explain what happened in a story or answer questions about key details
Frequently making the same kinds of mistakes, like reversing letters
Having poor spelling, like spelling the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same exercise
Avoiding reading whenever possible or getting frustrated or upset when reading
Having trouble learning letter names and remembering the sounds they make
Often confusing letters that look similar (like b, d, p, and q) or sound similar (like f and v, b and p, or d and t)
Struggling to read familiar words (like cat), especially if there aren’t pictures
Substituting words when reading aloud, like saying house when the story says home
Having trouble separating the individual sounds in words and blending sounds to make a word
Having trouble remembering how words are spelled and applying spelling rules in writing
Mispronouncing words, like saying beddy tear instead of teddy bear
Struggling to name familiar objects and using general words like thing and stuff instead
Having a hard time learning nursery rhymes or song lyrics that rhyme
Having trouble remembering sequences, like singing the letters of the alphabet
Telling stories that are hard to follow or having trouble talking about an event in a logical order
Having difficulty remembering and following directions with multiple steps
Allow Text to speech books,
optical character recognitions (OCR)
Graphic Organizer, such as diagrams, mind maps, ideas, and concepts, which can help their comprehension.
Annotation Tools with speech to text features.
Display tool that can control how the text is showing.
Encourage students to use color coded or fonts to manage their notes and material.
Dictionary and Thesauri
Repeat the instructions or directions in both verbal and written forms.
Allow students to record their thoughts and notes
Chunk down the tasks into small steps, students can finish one at a time.
Read aloud time
Brain break time
positive feedback on student's every small success
Focus on their strengths
Communicate with parents regular, check in with them about students' progress at home, and suggest some paired reading time at home.
Regular Pull-out sessions to work on their writing and math skills.
Observe the student, find out his patterns on having trouble and burn out at certain subjects and activities. These will be valuable data to analyze students' needs.
private talk with students, find out what they need from adults and teachers.
A quiet spot for taking the exams or particular work.
Forming letters
keep the same consistency in writing
writing grammatically correct sentences
spacing letters correctly
writing in a straight line.
holding controlling a writing tools
writing clearly enough to read back later
writing complete words without skipping letters
neat writing
hold and controlling pencils in the young ages
provide paper assignments with printed name, date and tiles beforehand.
Rubric, directions are explained clearly and thoroughly with students, ask students to repeat and paraphrase the steps.
pencil gripper
grade what student know, not on their writing and spelling.
Allow different outcome formats, such as audio recording instead of writing, circle the answer or fill in the blanks instead of written open-ended questions.
Provide the printed materials and notes prior to the class.
Give the examples of the finished works.
provide graph paper in colors, so students can use colored lines to form their letters in the right position.
allow students use the digital typing tools, with spelling checks and prediction features.
students can use speech to text tools to take notes.
students should have regular Occupational and Physical therapist treatments every week.
some fun coloring and tracing exercises to improve their writing accuracy and consistency.
quiet room for some exams and tests.
Modify the formats of the exams to "circle the answer", "filling in the blanks", or even record their reasoning on the audio tools.
provide extended testing time.
typing in normal speed
completing their writing assignment
knowing what to write, and starting off the writing work.
counting and skipping over numbers in the right order compare with their peers,
understanding the meaning of counting, precise numbers.
recognizing patterns, such as smallest to the biggest, and shortest to tallest.
understanding number symbols, like making the connection with word format and drawing format of the numbers.
remembering basic math facts. such as, 3*3=9
using more advanced strategies instead counting their fingers to solve the math problems.
identify the math operation signs and apply them in the right way.
understanding math vocabulary and terms.
understanding the place value chart and put the numbers in the right columns.
understanding the math concepts and commutativity.
keeping the scores in the sports games.
keeping track of the money, and figuring out the total cost.
reading charts and graphs.
applying math knowledge in figuring out the money.
lacking of confident in any activities that related to the numbers, distance, money, etc.
graphic organizers: to manage their information and help them break down the problem into steps.
check in frequently to make sure the student understands the works.
using real-life related tools to teach math.
let the student write out charts or draw sketches to solve problems.
Modeling out the "self-talk" solving the problems.
Activate students prior knowledge can improve their work memory.
seperate sheets for word problems and number problem.
Give one question at a time, and give positive feedback with every small achievement.
Give the clear, step-by-step instruction, and ask student to repeat it and check their understanding.
allow extra time in exams and assignments.
provide math facts and multiplication tables.
providing visual cues, aids and manipulative when solving problems.
providing more space and paper for students write and sketch their thoughts.
Highlight or circle the keywords for numbers on word problems.
quiet room for exams or work.
Multisensory items to build students' number senses.
explicit instruction with cumulative practice.
Do a think aloud with the students, model verbalizing the thinking.
allow some scaffolding and independent practice opportunities.
give quick feedback on students' work or effort.
visualize thinking: tape diagrams, bar models, pictures, and graphic organizers.
peer interactions to practice their reasoning, various thinking and solving strategies.
regular pull-out classes to work on basic number senses and operations.
Provide the mathematical vocabulary prior to the classes.
co-teacher support in class.
Parents can play board games at home.
small group intensive instructions.
real-life scenarios like baking, and cooking, students can have a better sense of the quantities and numbers.
further evaluations to see if there are other comorbidities co-occurring along with the dyscalculia.
possible comorbidities: students have expressive language disorders might have other learning disabilities or language speech disorders. other speech impairments caused by the brain injury, damage of the nerve or trauma, such as mutism, aphasia, and alalia, and autism.
Comorbidity: students who have receptive language disorders will very likely to have the expressive language disorders, and some other physical disabilities can be the vital cause to the receptive language disorders, like hearing and vision loss, and some brain injury or nerve damages, etc.
Possible Comorbidity: some of the signs and symptoms are overlapped with other learning disorders, such as speech delay, or some ELL students are also sharing some of the symptoms when they are learning English. again some students with ADHD and ADD will have some difficulty in following the directions, and students with dyslexia will have difficulty in reading assignment.
Comorbidity: some students who have low intellectual level can have dysgraphia symptoms, ELL students sometimes are also showing the dysgraphia symptoms. students with poor motor skills can end up with dysgraphia, common co-occurring impediments are ADHD, dyslexia, writing expression disorders, expressive language disorders, etc.
Comorbidity: students who have dyslexia may also be someone who are dealing with stress and anxiety, students have the expressive language, other speech disorders or ADHD may share the similar symptoms like dyslexia, like finding the right words to say, difficulty in following the directions, can not concentrate in a noisy place. poor working memory are the signs for both dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
* Comorbidity: Anxiety is the typical sign for students who have dyscalculia, because of the low motivation in math, students with dyscalculia might have short concentration span like students with ADHD, ADD, also the short working memory are affecting students both with dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Auditory Processing Disorder
Visual Perceptual/visual Motor deficit
Language Processing Disorder
Nonverbal Processing Disorder
(APD), patients have difficulty processing sounds. Individuals with APD may confuse the order of sounds or be unable to filter different sounds, like a teacher’s voice versus background noise. In APD, the brain misinterprets the information received and processed from the ear.
Individuals with visual perceptual/visual motor deficit exhibit poor hand-eye coordination, often lose their places when reading, and have difficulty with pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, and other fine motor activities. They may also confuse similar looking letters, have trouble navigating their surroundings, or demonstrate unusual eye activity when reading or completing assignments.
While it may sound like nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD) relate to an individual’s inability to speak, it actually refers to difficulties in decoding nonverbal behaviors or social cues. NVLD sufferers struggle with understanding body language, facial expressions and tone of voice, or the nonverbal aspects of communication
A subset of auditory processing disorder, language processing disorder arises when an individual has specific challenges in processing spoken language, impacting both receptive and expressive language. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, in language processing disorder, “there is difficulty attaching meaning to sound groups that form words, sentences, and stories
A condition that impacts an individual’s ability to speak fluently, correctly, or with clear resonance or tone. Individuals with speech disorders have problems creating understandable sounds or forming words, leading to communication difficulties
Signs of Impediments
Added sounds - This can involve adding extra sounds in a word, such as “buhlack” instead of “black,” or repeating sounds like “b-b-b-ball.”
Substituted sounds - When sounds are substituted or distorted, such as saying “wabbit” instead of “rabbit,” it may indicate a speech disorder.
Omitted sounds - This symptom can include the omission of part of a word, such as saying “bo” instead of “boat,” and may include omission of consonants or syllables
Use of gestures - When individuals use gestures to communicate instead of words, a speech impediment may be the cause
Unintelligible speech - A speech disorder may be present when others have difficulty understanding a person’s verbalizations
Inappropriate pitch - This symptom is characterized by speaking with a strange pitch or volume
Categories of Speech Impediments
Articulation disorders occur when a patient has difficulty producing speech sounds. These disorders may stem from physical or anatomical limitations such as muscular, neuromuscular, or skeletal support. Examples of articulation speech impairments include sound omissions, substitutions, and distortions
Resonance disorders are related to voice quality that is impacted by the shape of the nose, throat, and/or mouth. Examples of resonance disorders include hyponasality and cul-de-sac resonance
Phonological disorders result in the misuse of certain speech sounds to form words. Conditions include fronting, stopping, and the omission of final consonants
Fluency disorders occur when a patient has trouble with speech timing or rhythms. This can lead to hesitations, repetitions, or prolonged sounds. Fluency disorders include stuttering (repetition of sounds) or (rapid or irregular rate of speech)
Voice disorders are the result of problems in the larynx that harm the quality or use of an individual’s voice. This can impact pitch, resonance, and loudness
Treatments
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices
1)Picture Boards
2)ouch Screens
3)Keyboards
4)Text Displays
5)Speech-Generated Devices
Hearing Aids
Cochler Implants
Assistive Learning Devices
1)Radio transmission systems
2)Personal Amplifiers