HELP CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITY 6
Help Children with Learningdisability
Ashlee Chiou
Child development 02 : Middlechildhood to adolescence
Professor name : Bharti Dave
Foothill college
5/9/2016
In his book, Santrock defines achild having learning disabilities as the one who has difficulty inlearning that involves understanding or using spoken or writtenlanguage, and the difficulty can appear in listening, thinking,reading, writing, or spelling. A learning disability also may involvedifficulty in doing mathematics” (Santrock, pg. 338). As a result,in the current day, some adults usually label such a child as stupidor lazy to learn. In this regard, educators should focus on achild’s ability, rather than his/her disability. The most commonlearning disabilities are dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia.There are several reasons that contribute to children with learningdisabilities. They include low birth weight infants, heredityfactors, poor nutrition, as well as alcohol and drug among others.Research has also indicated that the brain of a dyslexia persondevelops and functions differently from a typical brain.
It has been shown that parents,society and the nation in general play a key role in helping andsupporting children with learning disabilities. Lack of support makesit hard for such children to succeed on their own. This can bepsychological help, implementing appropriate teaching models guidingthem through their studies as well as providing appropriate servicesand resources. The significance of discussing this topic is to shedlight on what has and can be done to support children with learningdisability. The paper covers various parts including past research,impact as well as solution to the problem.
Research
Some experts say that thedramatic increase reflected poor diagnostic practices andoveridentification. They argue that teachers sometimes are too quickto label children with slightest learning problem as having alearning disability, instead of recognizing that the problem may restin their ineffective teaching (Santrock, 2013).
According to research, bullyingamong children with learning disability is considerable though thereis no much study to document the same (Westwood, 2008). In the UnitedStates, it was shown that children with learning disabilities weremore susceptible to bullying. This is about 60% of the studentpopulation. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatryindicates that 50 percent of children are victims of bullying while10 per cent are indeed bullied on a normal basis.
In the United States, bullyingamong students in elementary school is growing by day in mostschools. It is taking place in the urban, rural as well as suburbanschools, mostly affecting children with learning disabilities.Bullying however is a behavior that can be prevented. School systemsin the US have implemented bullying prevention programs. It is worthnoting that parents, educators as well as school administrators mustrecognize and gain knowledge of managing bullying, which takes placein school and may be harmful.
Impact
Most children with learningdisabilities have problems they are dealing with in their academicenvironment (Westwood,2008). That means thatexposing them to other predicaments may only deteriorate theirstudies. For instance, watching television programs on violence forlong hours may impact them psychologically, which in turn worsenstheir situation. Other factors such as bullying, feeling of not beingappreciated or loved also have negative impacts. Bullying forinstance may result in inability to concentrate, absenteeism, schoolavoidance, poor grades and high dropout rates among others.
Solution
Parents as well as teachers havea role to play as far as supporting students with learning disabilityis concerned. In fact, they are the key advocates required by suchchildren. At the school level, one of the recommended solutions isplacing children in a developmental class. There, they can be able toobtain supplemental help. In other cases, a specialist educator maybe recommended to help students in learning areas which seemsextremely hard (Westwood, 2008). Monitoring is also proposed aftersuch children have been put in a watch list.
At the family level, parents mayprefer private involvement, especially when education institutionsfail to offer services for children with learning disabilities duringearly childhood days (Westwood, 2008). Besides, parents arerecommended to maximize their everyday activities to promote thedevelopment of specific aspects and knowledge. Prominence should beprovided to the strengths of the child, rather than the weaknessesbearing in mind that stressing on the latter may obliterate thedelicate balance. Children also have a role to play. They must feeladored and appreciated in spite of their disability. They must useself-advocacy which helps in speaking for themselves, takingresponsibility, understanding their rights, and getting assistancewhenever necessary. In most cases, this helps them in addressing anybullying circumstance.
The bottom line is parents andteachers must comprehend the difficulties experienced by the childrenand their behaviours. That is the only way they can be able to helpthem and avert from viewing their difficulties as problems.Supporters must also put into consideration the diversities intemperament. While the majority of parents are able to illustratetheir children’s temperament correctly, they generally require helpmanaging their behaviors.
Reflection
Children with learningdisabilities generally need special care. That is the only way theycan succeed in their studies. Both parents and educators have a roleto play as far as supporting such students are concerned. Researchshows that children with learning disabilities are much susceptibleto bullying in the United States. As a result, putting in placeanti-bullying programs is one way of support. Besides, parents andteachers should each take their own responsibility to understanddifficulties faced by such students and put proper measure in placeto help them.
References
Santrock, J, W. (2013). Life-spanDevelopment, (14 thed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Westwood, P.S. (2008). Aparent’s guide to learning difficulties: How to help your child.Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press.