Reasons students become frustrated
- Learning Differences
- Indirect Instruction
- Improper Intensity and Focus of Instruction
Some common learning disabilities that directly impair learning in the classroom are weaknesses with auditory processing, visual processing, memory, and attention.
When a child struggles in a typical classroom, it is usually due to a combination of strengths and weaknesses hindering understanding. For example, a child may be exceptional at auditory processing skills but struggle with short-term memory. This child would exhibit strong ‘sounding-out’ skills but struggle to remember spelling patterns and apply spelling rules, so she would use her strength and spell everything phonetically. This strategy does not take her very far.
Instructional dyslexia becomes a problem when a student has not been instructed in a manner that matches his or her needs. This can range from a complete lack of reading instruction to inadequate or inappropriate instruction. All students benefit from instruction that is presented in a structured and cumulative manner, from most common to least common elements, working from concrete to more abstract concepts.
Some students need direct and explicit instruction to learn successfully. This does not mean they have a learning disability. Many classrooms do not have time or training to directly instruct more advanced decoding (reading) patterns, and students are left to figure it out on their own, which sets up failure. To create a love of learning in a child requires an inclusive approach, working closely not just with students, but with their parents and teachers as well.
What is developmental dyslexia?
Developmental dyslexia is thought to be caused by the way a dyslexic person’s brain has developed and functions. Recent brain imaging studies have shown differences in brain functions between people who do not experience language difficulties and those who do. Dyslexic parents are very likely to have children that are dyslexic.
As defined by the International Dyslexia Association, “dyslexia is a language based learning disability.” A person who experiences dyslexia may have difficulty with a single language skill or many. Language skills that are commonly affected include reading, spelling, writing, and speaking.
Dyslexia is commonly understood to be associated with reversing or inverting letters/numbers such as b for d, s for z, and 9 for 6. Mirror writing or sometimes called writing backwards may also be associated with dyslexia. Visual confusions can be part of person’s difficulties with reading/writing but they are not as common, nor are they a defining characteristic of dyslexia.
Most people who experience dyslexia have difficulty processing language. It may take more time than the non-dyslexic to make understandable what they hear. Or it may take them more time to construct their idea into the correct sentence structure, whether verbal or written. A dyslexic person may experience difficulty in one of these areas or all of them. And the range of difficulty may range from slight to severe.
Dyslexia is not due to lack of intelligence or lack of effort from the student. Current research indicates that 20% of the population experiences difficulties with reading. Many very successful people have dyslexia. These people are often considered gifted.