Supporting
Students with Learning
Disabilities
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7
What is
a Learning Disability?
Learning disabilities are due to genetic and/or neurological factors or injury that
alters brain function in a manner that affects one or more proc
esses relate to learning.
These disorders are not due primarily to hearing and/or vision problems, social
-
economic factors, cultural or linguistic differences, lack of motivation, inadequate or
insufficient instruction, although these factors may further c
omplicate the challenges
faced by individuals with learning disabilities.
Learning disabilities may co
-
exist with
other disorders such as attention,
behavioural
or emotional disorders, sensory
impairments, or other medical conditions.
Learning disabilities can interfere with a student meeting his or her intellectual
and life potential.
Learning disabilities result in unexpected academic
underachievement.
Learning disabilities
may
impact the acquisition,
organization, understanding, rete
ntion and/or use of information.
Learning disabilities are complex and go beyond the stereotypical perceptions of
the disorder as simply reading difficulties, or letter reversals.
They
vary
considerably, both in terms of the functions they impact and the
severity of the
impact experienced.
The appropriate accommodations depend upon the
individual’s strengths as well as his/her specific difficulties.
Frequently, learning disabilities are not detected
before
children start
school
.
Many students with learnin
g disabilities display no signs of difficulty
,
except
when
t
hey
attempt the specific academic tasks that challenge their particular area
of
c
ognitive processing
difficulty.
Unlike many other disabilities, identifying a learning disability poses some
particular challenges since processing disorders are assessed through inference
based on student responses.
It might not be obvious that
a
student’s learning
difficulties are due to a learning disability.
The specific needs of individuals with learning disabilities change and evolve
throughout their lifetime. This does not mean the disability no longer exists
,
but
by varying the activities
they undertake and the strategies they develop to
address their particular learning disabilities
,
students
may
experience different
challenges at different times.