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Dispelling Myths Around Learning Disabilities
One in five students struggle with learning or attention issues like
autism, dyscalculia, or ADHD, yet only 17 percent of teachers feel
prepared to support them, a new report finds.
By Youki Terada
August 6, 2019
When Temple Grandin—a pioneer in the field of animal behavior who also
has autism—worked on a farm milking cows, she had difficulty
remembering each step in the process. No matter how many times she was
shown how to do it, the information wouldn’t stay straight in her head.
“I absolutely cannot remember a sequence of instructions,” she explains.
Despite being a brilliant engineer with incredible spatial
intelligence—she could mentally picture a complex device, see each
individual part in action, and disassemble it in her head—she almost
lost her job because she failed at far simpler duties. Eventually, she
taped a checklist to the wall that outlined each step in the process,
saving herself from getting fired.
A new report from the National Center for Learning Disabilities and
Understood—two national leaders in supporting children with learning
disabilities—attempts to dispel many of the misconceptions that
teachers have about learning disabilities, including autism, dyslexia,
dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADD/ADHD, and other processing disorders. Like
Grandin, millions of children—as many as one in five, according to the
report—struggle with ordinary, everyday tasks. These students have the
potential to succeed, even spectacularly so, yet are persistently at
higher risk of underperforming academically or dropping out of school.
“Contrary to popular myths, learning and attention issues are not the
result of low intelligence, poor vision or hearing, or a lack of
motivation,” the report states. “We know that students with learning
disabilities and ADHD have brain-based difficulties in specific areas:
reading, writing, math, organization, attention, listening
comprehension, social skills, motor skills or, often, a combination
unique to the person.”
Yet many teachers don’t realize that students with learning
disabilities are often fully capable of understanding a lesson. In a
survey of 1,350 teachers, a majority were “highly interested in
learning how to reach struggling learners,” but only half believed that
these students could perform at grade level. More troubling, one in
four believed that ADD/ADHD was the result of bad parenting, for
example, and one third viewed a student’s learning disability as a lack
of motivation—not as a difference in brain development.
In analyzing teacher training programs across the U.S., the report
found that “virtually all states set a low bar for preparing general
educators to teach students with disabilities.” While the Individual
With Disabilities Act (IDEA) mandates that students with disabilities
be in the “least restrictive environment”—more than 70 percent of
students with learning disabilities now spend most of their time in
general education classrooms—only 17 percent of teachers reported
feeling well-trained in their certification programs. Instead, they
cited “on the-job training and trial-and-error learning” as their
primary source of useful information.
So what should teachers do? While it’s certainly important to provide
structural support—in the form of professional development, funding,
and support staff at the school—the report cites research to bolster
its claim that individual teachers should also focus on developing:
A strong sense of self-efficacy, or the belief that they are capable of
improving learning outcomes for their students. These teachers design
high-quality, engaging lessons, spend more time with struggling
students, and are able to give supportive—not critical—feedback.
A positive orientation toward inclusion and personal responsibility for
all students. These teachers believe that all students can succeed.
They create a warm classroom environment where students feel welcome.
A growth mindset. Students should be given the tools to be able to
solve problems independently. They should also be encouraged to see the
value of persistence, self-regulation, and effort in driving success.
It’s not enough to just have the right mindset, however. The report
also identifies eight evidence-based practices, from flexible grouping
to culturally responsive pedagogy and explicit, targeted instruction,
to be critical in helping these students succeed—not just for students
with learning disabilities, but all students. For example, multisensory
approaches give students more ways to connect with what they’re
learning, boosting engagement across a wide range of student abilities
while making lessons more memorable for everyone. And when students
have difficulty with executive function skills, like staying organized
or regulating their own emotions, it’s important to explicitly practice
those skills.
One final takeaway from the report: A common mistake is to define
students by their learning disabilities, but this can obscure the
“incredible strengths” that they may possess. Research shows that
people with dyslexia often have stronger visual-spatial problem-solving
skills than people without dyslexia, for example. Teachers should make
every effort to recognize and nurture the strengths that these students
possess. Many of these students will make impactful contributions to
society—perhaps following in the footsteps of Steven Spielberg,
Anderson Cooper, or Cher, among others—but need the support,
encouragement and patience from teachers to help them reach their full
potential.
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