NATURE OF LEARNING

DISABILITY

Prof. Celleni I. Sanchez

Optical Illusions

Dyslexia people often fail to see the

words or letters in their original form,
instead, they see them inverted, half,
backward, mixed up, jumbled, moving,
and blur. The reason is that
their brain is unable to perceive the real
form of the words which in turn leads to
optical illusions.
A child with
dyscalculia may
have a lot
of anxiety about
numbers.
 Learning disability is a
“disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in
understanding or in using spoken or
written language, which may manifest
itself in an imperfect ability to listen,
think, speak, read, write, spell or to do
mathematical calculations” (IDEA)
 Learning disabilities do not
include learning problems that are
primarily the result of visual, hearing,
or motor disabilities; mental
retardation; or environmental, cultural,
or economic disadvantage (IDEA).
 Learning disability is a
neurological disorder. 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.
PREVALENCE
 EXCEPTIONALITIES ENROLLEES PERCENTAGE RANK
VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 19,535 11 % 3
HEARING IMPAIRMENT 13,365 8% 4

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY 22,200 13% 2

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER 8,964 5% 6
EMOTIONAL-BEHAVIORAL DISORDER 4,315 2% 9.5
ORTHOPEDIC/PHYSICAL HANDICAP 3,545 2% 9.5
SPEECH/LANGUAGE DISORDER 6,568 4% 7.5
CEREBRAL PALSY 2,282 1% 11.5
SPECIAL HEALTH PROBLEM/CHRONIC ILLNESS 8,298 4% 7.5
MULTIPLE DISABILITIES 1,881 1% 11.5
GIFTED AND TALENTED 74,346 42 % 1
177,060 100 %

Department of Education (S.Y. 2016-2017)

 Criteria to be Diagnosed with Specific
Learning Disability
• Have difficulty in at least one of the following areas for at least 6
months:
• Difficulty reading
• Difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read
• Difficulty with spelling
• Difficulty with written expression
• Difficulty understanding number concepts, number facts or calculation
• Difficulty with mathematical reasoning
 Criteria to be Diagnosed with Specific
Learning Disability
• Have academic skills that are substantially below what is expected for
the child’s age and cause problems in school work or everyday
activities.
• The difficulties start during school-age
• Learning Disabilities are not due to other conditions such as mental
retardation, sensory impairment like low vision, blindness, hearing
impairment, emotional disturbance or lack of opportunity to learn.
 CAUSES
Experts say that there is no single, specific cause for
learning disabilities. However, there are some factors that
could cause a learning disability.
Heredity
It is observed that a child, whose
parents have had a learning disability, is
likely to develop the same disorder.

Illness During and After Birth

Possible factors could be drug or
alcohol consumption during pregnancy,
physical trauma, poor growth in the uterus,
low birth weight, and premature and
prolonged labor.
Stress During Infancy
A stressful incident after birth such as
high fever, head injury, or poor nutrition.

Environment
Increased exposure to toxins such as
lead (in paint, ceramics, toys, etc.)
Comorbidity
Children with learning disabilities
are at a higher-than-average risk for
attention problems or disruptive
behavior disorders. Up to 25 percent of
children with reading disorder also have
ADHD. Conversely, it is estimated that
between 15 and 30 percent of children
diagnosed with ADHD have a learning
disorder.
CHARACTERISTICS
“The primary feature of a learning disability is
that it is a processing problem of the brain.”
Learning Characteristics
Beyond the language, communication, and mathematical problems that
make up a disorder, learning disabilities characteristics also include features
like:
❑Motor skills deficits, both fine and gross
❑Problems with hand-eye coordination
❑Memory problems
❑Sensory issues
Learning Characteristics
• Cognitive deficits are prominent characteristics of learning disabilities.
Among the cognitive characteristics:

❑Problems with attention skills like sustained attention (inability to remain

focused), selective attention (difficulty blocking out or ignoring
distractions), and divided attention (problems trying to do two tasks at once,
like listening and writing down words)

❑Visual processing difficulties

Learning Characteristics
• Cognitive deficits are prominent characteristics of learning disabilities.
Among the cognitive characteristics:

❑Auditory processing problems

❑Working and long-term memory problems

❑Struggles with logic and reasoning

❑Slow processing speed

Behavioral Characteristics
❑Strong emotions

❑Feeling little control over emotions

❑Always feeling at least, a step behind classmates

❑Feelings of frustration and anger because they believe they’ll
never keep up

❑Poor social skills

Behavioral Characteristics
❑Difficulty making and keeping friends

❑Attention and focusing problems

❑Impulsive behavior

❑Hyperactivity

❑Cognitive problems
Behavioral Characteristics
❑Difficulty working and playing quietly

❑Problems waiting in line, like forming a line at the classroom door and
standing still

❑Difficulty waiting for their turn, such as waiting to use a swing on the
playground

❑High degree of frustration felt or expressed seemingly constantly

❑Low self-esteem
Signs to Look
for in the
Classroom
Parents are often the first to notice that "something doesn't seem right." If you are aware
of the common signs of learning disabilities, you will be able to recognize potential
problems early.
Preschool
✓Speaks later than most children
✓Pronunciation problems
✓Slow vocabulary growth, often
unable to find the right word
✓Difficulty with rhyming words
✓Trouble learning numbers,
alphabet, days of the week, colors,
shapes
Preschool
✓Extremely restless and easily
distracted
✓Trouble interacting with peers
✓Difficulty following directions or
routines
✓Fine motor skills slow to develop
Grades K-4
✓Slow to learn the connection between
letters and sounds
✓Confuses basic words (run, eat, want)
✓Makes consistent reading and spelling
errors including letter reversals (b/d),
inversions (m/w), transpositions
(felt/left), and substitutions
(house/home)
Grades K-4
✓Transposes number sequences
and confuses arithmetic signs
(+, -, x, /, =)
✓Slow to remember facts
✓Slow to learn new skills, relies
heavily on memorization
✓Impulsive, difficulty planning
Grades K-4
✓Unstable pencil grip
✓Trouble learning about time
✓Poor coordination, unaware of
physical surroundings, prone to
accidents
Grades 5-8
✓Reverses letter sequences
(soiled/solid, left/felt)
✓Slow to learn prefixes, suffixes, root
words, and other spelling strategies
✓Avoids reading aloud
✓Trouble with word problems
✓Difficulty with handwriting
Grades 5-8
✓Awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil
grip
✓Avoids writing assignments
✓Slow or poor recall of facts
✓Difficulty making friends
✓Trouble understanding body
language and facial expressions
High School Students and Adults
✓Continues to spell incorrectly,
frequently spells the same word
differently in a single piece of writing
✓Avoids reading and writing tasks
✓Trouble summarizing
✓Trouble with open-ended questions
on tests
High School Students and Adults
✓Weak memory skills
✓Difficulty adjusting to new settings
✓Works slowly
✓Poor grasp of abstract concepts
✓Either pays too little attention to
details or focuses on them too much
✓Misreads information
SOME EMINENT PEOPLE WHO
HAVE/HAD LEARNING
DISABILITY
 Albert Einstein

BLD-SID
 He was one of the persons
who were gifted with a high level of
intelligence. He became known as a
great thinker and a super intelligent
scientist. He actually changed the
viewpoint of mankind about the
universe.
During his time, he was
diagnosed with dyslexia, autism and
attention deficit disorder.
✓ English actor best known for
his role as Harry Potter in the
film series of the same name.

✓ It is difficult for him to tie his

shoe lace. Handwriting also
continues to be a challenge.
 Daniel Radcliffe

BLD-SID NATION
Daniel Radcliffe
In real life, he has dyspraxia,
which can make it difficult for him to
tie his shoes.
Handwriting also continues to
be a challenge. He was 9 when his
mother encouraged him to audition
for a play. “I was having a hard time in
school,” he said. His mom thought
acting would boost his confidence.
She was right!
✓ He is an American actor and
producer. He was nominated for
three Academy Awards and has won
three Golden Globe Awards. He
started his career at age 19 in the
film Endless Love.
✓ But he has Severe dyslexia and
calls himself “functionally
illiterate”
Tom Cruise
• Tom Cruise graduated high school with
the label of a "functional illiterate".
Cruise was showing signs of a learning
disability as young as elementary
school. Cruise struggled so much that
he physically became exhausted
and overwhelmed. He was diagnosed
to having dyslexia. He had remedial
reading sessions. After high school he
finally learned how to read. Several
years later his movie career started.
 ✓ Filipino singer, actress and record
producer. In the 1980s she gained
recognition by winning both the 1984
Ang Bagong Kampeon
✓ “I‟ve had it since birth. I
remember when I was younger
malabo yung mata ko. Kasi bali-
baligtad yung „v‟ at „b‟ ko. I can‟t
spell right. Di ako masyadong
magaling mag-spell. Mabagal
ako magbasa. ”

BLD-SID
Regine Velasquez
Inciong, T. G., Quijano, Y. S. , Capulong, Gregorio, J. A., Gines, A. C. (2007).
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http://www.ldonline.org/ldbasics/signs.

Definition of Learning Disabilities (28 August 2012). The Kurtz Center.

http://learningdisabilities.com/definition-of-learning-disabilities/.

Learning Disability (24 January 2015). White Swan Foundation. https://www.whiteswan

foundation.org/disorders/neurodevelopmental-disorders/learning-disability

Peterson, T. (2019, September 4). What Are the Characteristics of a Learning Disability?
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are-the-characteristics-of-a-learning-disability.
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