Update on LD - December 2005

What's in Update on LD this month?

Questions? Call 1-800-237-0178 or email leellington@vcu.edu
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Do you find yourself confused about the many types of learning disabilities? You aren't alone. There are so many terms and definitions used for describing learning disabilities that it's easy to feel out of the loop.

This month in Update on LD all of the types of learning disabilities will be defined, along with examples of how they manifest in your learners.

You'll also find Book Blurbs. Remember that all books reviewed in Book Blurbs are available in the Resource Center's library.

Websites that focus on specific types of learning disabilities are also listed for you to further your knowledge about learning disabilities.

Join In the National Center for Learning Disabilities' LD Talk

The National Center for Learning Disabilities sponsors an LD Talk on a regular basis. The next chat session will be with a nationally recognized expert on learning disabilities, Rick Lavoie. The chat's topic is the "Social Side of LD." You can also submit questions in advance for discussion during the chat.

The chat session is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. EST. To learn more about the chat, go to: www.ldtalk.org.

Websites for more information on specific types of learning disabilities:

Dyscalculia.org
www.dyscalculia.org

Dyslexia Teacher
www.dyslexia-teacher.com

Dyspraxia Foundation
www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
www.chadd.org

Book Blurbs

With each issue of Update on LD, books on learning disabilities or related issues that are available in the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center's library will be highlighted.

If any of the books are of interest to you, you may contact the Resource Center to borrow the books. Go to www.aelweb.vcu.edu/library/ to find out more about borrowing from our library.

Dyslexia: Research and Resource Guide by Carol Sullivan Spafford and George S. Grosser. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996.

Drawing together leading conceptual models, practical applications, and decades of research, the authors have created a comprehensive resource for educators and parents of students with reading problems. The book offers a developmental perspective on dyslexia and provides the theoretical groundwork needed to help students with reading disabilities develop proficiency in word recognition, comprehension, and study skills. Skills development approaches and issues are explored, and a number of programs that target phonemic awareness skills are described in-depth. Practical ways to improve comprehension and text strategies are also discussed, and many effective word recognition and comprehension activities are presented.

Destination Literacy: Identifying and Teaching Adults with Learning Disabilities by the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada. Ottawa: Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, 1999.

Designed for those who work in the adult literacy field, Destination Literacy includes information, practical teaching strategies, materials on accommodations, adaptive technology, and self-advocacy that reflect new challenges for adults with learning disabilities.

Types of Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities can be divided into three broad categories:

developmental speech and language disorders,
academic skills disorders, and
"other," a catch-all that includes certain coordination disorders and learning handicaps not covered by the other terms.

Each of these categories includes a number of more specific disorders. The following table will give an outline of each of these more specific disorders.

Developmental Speech and Language Disorders
Dysphasia
Developmental Articulation Disorder	Trouble with controlling rate of speech. Trouble with making speech sounds. Can be successfully treated with speech therapy.
Developmental Expressive Language Disorder	Problems with expressing themselves in speech. Often calls objects by incorrect names. Speaks only in simple sentences.
Developmental Receptive Language Disorder	Difficulty understanding certain aspects of speech such as vowel sounds. Often appears to be not listening. Do not have a hearing problem.
Academic Skills Disorders
Dyslexia (Developmental Reading Disorder)	Letters and words may be written or pronounced backwards.
Dysgraphia (Developmental Writing Disorder)	Inability to form letters correctly. Inability to organize ideas in the written form. Often cannot read own handwriting.
Dyscalculia (Developmental Arithmetic Disorder)	Difficulty learning mathematical concepts.
Other
Dyspraxia (Motor Planning/Sensory Disorder)	Trouble with fine motor skills. Has trouble with buttoning jacket or holding scissors.
Information Processing Disorder
Auditory Processing Disorder
Auditory Closure	Difficulty filling in the missing parts of sounds.
Auditory Discrimination	Often seems to misunderstand. Has trouble telling the difference between similar sounds or words.
Auditory Figure-Ground Discrimination	Trouble hearing sounds over background noises. Cannot hear when more than one person is talking.
Auditory Memory (long or short)	Difficulty remembering what was heard. Difficulty remembering important points heard.
Auditory Sequencing	Confusion with sequences, lists, and directions. Hears 94 rather than 49.
Visual Processing Disorder
Visual Closure	Cannot distinguish what an object is when only parts of it are visible rather than the whole. Cannot do puzzles.
Visual Discrimination	Cannot see the differences between two similar objects. Will often run words together on a page.
Visual Figure-Ground Discrimination	Trouble seeing an image with a competing background. Cannot pick one line of print from another while reading.
Visual Memory	Difficulty remembering what was seen. Has poor recall of information read.
Visual Motor Processing	Cannot coordinate feedback from the eyes to other parts of the body. Cannot copy from the board to paper.
Visual Sequencing	Problems distinguishing the order of symbols, words, or images. Loses place easily.
Spatial Relationships	Does not understand how objects are positioned in space in relation to self. Loses materials. Unorganized. Difficulty judging time.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder	Overactivity, distractibility, or impulsivity. Cannot sit still, daydreams, loses interest quickly, or lack of focus.