Learning Disabilities Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

1. Learning DisabilitiesAttention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

2. Hawaii Job Corps Centers Oahu & Maui July 2006

3. A learning disability (LD) is a neurobiological condition that affects the way individuals of average to above average intelligence receive, process, or express information. • LD negatively impacts the ability to acquire basic skills of listening, speaking, thinking, reading, spelling, writing, and/or mathematics. What is a learning disability?

4. Each individual with a learning disability is unique and the disability manifests itself in varying combinations and degrees of difficulty. Often, the individual with a learning disability demonstrates uneven areas of ability and has a gap between his/her potential and actual achievement.

5. Commonly Known Types of Learning Disabilities

6. Commonly Known Types of Learning Disabilities

7. Myth:Individuals with LD have limited potential. Truth: Individuals with LD conduct successful and fulfilling lives just as individuals without disabilities do. Myths about students with LD

8. Myth:LD is just a polite way to refer to lower overall intelligence and abilities. Truth: Inherent within the definition of LD is a discrepancy between demonstrated intelligence and specific functioning. It is possible for a student to be both gifted and learning disabled at the same time. Myths About Students with LD

9. Myth:People with LD are lazy. Truth: If an individual with a LD has experienced repeated failures, particularly educationally or socially, they often shut down and believe it hurts less to not try than it does to try and fail. The individual may feel he/she has no control over what happens to her/him which is known as learned helplessness. Small doses of success are the best antidote to learned helplessness. Myths About Students with LD

10. Myth:Students with LD do not have to work any harder than other students. Truth: Most students with LD do have to work harder than the average student to achieve success. Myths About Students with LD

11. Myth:Given proper instruction, individuals with LD can grow out it. Truth: Although individuals with LD can and do acquire improved skills, the LD themselves are not cured in the process. Some types of LD can be successfully and permanently remediated but others are thought to be lifelong and may require the acquisition and use of compensatory strategies or accommodations throughout the individual's life span. Myths about students with LD

12. Myth: Accommodations provided to students with LD, particularly during testing situations, gives them an unfair advantage over students without disabilities. Truth: An accommodation does not tip the scales in the student's favor; it merely levels the playing field. Myths About Students with LD

13. Myth:Accommodating the needs of a student with LD means watering down course and program requirements. Truth: Teaching a student with special learning needs does not mean "less." It may, however, mean "different." The instructional goal should be to find ways to work around the area of deficit and still impart the same body of information and sets of skills. Myths about students with LD

14. In an attempt to learn more about the minds of millionaires, a team of psychologists and business experts, spent a day testing a group of entrepreneurial millionaires. They were put through a series of tests. • 40% of the 300 millionaires who participated in the more comprehensive study had been diagnosed with dyslexia. (The Sunday Times, October 5, 2003). • Ali Bazley, of the British Dyslexia Association suggests that people with dyslexia who struggle make up for it by being more creative, and looking at the bigger picture. "People with dyslexia are often very good lateral and strategic thinkers." (Express & Echo, Exeter, October 8, 2003.) • By: LD OnLine (2003); http://www.ldonline.org/article/5665 LD Study 2003

15. "They don't do failure, they redefine it. Failure for them is a learning experience that will enable them to be even better. If they fall over, they just come straight back up again. I have never met such a bunch of optimistic people. Everything is an opportunity, the glass isn't half full, it's spilling over." (Sunday Times, 10/5/03) LD Study 2003

16. What skills do these individuals most likely have? • Strong Problem solving ability • Strong Critical thinking skills • Ability to establish goals • Able to reframe what is not working. LD Study 2003

17. AD/HD, once called hyperkinesis (e.g., super active) or minimal brain dysfunction, has a very strong neurological basis and is one of the most common disorders of childhood and adolescence. • It is characterized by hyperactive or impulsive behaviors and attention-deficit problems that cannot be explained by any other psychiatric condition and are not in keeping with the individual’s intellectual ability or stage of development. What is Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (AD/HD)

18. The DSM-IV TR describes three subtypes of AD/HD: • Inattentive—Cannot seem to get focused or stay focused on a task or activity • Hyperactive/Impulsive—Very active and often acts without thinking • Combined—Inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive Subtypes of AD/HD

19. Myth: AD/HD does not really exist. It is simply the latest excuse for parents who do not discipline their children. Truth: Scientific research tells us AD/HD is a biologically based disorder that includes distractibility, impulsiveness, and sometimes hyperactivity. Myths about students with AD/HD

20. Myth: Medication can cure students with AD/HD. Truth: Medicine cannot cure AD/HD but can sometimes temporarily moderate its effects. Certain stimulant medications are effective in the majority of the individuals who take it, providing an immediate short-term increase in attention, control, concentration, and goal-directed effort. Medication may also reduce disruptive behaviors, aggression, and hyperactivity. Myths about students with AD/HD

21. Myth: Individuals with AD/HD will outgrow it. Truth: AD/HD is a lifelong condition although it manifests itself differently dependent upon the age of the individual. Some individuals • experience a lessening of AD/HD symptoms with age, • develop effective compensatory strategies that make it appear as if the AD/HD has gone away, or • manage the symptoms of the disorder with medication. Myths about students with AD/HD

22. Myth:Individuals who can focus their attention in some areas (i.e., video games, etc.) cannot have AD/HD. Truth: AD/HD is a neurological difference that makes it very difficult to attend to things that are not interesting to the person involved or that require sustained mental effort. Yet this person can sit for hours and play video games or participate in other activities of interest. This type of focus is known as hyperfocus. Myths about students with AD/HD

23. Dr. Mel Levine, pediatrician and author of A Mind at a Time, says that we are all wired a little differently; that we all have differences in our brain circuitry and as a result, each person possesses unique and individual strengths and weaknesses. He states: "Each of us is endowed with a highly complex, inborn circuitry-creating innumerable branching pathways of options and obstacles. While some of us have brains that are wired to handle a lot of information at one time, others have brains that can absorb and process only a little information at a time (often with greater accuracy). . . . . . So it is that we all live with minds wired to excel in one area and crash in another. Hopefully, we discover and engage in good matches between our kind of mind and our pursuits in life." Career Technical Selection

24. Students with disabilities, just like students without the disabilities, have the right to choose career technical training paths of their choosing; however, there are special considerations. • Can the student function safely in the training environment? • Is there an obvious barrier that would prevent the student from participating in a particular type of training (e.g. student who is blind wouldn’t participate in a trade requiring driving)? • Can reasonable accommodation alleviate the barriers to participation in a particular trade? Making Career Technical Training Choices

25. If there are safety concerns, have the center physician and/or the center mental health consultant (CMHC) meet with the applicant. • Provide career technical training counseling/information and ample opportunities for exploration. • Contact JAN, the center’s local Division of Vocational Rehabilitation representative, the regional disability consultant, or other local resources to explore reasonable accommodation possibilities and options. Career Technical Selection Support

26. What accommodations has the individual received in the past? • IEP • 504 Plans • Vocational Rehabilitation Documentation • What are the student’s strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, etc. • Do the accommodations under consideration make use of the student’s strengths and preferred learning style(s)? • Are they sufficient to provide the student access to all areas of the program? • If not, what additional accommodations are necessary (e.g. in vocations, residential, other common areas)? Accommodation Considerations

27. Do those accommodations remain relevant to the current situation? Accommodation Considerations

28. Student has dyslexia and has a reading level of 3.4 Case Scenario #1 – Learning Disability

29. REMEMBER: • Identify student’s strengths. • Identify student weaknesses. • Identify student affinities. • Review existing documentation (IEP, 504, VR) • Identify barriers to the program for this student. The base definition for a learning disability is that the student is of average to above average intelligence… Considerations

30. Strong auditory learner even though reading level is low • Educational testing indicates average to above average cognitive ability but below average performance scores What do I know about this student?

31. Audiotape classroom instruction • Materials on tape, DVDs, or MP3s • Video tapes • Reading software/speech output • Use a Reader Examples of Accommodations

32. Student is diagnosed with AD/HD, inattention type. The student • is highly distractible • has poor attention control • weak short term memory Scenario #2 – AD/HD

33. Average attention span for this student is about 5 minutes (you can learn this in a relatively short time by observing the student’s behavior and reactions during various activities) • He is visually and auditorily distractible. • He loves vintage cars. What do I know about this student?

34. Frequent Breaks (this student must have opportunities for movement in order to focus and maintain attention) • Use of timers/vibrating/programmable watches • Preferential Seating • Survey the environment. • What are the visual/auditory stimuli the student is likely to encounter? Are there windows in the classroom? Is there an air handler unit? Are there colorful/cluttered bulletin boards nearby? • Performance Checklists (completed by the student and monitored by the staff person). • Can be useful in a variety of environments • Use study carrels for testing Accommodation Examples

35. Incorporate discussion or facts about vintage cars into classroom instruction on occasion. • Allow break with a car magazine (don’t leave lying around) • Change up classroom activities for this student whenever possible (from desk work to use of manipulatives to group work) • Work with the recreation specialist to try and encourage this student to actively participate in recreational activities. • Use of ear plugs during seat work. Strategies for the student with AD/HD

36. What are the subtest scores of this student’s intelligence testing? Verbal vs. Performance, subtest scores, if available, etc. • Student is a visual learner • Higher amounts of repetition of a particular activity or task may be required to help the student learn it sufficiently What do I know about this student?

37. Student has a diagnosis of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) FYI: There are two primary types of processing disorders (sometimes known as perceptual processing disorders) • Visual Processing Disorder • Auditory Processing Disorder Scenario #3 – Auditory Processing Disorder

38. Difficulties with auditory processing do not affect what is heard by the ear, but do affect how this information is interpreted, or processed by the brain. • An auditory processing deficit can interfere directly with speech and language, but can affect all areas of learning, especially reading and spelling. When instruction in school relies primarily on spoken language, the individual with an auditory processing disorder may have serious difficulty understanding the lesson or the directions. • Difficulties experienced by individuals with CAPD may be similar to those individuals with AD/HD. What does this mean?

39. Talks louder than necessary • Difficulty remembering a list or sequence • Often needs words or sentences repeated • Poor ability to memorize information learned by listening • Interprets words too literally • Hearing clearly in noisy environments. Common Difficulties

40. Combine oral teaching with visual aids. • Ask that teachers and others make it physically, visually or audibly clear when they are about to begin something important so that nothing is missed. • Have a note-taking buddy who will make sure that information was understood or provide copies of information discussed. • Instructors and teachers should stand near this student when providing oral instruction or lecture. Examples of Accommodations

41. Have student repeat back information or instructions to build comprehension skills and make sure messages are understood correctly. • Find or request a quiet work space away from others. • Provide written material when you giving oral presentations. • Ask for directions to be given one at a time, as you go through each step. • Take notes or use a tape recorder when getting any new information, even little things. Examples of Accommodations

42. Universal design is an approach to designing course instruction, materials, and content to benefit people of all learning styles without adaptation. Universal design provides equal access to learning, not simply equal access to information. Although this design enables the student to be self-sufficient, the teacher is responsible for imparting knowledge and facilitating the learning process. Universal design does not remove academic challenges; it removes barriers to access. Universal Design of Learning (UDL)

43. UDL does not replace an individual’s right to specific accommodation • It creates a more inclusive environment • It is beneficial for students with and without disabilities including ESL/ELL learners • It provides ready access to a variety of accommodations. Learn more about UDL at: http://jccdrc.gov/ld UDL

44. The greatest barrier individuals with disabilities have faced for decades and continue to face today is that of attitudinal barriers.

45. LD website • http://jccdrc.org/ld • Job Corps Disability website • http://jcdisability.jobcorps.gov/index.htm • Job Accommodation Network • http://www.jan.wvu.edu/ Resources