Learning Disabilites

LEARNING DISABILITIES:
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LEARNING DISABILITIES

Resources on Campus: Please call Mary Lawson (ext. 2374) or Gerry Lewin (ext. 2343) if you have any questions about learning disabilities.

Teaching Tips:

Read about Classroom Accommodations for the Student with a Learning Disability.

Read about an attention deficit disorder and what teachers can do to support students with ADD/ADHD.

Explore the DSPS website on learning disabilities. Scroll to bottom for links to other organizations' websites.

Cognitive Methods online presentation from 4faculty.org that is based on how
people learn, and integrates best instructional interventions, teaching
style inventory, activities for different levels of Bloom's taxonomy, etc.:
http://www.4faculty.org/includes/digdeeper/lesson4/cognitive.htm

Lesson Plan Form online that integrates teaching to include development of
cognitive abilities for all students:
http://www.4faculty.org/includes/digdeeper/lesson4/lesson_plan.htm

Annotated Bibliography:

Resources on Learning and Learning Disabilities

Bransford, John, et al (eds.). (1999). How Students Learn. Washington, DC: National Academy of the Press.

Excellent study on learning and what we can actually gain from research. This applies to learning in general and is not specifically on LD.

Bransford, John, M. Suzanne Donovan, and James Peligrino (eds.). (1999). How People Learn. Washington, DC: National Academy of the Press.

A shorter version of the above, with emphasis on bridging research with practice.

Damasio, Antonio R. and Hanna Damasio. (1992). Brain and language. Scientific American, 9, 89-95.

This article shows how the central issue in neurophysiology of language is to map the structures in the brain that manipulate concepts and those that turn the concepts into words. Mediation between the larger structures that represent concepts and the smaller set that forms words and sentences is crucial.

Lambert, Nakine M. and Barbara L McCombs. (1998). How Students Learn. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Reforming schools through learner-centered education is the theme of this book, with chapters from many educators and researchers, ie. Dr. Richard Mayer's "Cognitive theory: what teachers need to know about cognition and instruction", and McComb's "Integrating metacognition, affect, and motivation in improving teacher education."

Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: a dual coding approach. New York: Oxford Press.

A foundational text showing how we represent knowledge non-verbally and verbally, ie. how we connect visual, conceptual maps with language expression.

Ruhl, Kathy L. and Sharon K. Suritsky. (1995). The pause procedure and/or an outline: Effect on immediate free recall and lecture notes taken by college students with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 18, 2-11.

This article explains how a lecturer pausing three times for two minutes each at spaced intervals to allow students to discuss and complete notes increases students recall. Lecturing with an outline increased students' abilities to determine important versus unimportant information.

Swanson, H. Lee. (1999). Instructional components that predict treatment outcomes for students with learning disabilities: Support for a combined strategy and direct instruction model. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 14(3), 129-140.

A meta-analysis of 180 research studies revealed the most effective instructional components, including scaffolding (controlling task difficulty), sequencing, segmentation of instruction, modeling problem-solving steps, cues to prompt strategy use, directed questioning/response, drill-repetition-practice-feedback, technology (structured presentation medium), small interactive groups, and supplementing teacher instruction (homework).

University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. 517 Pearson Hall, 1122 West Campus Rd., Lawrence, KS 66045-3101. (785) 864-4780.

Call or write for a list of published monographs on instructional research. They have published and trained teachers in the Strategies Intervention Model for LD specialists and Content Enhancement Series for regular teachers. (Special thanks go to researchers Daryl Mellard and Gwen Berry for their excellent assistance.)

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