Inception

With Dr. Robert Brooks, about learning disabilities and self-esteem, and for When the Chips Are Down… with Richard Lavoie, about learning disabilities and discipline. Lindstrom also played a significant role in developing LD OnLine, WETA’s award-winning learning disabilities website. Rick Lavoie is a popular author and speaker on how to support children with special needs.

I suspect my child might have dyslexia. What should I do?

In simple terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person’s brain is “wired.” Children with learning disabilities are as smart or smarter than their peers. But they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways. With new procedures for identifying kids at risk and teachers using research-based instructional strategies, the needs of students with learning disabilities remain a priority in today’s schools. Many aspects of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and arithmetic overlap and build on the same brain capabilities. It is not surprising that people can be diagnosed with more than one learning disability. For example, the ability to understand language underlies learning to speak.

Reading Universe All About Teaching Reading and Writing(opens in a new window)

LD OnLine is the leading website on learning disabilities and learning differences. The Complete Guide to Special Education, Third Edition, explores the special education process from testing and diagnosis to IEP meetings and advocating for special needs children. Tina Chovanec is the director of Reading Rockets and led the AdLit.org website relaunch in 2021. She has more than 20 years of experience in non-profit project management and communications, including work as a writer, editor, print and web designer, and creative comercializadoralachinita.cl director.

Some children have problems sounding out words, while others have trouble with rhyming games, such as rhyming "cat" with "bat." Yet, scientists have found these skills fundamental to learning to read. Fortunately, remedial reading specialists have developed techniques that can help many children with dyslexia acquire these skills. If the brain is unable to form images or relate new ideas to those stored in memory, the reader cannot understand or remember the new concepts. Other types of reading disabilities can appear in the upper grades when the focus of reading shifts from word identification to comprehension.

Writing

The results of the evaluation help determine whether the student is eligible to receive special education services. This book provides an understanding not only of dyslexia but also of the broader population of weaker readers and presents information on how to help them. Case examples are presented throughout to illustrate specific skill weaknesses. Dyslexia research provides considerable knowledge about how to help all children who do not learn to read on schedule. The final two chapters of the book deal with the history and nature of reading instruction, and how we can improve the teaching of reading in our schools.

What is effective instruction for students with LD?

Parents of students in special education often experience confusion and frustration with the special education process. Learn about ways to help parents understand the process and their parental rights and responsibilities. Lydia Breiseth is the director of Colorín Colorado, which is a part of the Learning Media division of WETA. In this capacity, Ms. Breiseth manages editorial content, multimedia production, partnerships, and outreach for the website. Ms. Breiseth has presented Colorín Colorado’s resources at a number of national conferences, including TESOL, NABE, CABE, NAEYC, OELA, the AFT’s TEACH Conference, and the Latino Children’s Book Conference. Ms. Breiseth has published articles on a variety of educational and literacy blogs on behalf of Colorín Colorado.

Rhymes for inception

For example, a child with a writing disability, particularly an expressive language disorder, might be unable to compose complete and grammatically correct sentences. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal law, defines a learning disability as a condition when a child’s achievement is substantially below what one might expect for that child. Learning disabilities do not include problems that are primarily the result of intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbance, or visual, hearing, emotional or intellectual disabilities. Evidence-based practices, technology, and personalized learning to help teachers and administrators support standards-based learning.

• In practice, this often meant waiting for the child to fail before a child was eligible for special education services.
• Evidence-based practices, technology, and personalized learning to help teachers and administrators support standards-based learning.
• And when they notice, they want reliable information so they can help their students.

Today a greater effort is being made to respond to a child’s special learning needs before he or she falls too far behind. Sometimes the media, the public, and even educators confuse autism with learning disabilities. According to the Autism Society of America, autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others.

Since we receive a large number of e-mails, we cannot write individual responses, although we wish we could do so. We read all of our mail and listen to our readers to ensure our material helps you improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. Ms. Breiseth has taught both English and Spanish as foreign languages and spent a year in Ecuador teaching English to graduate students with the educational exchange program WorldTeach. Ms. Breiseth received her Bachelor’s Degree in English with a Minor in Latin American Studies from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Louise Spear-Swerling is Professor of Special Education and Reading at Southern Connecticut State University.