Robert McCLosky:

2. Robert McCLosky: • .I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not

3. Not everything is black and white IT is not all black and white • A lot is black • A lot is white • A lot is grey • And then of course there are all of the colors in between Not everything is black and white

4. Learning Disabilities • Reasons • Results • Numbers • Knowledge

5. Reasons • Genetic • Pregnancy and Birth • Growth and Development • Environment DCDC2- a DNA deletion

6. Learning Disabilities Phonological awareness Rapid automatic naming\ Retrieval of information - long and short term memory Gaps between cognitive functioning and skills Lead to a differential diagnosis

7. Greeks and Texans alike discovered • the brain circuit that children with dyslexia use when they attempt to read does not include an area (located in the left temporal lobe) that is typically used by non-dyslexic readers. Children with dyslexia instead used the corresponding region in the right hemisphere, as well as certain areas in the frontal lobes, which are not normally used during reading.

8. Things are harder to read Take longer to remember More convoluted and complicated More frustrating arrgh!!!!!!

9. Thus

10. But SINCE BRAINS ARE PLASTIC • appropriate training, these differences can be can be minimized or, in some cases, completely eliminated. • hooray

11. Learning Disabilities display A significant discrepancy between overall cognitive ability and achievement; The ability to process information is impaired in some way;

12. And….. • The processing deficits must be shown to be directly contributing to underachievement; • The underachievement cannot be primarily due to factors other than a processing deficit.

13. : A learning disability is a neurological condition that impedes a person's ability to store, process or process information. Learning disabilities can affect one's ability to read, write, speak, and compute math and can impair socialization skills. ( Washington state study)

14. RESULTS • Developmental dyslexia • Dysgraphia • Dysorthographia • Dyscalculia • Non specific or specific LD • All sorts of other problems • Dysteachia, non-teachia • Leaving the teacher often at risk for FAILURE

15. Results • When the child is in school, learning problems may surface that weren’t noticed before. Areas usually affected: language (both written and spoken), math, memory and reasoning.

16. Typical problems • Language problems show up as delays or difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, writing and spelling. • Math problems consist of difficulties with operations or understanding of basic concepts. This can also include problems with shape, size and color.

17. More……. • Memory problems include difficulties with information and instructions. • Reasoning problems involve organizing and using thoughts. • Other signs of a learning disability could include consistently performing poorly on tests, incomplete work, often distracted or disorganized, hyperactivity, problems with paying attention and acting out. There are many, many more signs related to learning disabilities.

18. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Most commonly diagnosed syndrome May or may not be be concommitant with LD 70% are combined type

19. But it is a jungle out there • Kathryn Drummond (2005) • Reading difficulties likely occur on a continuum, meaning that there is a wide range of students who experience reading difficulties. There are those students who are diagnosed with a learning disability. There is also an even larger group of students who do not have diagnoses but who need targeted reading assistance.

20. Problems: • Problems in speaking • Persistence of earlier oral language difficulties • The mispronunciation of the names of people and places, and tripping over parts of words • Difficulty remembering names of people and places and the confusion of names that sound alike

21. Some signs of a learning disability in young adults and adults ( Shaywitz) • A struggle to retrieve words: "It was on the tip of my tongue" • Lack of glibness, especially if put on the spot • Spoken vocabulary that is smaller than listening vocabulary and hesitation to say aloud, words that might be mispronounced

22. Issues • Problems in reading • A childhood history of reading and spelling difficulties • Word reading becomes more accurate over time but continues to require great effort • Lack of fluency • Embarrassment caused by oral reading: the avoidance of Bible study groups, reading at Passover seders, or delivering a written speech

23. Trouble reading and pronouncing uncommon, strange, or unique words such as people's names, street or location names, food dishes on a menu • The substitution of made-up words during reading for words that cannot be pronounced – for example, metropolitan becomes mitan – and a failure to recognize the word metropolitan when it is seen again or heard in a lecture the next day

24. Not just reading is affected • Problems in speaking • Persistence of earlier oral language difficulties • The mispronunciation of the names of people and places, and tripping over parts of words • Difficulty remembering names of people and places and the confusion of names that sound alike

25. But because of the difficulty • Extreme fatigue from reading • Slow reading of most materials: books, manuals, subtitles in foreign films • Penalized by multiple-choice tests • Unusually long hours spent reading school or work-related materials • Frequent sacrifice of social life for studying /sacrifice of studying for social life

26. And more……. A preference for books with figures, charts or graphics • A preference for books with fewer words per page or with lots of white showing on a page • Disinclination to read for pleasure • Spelling that remains disastrous and a preference for less complicated words in writing that are easier to spell • Particularly poor performance on rote clerical tasks

27. Just how many and why are they all in my class • 10%-15% with one or some kind of learning disability • 40% in special education settings • ( mabar, etgar, ometz, הקבצה ג) • +10-15% in FL learning • double aarhgh!!!

28. Foreign Language Picnic

29. Working memory • Problems with working memory make it much more difficult to build a schema in a foreign language • Start fresh each day • 50 First Dates

30. TEACHING • Not all learners can learn via osmosis • Require direct instruction • Require systematic structured instruction • Clear goals and purpose • Clear schedule of “events” • Review • Recycle • Reenter

32. Getting to Carnegie Hall or any other concert hall or sports stadium for that matter • Practice • but what that- is the question • Phonology • Grapheme- phoneme correspondence • (alphabetic principal) • Leads to fluency- leads to comprehension

33. Marvelous Mentors(FINK) • Make things possible • Make you believe in yourself • Make success a possibility • Make maybe a better answer than no • Make possibilities become more of a reality • Make hard work worth while • SHARE

35. 90% מוח- 10 % כוח • Need to develop self esteem • Need to develop thinking skills • Need to develop concepts • Need to connect concept of print to real world • Need to learn to read to read to learn • Need to believe that reading will make a difference

36. Classroom Teachers Job • Know your student • Take and share responsibility With Coordinator Guidance Counselor Learner

37. Knowledge • Modifications • Reasons for modifications • What really makes a difference • Adolescence are a developing crowd and it is an acquired taste • Self awareness develops- teachers can be monumental

38. Island of competence( Brooks) • Yours as a teacher • Your student- striving reader- striving learner- striving EFL learner

39. Power tools and treasures • Technology ( hi and low) • Dictionaries • Sight words • Navigation cards • A positive working relationship • An integrative learning relationship • Develop mutual respect

40. This is the hard part • Separating the system from the learner • Recognizing that it is not his fault • Accepting the complications and trying to simplify • Help to advocate for better conditions for testing and teaching • Accepting limitations

41. So Keep doing what you are doing Keep caring The agaf teachers are the most aware, the most concerned and probably the most overworked- highly appreciated !

42. "The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth."--Dan Rather .

43. CONtinue to begin the dreams