Chapter 5: Learners with Learning Disabilities

Chapter 5 discussed the criterion necessary for a student to be diagnosed with a learning disability.  Although in the past the diagnosis seemed to be limited to brain injury impairing cognitive processes, I think it is very beneficial that IDEA has added new qualifications to diagnose a learner as well.  The one criterion that I think needs more detail was the qualification of having a disorder in the use of language.  I feel as though it needs to be clear that the student is not diagnosed because of his or her native language (which is also laid out for IDEA assessment for it to be fair) so that the student has an equal opportunity to learn.  I feel as though coming from a different background should not be held against the student because he understands a different way of speaking. Chapter 5 outlined intrinsic differences in students, such as the effects of a brain injury or other nervous system delay or cognitive impairment, but it also outlined extrinsic effects that can be attributed to a student having a learning disability.  I did not realize how the environment in which you live in can have an effect on your education, such as lead poisoning or living by biochemical factories.  An example of this is a recent study on a town in New Jersey.  My mother showed me the article about how Toms River, NJ is said to have more students being diagnosed with autism because of a power plant in the town.  Whether or not this is true is still up for debate, but it is interesting to think that one power plant can cause such a drastic increase in students with autism.

It also makes sense that the chapter discussed learning disabilities being the most common disability.  I feel like I have seen this first hand through field placements.  I have been in 2 learning support classrooms with students with specific learning disabilities, and it seems as though there are always a high amount of students in the class.  However, when I had placement in a multiple disabilities classroom, there were only about 5 or 6 students in the room at one time, having more adults presents than students themselves.  I feel like this is an example of how physical disabilities may often be less common than learning disabilities.  Although none of the students had TBI's, there were a couple that were paralyzed and nonverbal.  Obviously, this affected their cognition, but the cognitive delays were not the main source of their disabilities.  I think that assessing the students based on what they can do is the important thing with learning disabilities, rather than assessing them on what they cannot do.  This way, the students will not have a negative image of themselves because of their label as disabled, but they will have more confidence in the things that they are able to do instead.