Bicol University College of Education Daraga Case Study

Bicol University College of Education Daraga, Albay Case Study: A Child with Learning Disability Presented to Professor Hennie Pama-Lomibao Associate Professor IV 2nd Sem. S. Y. 2012-2013 Presented by: Rannel B. Buenabajo Carmen B. Barlizo Jessere T. Marco Primerose M. Arevalo Cindy R. Mangampo Introduction A 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. It also refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, mathematical and motor abilities. There is no one sign that shows a person has a learning disability. Experts look for a noticeable difference between how well a child does in school and how well he or she could do, given his or her intelligence or ability.

There are also certain clues that may mean a child has a learning disability. Most of them relates to elementary school tasks, because learning disabilities tend to be identified in elementary school. However, if a child shows a number of these problems, then parents and the teacher should consider the possibility that the child has a learning disability. When a child has learning disability he or she may have trouble earning the alphabet, rhyming words, or connecting letters to their sounds, may make many mistakes when reading aloud, and repeat and pause often, may not understand what he or she reads, may have real trouble with spelling, may have very messy handwriting or hold a pencil awkwardly, may struggle to express ideas in writing, may learn language late and have a limited vocabulary, may have trouble remembering the sounds that letters make or hearing slight differences between words, may have trouble understanding jokes, comic strips, and sarcasm, may have trouble following directions, may mispronounce words or use a wrong word that sounds similar, may have trouble organizing what he or she wants to say or not be able to think of the word he or she needs for writing or conversation, may not follow the social rules of conversation, such as taking turns, and may stand too close to the listener, may confuse math symbols and misread numbers, may not be able to retell a story in order (what happened first, second, third), or may not know where to begin a task or how to go on from there. Difficulty with basic reading and language skills are the most common learning disabilities. As many as 80% of students with learning disabilities have reading problems, learning disabilities often run in families, learning disabilities should not be confused with other disabilities such as autism, intellectual disability, deafness, blindness, and behavioral disorders. None of these conditions are learning disabilities. In addition, they should not be confused with lack of educational opportunities like frequent changes of schools or attendance problems.

There are different types of learning disabilities and they are classified to what particular disability. The most common types are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders. The causes of Learning Disabilities are attributed to genetic, environmental factors and acquired trauma. The genetic factors refer to the characteristics that are inherited through the genes. Studies of identical or monozygotic twins, where one fertilized egg cell splits and develops into two separate embryos, show that when one twin has a reading disability, the other twin is more likely also to have a reading disability. Identical twins possess the same physical and mental traits.

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However, research shows that this is not true in the case of fraternal or dizygotic twins. Environmental influences refers to inadequate and poor learning environment that contribute significantly to the learning and behavior of many LD students (Gersten, Wood Ward and Darch, 1986, Wallace and Mclaughtin,1988). Acquired trauma is the injury to the central nervous system that originates outside the individuals result in learning disorders. 136, 525 with special need enrolled in school (2002-2003). (15. 19 %) were gifted and fast learners and 66, 635 (48. 81%) had disabilities. 75% - 80% of special education students identified as LD they have their basic deficits in language and reading; Source: National Institutes of Health.

According to DepEd: learning disabilities affect 40,000 Filipino school children and the majority of these are boys. Motor Development In the first year of life, infants begin to gain control over movements. They begin to control their head movements, reach out and grasp objects, roll, sit, and crawl and hold cups or bottles to be able to eat. Then go on walking, running, climbing upstairs, using spoon and fork, and dressing themselves. Motor development only happens when the child is biologically and mentally ready for it. It progresses from gross motor skills to fine motor skills. Motor development progression start from top to the toe and from the center out.

Ideally this means that head and shoulder movements should be practiced and mastered before hand and fine fingers movements attempted. Motor development patterns or task does not mean that it will improve or developed other motor skills. The motor skills of a child develop in their own pace, some develop in the early age, and others are delayed and have difficulties in controlling both their fine and gross motor skills. Children can do different activities. They are aware with their body, have muscle coordination, balance, manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination. Like them, Lyka can also do the same. She can perform some basic movements like moving from one place to another, walking, jumping, running, etc. She already knows how to write, grasp and hold objects.

During the days of our home and school visit, we noticed how her muscle works, like when she holds and used her pencils, pen and crayons. She has a dominant right hand and properly holds her pencils with her thumb and two fingers. She writes properly using her pencil and crayons. She walks from home to school and from school back to their home. We observed how fast she runs up stairs, how she skips and stands with her tip toe, stand with one foot and stands on the table and chair. She can also dance gracefully. She don't have problems in performing tasks especially with her hands; we saw how she use and holds some kitchen utensils like the plate, spoon and cup.

She can also manipulate objects such as blocks and beads draw some pictures like flowers, ball, and basic shapes like circle, triangle, square, and rectangle. Lyka has a well fine motor skill that was shown in her hand written. Social and Emotional Development Many students with learning disabilities have social and emotional behaviour problems in addition to the usual difficulties in language, reading and mathematics. The student with social problems may be unable to behave appropriately with peers and in other social situation. Whereas social problems involved interaction with others, emotional problems are generally considered to be within the person.

Problems in the social and emotional areas overlap in the learning disabled. For example the student with a poor self-concept may withdraw from social interaction with peers and adults. Although it is not always apparent whether social and emotional problems are contributing to the student’s academic difficulties. These aspects of behaviour are usually counterproductive to learning and thus limit academic success. Moreover, learning disabilities cause the students to faced academic failure and frustration. However, in the case of Lyka these behaviours are not present. She is a very sociable girl and friendly; she always wears a smile on her face.

She can handle her emotion. She will act what she feels. She expresses what she wants and what do not want so that she can be understood by others. For example; when she wants to buy food, she expresses it to her mother and beg for it until her mother buys it. She plays with her classmates, runs if they do, and laughs and mingles with them. She smiles often and share what she have like her toys, books, crayons and papers and even her snacks. She asks the help of her parents and sisters frequently where to find things when she doesn’t know like when she misplaced her things (pencil, eraser etc. ). She is aware of the good manners and right conduct.

She uses respectful words especially if she is talking to the elder people like saying “po, opo, tabi, kuya and ate” she make “mano” in her grandmother, parents and other elder ones. She talks and answers politely. Sometimes when she is having a conversation with one of our group mates (NEL), the attentiveness and the activeness can be seen and the word “kuya” is not forgotten. Onetime when we are asked by her parent to attend to her elder sister’s birthday celebration, we see how Lyka entertains her sister’s visitors without any sign of shyness. She took pictures of her sister’s classmates using the camera and the cell phone. She wants to make her sister’s visitors feel at home. It seems that she don’t feel any embarrassment in front of the unfamiliar faces,. She acts like there’s no other person in their house.

She has the initiative to help her mother in some household chores that is easy for her to do like sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and picking up used papers and trash that were scattered. In fact at school we saw her arranging the chairs and sweeping the floor. She obeys when she is asked by her mother to do something like taking care of their sari-sari store. Cognitive and Language Development Hallaghen, Kauffman and Lloyd (1985) LD have more difficulty in memory processes than their handicapped peer. The memory problems of the learning disabled are attributed to the limited use of cognitive strategies (organization, rehearsal) that handicapped learners’ strategies; their performance is similar to that of non handicapped peers.

Tongesen and Kail (1980) add that LD students may have difficulty remembering because of their poor language skills. Thus verbal material may be particularly difficult to remember. 50 % of LD individuals have language and speech problems (Marge, 1972), which may account for the increasing interest in language disorders (Wiig and Semels, 1984). Language and speech difficulties reflect deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. Because language skills and academic functioning are closely related, confusion exists concerning the diagnostic and instructional roles of language clinicians and LD specialist. Just like Lyka who frequently exhibits memory difficulties.

She seems to know something one day but forgets it the next day. “She doesn’t seem to remember what she learns. Just like our names, at first she’ll remember it but forget it in the following day. A seven-year-old child should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George. Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc. Understand such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc. Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words. However, Lyka, who is a seven year old, cannot properly pronounce letters such as R, K, th and ch.

According to her teacher, Lyka has difficulty in reading. She only pretends to read during oral reading. Her teacher added that she only reads through her lips imitating the sound she heard from her classmates. She is confused to pronounce letters B and D, P and T. She mispronounces letters D, B, K, T, and P. Sometimes she pronounced D as B and B as D. She can only pronounce common words such as mama and papa, during mother tongue lessons; she can recognize also letters and pronounce it correctly such as M, S, H and O. Lyka cannot identify rhyming words yet she can identify beginning sounds of common words like ma, pa, ate. She cannot even divide words into syllables.

Even when there are giving syllables to form a word she cannot do it. She is unable to spell words correctly. She speaks in incomplete sentences like, “punta ka bahay? ”, “san kuya Narrel? ” and one time when we visit in their house she said that “Ate punta kayu amin, kayu sundo amin. ” Lyka can easily recognize numbers and count as well. She can compare numbers and find which figure has greater amount. She can draw shapes but unable to determine its name except triangle and square. She is inattentive and keeps on looking around during storytelling. When the story tellers ask questions, she can answer the questions but in incomplete sentence.

Sometimes she is unable to answer because she cannot recall the information. She cannot answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. But she can follow oral instruction like when we ask her to raise her hands if she wants to answer. Personal and Self-help Development “Personality develops based on his extensive experience in psychotherapy with children and adolescents from low, upper, and middle-class backgrounds” Erik Erikson once said. Personality is what makes a person a unique individual, and it is recognizable soon after birth. The personality of a person is might be influence by his peers, his environment and through her socialization and interaction with others.

Children have different personality from each other. They might be similar in some ways but there is a big difference when we get to know it. Lyka can easily adjust to her surroundings and even there are new unfamiliar faces. Lyka is not so timid but not so interactive as well. But she can do things without being bothered by the new faces around her. When we gave her a set of crayons and coloring book, she excitedly colored the book. However, you can see that she can’t decide alone to what color she will use. She frequently asked us if what color she should use to ensure that she will not commit mistake. There is a time when we see her helping her classmates in cleaning the room.

She goes to school early, she do her home works and she follows the school and class rules. After using her thing she fixed it with her own, like when she got bored in coloring her book, she clean up her mess and fixed her things then put it in the proper place. Lyka can take care of herself; she can take a bath and prepare herself to school. But because of the distance of their home from the school, their mother ensures her safety so she always goes with Lyka to the school and fetches her after class. According to Lyka she can do her projects with her own but there was a time that she asked her parents to help her especially if she find it hard to do.

When we visit Lyka at the school, teacher Aileen shows us some of her projects. Some of them are authentically made by her but there is one project that Lyka’s mother made, a valentine decor that was hang near the bulletin board. Lyka is not aware of healthy food in fact, when we go with Ate Aida to fetch her we saw that she buys junk food in the store without thinking the risk she will get from it. But Lyka is concern to her personal hygiene. Every time she feels that she’s already stinky and dirty, she changes up her dress. Lyka is aware that she might get hit by the passing automobile that’s why she ensures that she tightly holds the hand of her mother when they cross the street. Teacher Conference

According to her teacher (Teacher Aileen L. Conda) Lyka has an unusual short attention p and doesn’t like reading. She cannot easily catch up to the lesson that is why she needs more time for her to absorb the lesson. During reading activity Lyka pretends to read though she can’t. She just read through her lips and after a while, she will stop and just stares at the words flashing in front of her and do nothing. After that her eyes will start to look around. Teacher Aileen added that this particular behavior of Lyka occurs when it is reading period and the subject allows her to read sentences/short stories. This behavior lasts mostly 15 minutes.

She denotes that this particular behavior is not a very serious case. If she will just pay attention and tried harder, she could read but she chooses not to do it. The said behaviors least likely occur when the subject is interesting especially if it is Math. According to Teacher Aileen also, Lyka find reading difficult so who ever teach her to read Lyka really find it hard for her to learn. When series of words have been flashing in front of her, she becomes confused and find it difficult to blend the sounds and read it as a word. Her difficulty in reading obviously seen every time the class start to read and she just stop reading and her eyes will start to wonder.

Teacher Aileen also included that one time, after the class have finished reading, she call Lyka’s attention and asked her why she didn’t read, she will not response and her eyes avoid to look at her directions. Lyka’s body becomes stiff and sometimes when she asked Lyka to stand because she will teach it to read, she doesn’t get any response and sometimes she pout and cries. Lyka can write even long sentences but the problem is she doesn’t able to read what she have wrote. She find it hard to recognized rhyming words. Teacher Aileen suggested that both the regular and SPEd teacher in cooperation with the parents can create an intervention plan tailored to her specific needs. Parent Conference As we talk to Lyka’s mother, Mrs.

Aida, she told us that when she read to her daughter Lyka she notice that Lyka is easily get bored especially when the words are repeatedly told. Lyka will said, “paulit-ulit na lang! ” Lyka become inattentive if she is exposed to many words when her mother tries to teach her. When she read to Lyka using the MTB (Mother Tongue Based) Manual, Lyka found it hard to read. She cannot read if Lyka’s mother did not first pronounce the words. She did not recognize simple words like “baso” and unable to read and pronounce simple syllable. When she tried to read to Lyka one syllable like “sa,se,si,so,su” she can say it but later on as she introduce another set of syllables she did not recognize the first syllable anymore.

She can only read syllables or words if her mother read with her and she found it difficult if she reads with her own. There are omitted letters on her writings. Lyka’s mother told us that she is sociable; she does not choose whom to play with. Mrs. Aida point out that when Lyka’s playmate hit her, she will hit back that particular child. Lyka’s mother added that every time her things are being used without her permission she pout and put back again her things in order. Because of the busy schedule of Lyka’s father we didn’t have a chance to talk with her, but according to Mrs. Aida he helps her daughter to do her home works like when there are activities concerns to drawing.

But he never had a chance to teach his daughter to read because of his works. Mrs. Aida added that Lyka is an obedient child; she listens if she told to, she obeys whatever her mother asks her. Mrs. Aida is concern to her child. She wants that Lyka to learn to read. She teaches Lyka to read if she has a time, but Lyka is very inattentive. She is easily disturbed especially if there are children playing in their house. Conclusions Based from the gathered data, the researchers find out the following conclusions: •Lyka can do mathematical problems. She is able to add and subtract simple equation. Also, she can count numbers from 1-30 consistently. •In terms of her social and emotional concerns, she is ociable and can handle her feelings, often play with her classmates and friends. She laughs with them, interacts with them and shares food to them. She talks much and says whatever she wanted. She behaves well at school. She remains seated during class discussion. She follows classroom rules and regulations. •She has a short attention p. She got easily bored when doing something. Sometimes she was distracted that is why she can’t finish specific tasks. •She has well fine motor skills. She holds pencil and crayons properly and writes neatly. She can draw basic shapes and simple objects but unable to name some. She can do gross motor skills such as walking running, jumping, skipping and balancing.

She can also dance and move her body. •She speaks with omitted words in the sentence. She finds it hard to remember and therefore produce correct sounds of letters/ words. She has trouble learning the alphabet that is why she has trouble understanding written words. She frequently mispronounces words. •She has difficulty in reading. Yes, she can write letters and words but unable to pronounce and name it. She can’t remember long sentences and oftentimes forget what she has learned like our names. •She listens but most of the time becomes inattentive. Her focus shifted to something that catches her attention. She cannot focus on one specific task. She might have difficulty in reasoning because she cannot be able to express her ideas example based from the story heard. She cannot answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. “ Learning disability is a disorder that is manifested by significance difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning and mathematical abilities( Hammill, Leigh, Mcnutt and Larser, 1981)” However, based from the above conclusions, we found out that in the case of lyka, she has only learning disability in some areas; her reading, speaking and listening skills and probably to have problems in reasoning skill. Problems in Reading are manifested in a variety of ways. It could be word recognition errors (omission, insertion, etc. , reading habits (tension, movements, etc. ) and comprehension errors. She often omits words, only when she was and sometimes in writing. Lyka, during reading period start to wander and stare only at the words and she cannot even recall some facts from story heard. Torgesen and Kail (1980) denotes that learning disabled children /students may have difficulty remembering because of their poor language skills. Thus, verbal material may be particularly difficult to remember. Speaking is present to Lyka’s disability. This is manifested in her verbal communication. She speaks in incomplete sentences. Thus, she frequently omits words when talking.

Marge (1972) accounts that learning disabled individuals have language and speech disorders which lead to an increasing interest in language disorders (Wiig and Semels, 1984). Language and speech difficulties reflect deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. In Lyka’s case, she reflects deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. She is able to communicate orally but language lack in pragmatic competence. The structures on sentences are incorrect and often mispronounce uttered words. She has difficulty in her listening comprehension. Fleisher, Soodak and Selin (1984) reported that attention deficits have much fact validity; teacher can readily recall students with learning disability who had difficulty paying attention.

Lyka’s attention is short that is why she has problems in listening comprehension and she does not able to absorb information due to inattentiveness. Lyka might probably have difficulty in reasoning skills. “Many students with learning disabilities have weaknesses in abstract reasoning and can benefit from direct instruction in problem-solving skills. They may also benefit from language therapy to help them learn to use language to understand and solve problems” (Article of Ann Logsdon). Lyka can’t answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. The manifestation of learning disability in writing and mathematics are not present to Lyka.

Actually she doesn’t have difficulty in writing and mathematics. She can write her name, short or long sentences neatly and can solve simple mathematical problems like basic addition and subtraction. Thus, she has learning disability in reading, speaking and listening skills. Interventions to learning disabled children Multi sensory approach referred to as VAKT (visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile) learning is facilitated for some students if information received through several senses rather than just one or two senses. Fernald Method stresses whole word learning. To provide an independent study method for students who have extreme difficulty retaining sight words and their spelling.

This procedure may be integrated into other reading/spelling methods for students who do not seem to be able to re-visualize words for writing or who do not retain the association between printed words and their spoken equivalents. Gillingham-Stillman (1966) Method, feature sound blending, the process of teaching isolated sound and blending them into a word. Language Program and Materials Clinical Language Intervention Program (Semel and Wiig, 1982), used to teaches semantics, syntax, memory, and pragmatics to students. Let’s Talk: Developing Pro-social Communication Skills (Wiig 1982), develop and strengthen the pro social communication skills of students.

Direct remediation (Auditory Training), Auditory training that targets bottom-up activities that maximize neuroplasticity and can be formal (i. e. , in a sound-treated booth with acoustically controlled stimuli) or informal (in home or school setting using targeted games and activities). References Books “Bangs, Tina E. “Language and Learning Disorder of the Pre-academic Child with curriculum guide”New Jersey:Prentice Hall Inc. , 1982 Harring, Norris G. “Exceptional Children and youth” (5th Edition) Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company, 1990 Stanley Johnson W, Robert L. Morasky “learning Disabilities” (Second Edition) Boston Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon Inc. , 1980 Inciong, Teresita G. , Yolanda S. Quijano, Yolanda T. Capulong, Julieta A. Gregorio, Adelaida C. Gines. Introduction To special Education”Philippines: Rex Book Store Inc. 2007 Electronic media http://www. angelfire. com/folk/personalitydev http://www. bhcmhmr. org/poc/view_doc. php? type=doc&id=12757&cn=462 http://www. ldhope. com/statistics. html www. Interaksyon. com/article/33676/no-such-thing-as-bobo http://childdevelopmentinfo. com/child-development/language_development. shtml http://www. jstor. org/discover/pgs/index? id=10. 2307/1169734&img=dtc. 22. tif. gif&uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101780942871&orig=/discover/10. 2307/1169734? uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101780942871 http://www. ehow. com/about_5530836_meaning-cognitive-disorder. html Documentation

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