Co-Teaching Level II: NE GLRS Continuous Improvement Project
What’s So Special about special ed? Specialized Instruction Module II Beth McMickle EDS and Jennifer Leahy EDS
Learning Targets ď ą
I can identify characteristics of students with learning disabilities
ď ą
I can identify characteristics of processing deficits
ď ą
I can explain how processing deficits impact student performance in the classroom
What is A Learning Disability?
A learning disability is a neurological condition that interferes with an individual’s ability to store, process, or produce information.
Learning disabilities can affect one’s ability to read, write, speak, spell, compute math, reason and also affect an individual’s attention, memory, coordination, social skills and emotional maturity.
Learning Disabilities
Basic reading
Reading comprehension
Reading Fluency
Math calculation
Math reasoning
Written expression
Oral expression
Listening comprehension
Behaviors frequently observed in individuals with LD
Short attention span
Difficulty following directions
Social immaturity
Difficulty with conversation
Inflexibility
Poor planning and organizational skills
Absentmindedness
Clumsiness
Lack of impulse control (Smith & Strick, 1997)
The Need for Direct Instruction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4f4rX0XEBA&feature=related
It all Adds Up!
Knowledge of students’ processing strengths and weaknesses
+ Collaborate and determine appropriate individual strategies
= Specialized Instruction
What does it mean to process information? Gathering information through the five senses
The information is sent to the brain
The brain recognizes it, understands it, responds to it, and stores it
What is a processing deficit? ď ą
Processing deficits are problems with the processes of recognizing and interpreting information taken in through the senses.
Auditory Processing Auditory Processing refers to an individual’s ability to analyze, interpret, and process information obtained through the ears
Auditory processing disorder adversely affects how sound that travels unimpeded through the ear is processed and interpreted by the brain
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Individuals with an auditory processing disorder do not recognize subtle differences between sounds in words even when the sounds are loud and clear enough to be heard. They can also find it difficult to tell where sounds are coming from, to make sense of the order of sounds, or to block out competing background noises
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Learning Disabilities Association
Auditory Processing Disorder: Types ď ą
Auditory Discrimination
Ability to notice, compare and distinguish the distinct and separate sounds in words ď ą
Auditory Figure-Ground Discrimination
Ability to pick out important sounds from a noisy background
Auditory Processing Deficit: Classroom Impact
Inability to recognize differences in phonemes(sounds), including the ability to identify words and sounds which are similar and those which are different (difficulty with phonological awareness, decoding)
Inaccurate pronunciation of new vocabulary words
Confusion between similar sounding words
Spelling difficulties
Difficulty learning foreign languages
Difficulty remembering or reconstructing he order of items in a list or the order of sounds in a word
Difficulty learning vocabulary presented orally
Difficulty writing down math problems when dictated in class-will write down an incorrect number if it sounds like another number
Problems with ability to count in sequence
Auditory Processing Disorder: Classroom Impact
Behavior and Organization
May not appear to pay attention to lecture
Difficulty paying attention
Difficulty making out teacher’s voice against the background noise of other students
Difficulty hearing the teacher when students are shuffling paper, opening notebooks, making other noises.
Difficulty following multi-step oral directions
May not remember assignment told to them orally
Has difficulty processing and remembering language-related tasks
May not process thoughts and ideas slowly and have difficulty explaining them
Misspells and misprounces and confuses similar sounding words or omits syllables (celery/ salary; belt/built; three/free; jab/job)
Visual Processing Visual Processing refers to an individual’s ability to analyze, interpret, and process Information obtained through the eyes
Visual processing deficits adversely affects how one takes in information through the eyes and stores, interprets and retrieves that information.
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Individuals with a visual processing deficit do not recognize subtle differences in objects visually.
Visual Processing: Types
Visual Discrimination: Using the sense of sight to notice and compare the features of different items to distinguish one item from another; ability to perceive patterns
Visual Motor Integration: is the degree to which visual perception and finger-hand movements are well coordinated.
Visual Sequencing: is the ability to determine or remember the order of symbols, words and objects
Visual Figure-Ground Discrimination: Discriminating a shape or printed character from its background
Visual Processing: Classroom Impact
Difficulties with color, shape, size and direction
Difficulty with letter recognition in reading and letter formation and word spacing in writing
Putting visual information in order
Skipping line in reading
Inability to stay in correct column in math
Difficulty with fine and gross motor and tracking visually
Illegible handwriting
Verbal Reasoning 
Verbal Reasoning refers to knowledge of vocabulary and language proficiency
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A verbal reasoning deficit adversely affects ones receptive and expressive language; the use of language in any capacity is limited
Verbal Reasoning: Classroom Impact
Weak oral skills
Weak written expression skills
Limited vocabulary
Poor organization
Developmentally inappropriate quality and quantity of language
Nonverbal Reasoning ď ą
Nonverbal reasoning refers to the ability to problem solve and reason through situations
ď ą
A non-verbal reasoning deficit adversely affects ones ability to problem solve, reason and generalize.
Nonverbal Reasoning: Classroom Impact
Misreads nonverbal ques (such as body language and facial ques) which leads to poor social skills
Poor number sense
Has exceptional memory for rote material
“talks his way” through simple motor activities
Long Term Memory 
The ability to receive and store information through the five senses and then retrieve the information after a long period of time.
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Storing information for rapid retrieval later
Long Term Memory-Classroom Impact
Difficulty storing and retrieving previously experienced visual and auditory information
Difficulty visualizing information
Difficulty sustaining interest during visual or auditory presentation
Difficulty memorizing poems, speeches or facts
Problems with word retrieval
Poor test taker
Short Term Memory 
Difficulty remembering information just heard or seen
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Includes both memory span (spelling) and working memory(development of written expression, reading comprehension and math problem solving)
Short Term Memory-Classroom Impact
Trouble taking accurate notes
Poor spelling
Poor test taking skills
Appearing to “tune out”
Cannot remember information
Processing Speed 
The ability to perform cognitive tasks quickly and rapidly; fluency in performance of cognitive tasks is slow
Processing Speed-Classroom Impact
Takes longer than average time to complete work
Responds slowly to questions
Struggles to make rapid comparisons between bits of information
Has difficulty copying
Has difficulty completing assignments within time limits
Fluency in reading, writing and math are impacted by processing speed
Executive Functioning 
An inefficiency in the cognitive management systems of the brain that affects a variety of neuropsychological processes such as planning, organization, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and space. Although not a learning disability, different patterns of weakness in executive functioning are almost always seen in the learning profiles of individuals who have specific learning disabilities or ADHD.
The Executive Functions: Types ď ą
The Executive Functions act as the brain’s manager, helping to organize sensory information and plan appropriate actions
Response Inhibition Emotional Control Sustained Attention Task Initiation Planning/Prioritization Organization Time Management Goal-directed persistence Flexibility Meta cognition Working Memory
“How Difficult Can This Be?” AKA “FAT CITY”
Watch the video and take notes using the guide provided.
So What? 
Now that you know about processing strengths and weaknesses, what next? For your students to be successful their instruction needs to be guided by their processing strengths and weaknesses. So let’s move on to Module III, which pulls it all together.