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Learning Disability - Understanding Learning Disability in Reading Comprehension:

A learning disability in reading comprehension affects the learner's ability to understand the meaning of words and passages. Students with learning disability in reading comprehension may also struggle with basic reading skills such as decoding words, but comprehension is the greater weakness. Some students with a learning disability in reading comprehension can read aloud with little or no difficulty pronouncing words, but they do not understand or remember what they've read. Reading aloud, their words and phrases are often read with no feeling, no change in tone, no logical phrasing, and no rhythm or pace.

Learning Disability - Causes of Comprehension Learning Disability:
A learning disability in reading comprehension likely involves difficulty with language processing and visual reasoning centers of the brain. A learning disability may result from inherited conditions or developmental differences in the brain. A learning disability is not solely due to vision problems, difficulty with hearing or speech, or lack of appropriate instruction.

Learning Disability - Symptoms of Learning Disability in Reading:
People with a learning disability in reading comprehension have difficulty understanding the important ideas in reading passages. They have difficulty with basic reading skills such as word recognition. In some cases, they may read aloud with little difficulty but do not understand or remember what they've read. Their phrasing and fluency are often weak. They frequently avoid reading and are frustrated with reading tasks in school. Naturally, reading comprehension problems affect many academic areas.

Learning Disability Instruction - Teaching for a Learning Disability:
Evaluation can provide information to help educators develop effective strategies. Typical strategies focus on using pre-reading tasks, mediated reading instruction, graphic organizing, and improving comprehension and retention. Teachers use assessment information to identify the specific types of reading problems a student has, and they choose effective strategies to correct the problems. This information is included in the child's IEP. Student progress is measured, and adjustments are made as needed.

Learning Disability Myths - Common Misconceptions on Learning Disability:
All students with a learning disability are at-risk for being underestimated in their abilities. People with a learning disability in reading comprehension have general learning ability that is as high as, or higher than their non learning disabled. They simply have a skill deficit in this single area. People with learning disabilities must work harder to get their work done. They may appear as if they are not putting forth effort when in fact, they are just overwhelmed. Learning disabled children know they are behind their peers, which affects their self-esteem and motivation.

Learning Disability Assessment - Testing, Assessment for a Learning Disability:
Learning disability diagnostic reading tests can be used to determine what specific types of problems are affecting the learner's reading skills. Through observations, analyzing student work, cognitive assessment, and possibly language assessment, educators measure your child's progress and can develop individualized education programs.


Learning Disability Help - Where to Get Help with a Learning Disability:
If you believe you or your child has a learning disability in reading comprehension, contact your school principal or counselor for information on how to request an assessment. If school staff are unable to help you, contact your school district's special education administrator for assistance.
For students in college and vocational programs, their school's advising office can assist with finding resources for assessment and accommodations for their learning disability.

Observation Is an Important Part of Assessment - Observations Provide Facts:
Observation is the planned viewing and analysis of students' behaviors and skills, their work environment, and their interactions with other students, and their teachers. Observations are an opportunity to see how students solve problems and to learn what factors may affect their ability to learn, complete work, and interact in a positive way with others
Observations Provide General Information, Specifics Skill Observations:
Observations are an important part of the special education diagnostic assessment process. They can be used for general information gathering or designed to identify specific behaviors. They can assess the student's ability to perform specific tasks and pinpoint exactly where students make mistakes in their work. They can be unstructured narratives, semi-structured forms, or highly structured, as in standardized behavior checklists

Types of Observation - The Narrative Observation:
Narrative Observations are written notes describing what the observer sees in the classroom.

Types of Observation - Semi-structured Observations:
Semi-structured Observations may be created by the observer to identify specific behaviors or factors that may affect the student's academic performance. Semi-structured forms usually rate the frequency of a behavior. For example, a form may be designed to determine how many times in a class period a student gets out of his seat to wander the room and how long it takes an adult to redirect him. They may also help observers identify triggers for behaviors.

Types of Observation - Highly structured Observations:
Highly structured observations are usually checklists that ask the observer to note whether a behavior or factor is present and to what degree. Such checklists are usually designed to assist in the diagnosis of a disorder such as Attention Deficit Disorder or in Learning Disabilities such as Dyslexia. They frequently include statistical comparisons that allow the examiner to determine how the student's behaviors compare to other students of his age and gender.
Dyslexia Symptoms, Definition and Diagnosis
Dyslexia is believed to be a neurological language processing disorder. Dyslexia symptoms usually include difficulty with written and spoken information. Dyslexia symptoms can range from mild to debilitating. In public schools dyslexia symptoms may be severe enough to qualify as a learning disability. However, not all school districts use the term dyslexia. Severe dyslexia may be called learning disabilities in reading or writing in your child's school.
Severe dyslexia symptoms may qualify for special education services. Specially designed instruction may be needed to address symptoms of dyslexia.
Further, students with dyslexia symptoms may have other receptive or expressive language or auditory processing difficulties.
Symptoms of dyslexia may include expressive language problems or disabilities. When reading aloud, for example, people with dyslexia may reverse words or parts of words. A dyslexic child may read the word bad as if it were dab. Word order and sounds may also be confused, by dyslexics, and words are often omitted or slurred over. The dog chased the cat down the street could become the gob chaled on the treats. Dyslexics may also reverse letters and words in written language. Mirror writing, a complete reversal of words, is sometimes present.
Dyslexia symptoms may also include difficulty with receptive language. Dyslexic people may not correctly perceive sounds or words. Whether reading aloud or silently or listening to spoken language, dyslexic students often cannot recall important details of what has been said or read. People with dyslexia may be unable to process material that is read to them and have difficulty explaining main ideas of material.
In speaking and listening, students with Dyslexia have difficulty pronouncing words, especially those with more than one syllable. Frequently people with dyslexia cannot repeat phrases that are spoken to them. They have difficulty gleaning the meaning from spoken phrases. Difficulty following instructions is also a symptom of dyslexia. Homonyms, synonyms, rhymes, and idioms are difficult for dyslexics. Dyslexics may also have problems with metaphors, similes, and other symbolic speech.

Dyslexia testing is the first step in identifying strategies for dyslexic students. Schools use evaluations for diagnosis of dyslexia. The dyslexia evaluation process can also provide important information to help teachers in planning the student's program. Analysis of the student's responses to test items and his performance on various scales of standardized dyslexia tests can provide important insights into how he learns.
Students with Dyslexia or other types of reading disorders such as specific learning disabilities in basic reading and reading comprehension can benefit from the specific information this type of analysis provides.
Special education teachers and school psychologists can work closely with the dyslexic student to analyze his work and gain immediate feedback and information on the types of reading and writing errors the student makes. This information can be very helpful in determining which teaching strategies may help the student and in developing specially designed instruction for dyslexia.
Dyslexia Programs - Developing Programs for Dyslexic Children in Special Education
Based on a child's individual needs, there are many strategies that can help children with dyslexia. It is very important for parents and educators to choose methods carefully based on the student's learning strengths, how the dyslexia affects her, and evaluation information. It is also important to monitor the child's progress to measure the effectiveness of interventions. It may be necessary to try different methods or use a combination of methods to meet a dyslexic child's learning needs.
• Multisensory Methods teach dyslexic students through their senses of touch, hearing, and sight.
• Individual Tutoring allows teachers to work with students with dyslexia in one-on-one sessions to give students immediate guidance and feedback as learn to read. This method catches learning errors quickly so they do not impair future learning.
• Phonics methods focus on the the dyslexic student's connections between sounds and their letter symbols.
• Whole Language Methods focus teach students through emphasis on natural reading activities and sight word vocabulary. In many cases, a student's reading skills may develop naturally from this exposure.
• Speech and Language Therapy can help students with phonological disorders focus on teaching students to recognize sight words and other strategies to effectively manage their learning differences.
Name: ________________________ Teacher:

Date Submitted: ____________ Title of Work: ___________________


Criteria Points

4 3 2 1
Letter Formation Each letter is formed correctly. All but 1 letter are formed correctly. 80% of the letters are formed correctly. 50% of the letters are formed correctly. ____
Letter Slant All letters have a uniform slant. All letters have a uniform slant with 1-3 exceptions. All letters have a uniform slant with 4-6 exceptions. Slant of letters vary from letter to letter. ____
Neatness There are no extra visible marks or smudges on the paper. There are 1-2 visible marks or smudges on the paper. There are 3-5 visible marks or smudges on the paper. There are more than 5 visible marks or smudges on the paper. ____
Relationship To Line All letters are located correctly in relationship to the lines. The size of 1-3 letters are slightly larger or smaller than the space allowed by the line. The size of 4-6 letters are slightly larger or smaller than the space allowed by the line. The size of more than 6 letters are slightly larger or smaller than the space allowed by the line. ____
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