Are your students having difficulties in learning new skills and remembering facts? Is the student having a hard time memorizing lessons and focusing attention in classroom discussions and activities?

During school years, persistent patterns of learning difficulties are experienced by children and are carried over to adolescence. These difficulties and other co-occurring characteristics which affect the learning and daily functioning of children are potential manifestations of a learning disability (LD).

What is LD?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a U.S federal law amended in 2004, defines learning disability in general as a “disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia”.

Learning Disabilities, which may be caused by hereditary, teratogenic, medical, and environmental factors, vary from one person to another. Some common types of LD are dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, and visual and auditory processing disorders.

How can LD be identified?

Not all students who are slow in learning have learning disabilities but students with LD must be given immediate specialized teaching strategies to help them overcome such learning difficulties. Early identification and intervention are vital in helping students with LD succeed academically and socially.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) in U.S. provides a Learning Disabilities Checklist to help teachers and parents observe and identify students’ learning problems and risk for learning disabilities. Click here to view the NCLD Learning Disabilities Checklist.

Teaching Strategies for Students with LD

Since learning disability is a neurological disorder which affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information, students with LD bear a distinct gap between their expected level of achievement and what they actually achieve. Thus, specialized teaching strategies must be used to address the needs of students with LD.

However, some educators believe that students’ learning difficulties could be addressed without having to resort to special education services. In the Response-To-Intervention (RTI) approach, students can receive special education in general education classrooms. Each student’s progress is monitored and is used as a determining factor whether the student can continue with general education instruction or should be referred for special education services.

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Self-injury, sometimes referred to as self-harm (SH), self-inflicted violence (SIV) or self-injurious behavior (SIB), refers to a spectrum of behaviors where demonstrable injury is self-inflicted. The term self-mutilation is also sometimes used, although this phrase evokes connotations that some find worrisome, inaccurate, or offensive.

A broader definition of self-injury might also include those who inflict harm on their bodies by means of eating disorder, as well as tattooing or body piercing that goes beyond the limits of culturally accepted body modification.

A common belief regarding self-injury is that it is an attention-seeking behavior; however, in most cases, this is untrue. Most self-injurers are very self-conscious of both their wounds and scars, and go to great lengths to conceal their behavior from others. They may offer alternative explanations for their injuries, or conceal their scars with clothing. Self-injury in such individuals is not associated with suicidal or para-suicidal behavior.

The person who self-injures is not usually seeking to end his or her own life; it has been suggested instead that he or she is using self-injury as a coping mechanism to relieve emotional pain or discomfort. However, studies of individuals with developmental disabilities (such as mental retardation) have shown self-injury being dependent on environmental factors such as obtaining attention or escape from demands.

Methods of Injury

A common form of self-injury involves making cuts in the skin of the arms, legs, abdomen, inner thighs, etc. This is colloquially referred to as “cutting”; a person who routinely does this may be colloquially called a “cutter”.

The number of self-injury methods are only limited to an individual’s creativity. The bodily locations of self-injury are often areas that are easily hidden and concealed from the detection of others.

Examples of self-injury other than cutting include:

* Punching, hitting and scratching
* Choking, constricting of the airway
* Self-biting of hands, limbs, tongue, lips, or arms
* Picking at or re-opening wounds (dermatillomania), ulceration, or sutures
* Hair-pulling (trichotillomania)
* Burning, including cigarette burns, and self-incendiarism (as well as eraser burns, chemical burns [example; salt and ice burns])
* Stabbing self with wire, pins, needles, nails, staples, pens, or hair accessories
* Pinching or clamping, as with clothes pins, paper clips, etc.
* Ingesting corrosive chemicals, batteries, or pins
* Self-poisoning; for example by over-dosing on medication and/or alcohol, without suicidal intent
* Self-injury among individuals with developmental disabilites often involves relatively simple actions, such as banging one’s head against a hard surface, punching hard surfaces, biting oneself (usually hands or arms), or picking wounds. It may also include pica, the swallowing of nonfood items, which can be extremely dangerous and sometimes fatal.

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Every parent wish their kids well being, especially in learning. If you are worried that your kid may be suffering from a learning disability that he or she is ‘hiding’ from you, or that you are unable to detect earlier, then it is time you find out and assess the what the real score is with your kids’ education.

Warning signs of learning disabilities in secondary school students occur as a pattern of behaviors to a significant degree over time.

They include the following:

Language/Mathematics/Social Studies

• Avoidance of reading and writing
• Tendency to misread information
• Difficulty summarizing
• Poor reading comprehension
• Difficulty understanding subject area textbooks
• Trouble with open-ended questions
• Continued poor spelling
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• Poor skills in writing essays
• Difficulty in learning foreign language
• Poor ability to apply math skills

Attention/Organization

• Difficulty staying organized
• Trouble with test formats,  such as multiple choice
• Slow work pace in class and in testing situations
• Poor note taking skills
• Poor ability to proofread or double check work

Social Behavior

• Difficulty accepting criticism
• Difficulty seeking or giving feedback
• Problems negotiating or advocating for oneself
• Difficulty resisting peer pressure
• Difficulty understanding another person’s perspective

What are you waiting for? Assess your teen; help your teen.

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