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Insights-Resources-Application
Introduction to Students with Learning Disabilities

Chapter 5: Students with Specific Learning Disabilities
Insights:
Learning Disabilities (LDs) have a a tendency to run in the family and become
hereditary traits in children.
Teratogens are a known prenatal cause of learning disabilities. Teratogens are
classed as: radiation, maternal infection, chemicals, and drugs that disturb embryo
development.
Students with LDs in one area do not necessarily require drastic intervention in
all areas. A student with a reading / writing LD does not need alternative assessment
in mathematics and vice versa.
-
Resource:
Munk, D. D., & Bursuck, W. D. (1998). Report Card Grading Adaptations for
Students with Disabilities: Types and Acceptability. Intervention in School and Clinic,
33(5), 306-308. doi:10.1177/105345129803300508
This resource is a journal article written in response to both standardized testing

practice and effective ways to approach education of students with LDs. It stipulates
that adaptations can help produce fairer grades and produce better learning. In the
abstract it states, When chosen collaboratively and implemented systematically,
grading adaptations can be incorporated into the regular grading system to produce
accurate and fair grades.(Munk&Bursuck,1998)whichIthinkrelatesheavilytothetopic
athandinthechapterwhereweexplorewhatastudentwithLDsneeds,andwhotheyare.
Application:
In practice working with students that have LDs can be rather difficult in the
identification process. The chapter highlights regularly their ability to be disguised
behind average or above average abilities. One such student I have encountered had a
reading LD. She spoke very eloquently for her age, was a reasonably good at the
dexterous aspect of playing an instrument and she seemed to have great cognitive
faculties. However she struggled with reading sheet music. Many students do, its hard,
its much like learning a new language; she struggled much more than I had seen
before. This lead me to a conclusion that she must not be able to see it, because how
could a young girl that speaks so well and learns so easily have an LD. This
unfortunately was a harsh lesson in learning that just because a student has strong oral
ability does not mean they have strong reading ability, and that identifying and LD can
sneak up on you. The signs arent always black and white.
Teachers Make the Difference: Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities at the
Middle and Secondary Level
Insights:
-LDs and students that have LDs have a very wide variety within the term, many
students will however show weakness in some skill area, but may show above average
strengths in other skill areas.
-Although many students don't fully comprehend or use metacognitive abilities or
capacities, students with LDs regularly exhibit greater metacognitive problems than
those of their peers.
-When assessing students with LDs continuous assessment (diagnostic, formative, and
summative) will lead to a greater more accurate assessment of learning. Learners with
LDs often may exhibit difficulty at some stage of the task and thus a before, during, and
after sample will be able to greater denote whether or not the student has learned. The
difficulty should be in the learning not the task which is often where a student with LD
can be hindered.
Resource:
-
Making a difference : Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated

instruction. (2010). AB: Alberta Education.
Making a Difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated

instruction. This is an Alberta document that is similar in tone and meaning but
focusses far more on teaching in action. Saskatchewan document was quite good but
also quite clinical whereas the Albertan document built off of many of the ideas in the
prior document and also listed how they may look in the classroom. There for
exampleis an entire page devoted to relating the best practice ideas with classroom
activities (Education Alberta, 2010, p. 69)
Application:
This particular resource while reading reminded me a lot of the planning
processes involved with differentiated instruction (DI). DI is a front loaded teaching
practice, wherein you prep for a variety of learners before the learner needs it. Coming
into my 2016 music teaching position I knew I had a returning student with LDs and
ADHD, that struggled severely with his dexterity. The only way to fix dexterity problems
is to simply run basic exercises like scales until your ability improves. This form of
explicit skill instruction is laborious and dull and often makes students frustrated; leaving
them worse off then when they started. To counter this I developed a game, more of a
tournament actually, wherein the student that could complete their exercise the fastest
without missing a note would win a prize. I hung up a chart, planned out the rules and
the way students would be tested and started taking times on a weekly basis. The goal
here was to get a constant metric for how well the students were performing and
learning. Weeks without practice saw slower times than weeks with. This student by the
end was leaps and bounds ahead of where he was after a year of instruction in only a
few months.
Even though this student struggled with making the metacognitive decision to
practice the dull scales, with proper planning, knowledge of content, and learners its
possible to have all students accessing the content and learning effectively. I feel thats
what this resource is designed to promote in practice.
Adapting Assessment and using Assessment to Differentiate Teaching.
Insight:
- Student accommodations used in the classroom can be used in the Provincial and
Federal standardized tests.
-Students in America are offered a summative form of assessment and can be
exempted from standardized tests, wherein Canada we do not offer such assessments
or exemptions.
- Accommodations created for students with LDs should not and do not offer unfair
advantages; like extra time on an exam this does not levy an advantage because if
applied to other students it would likely not change their score meaningfully.
Resource:
-Susan, F. Y., & Wilson, R. J. (2000). Assessment and learning: The ICE approach.
Winnipeg: Peguis.
- Exploring a book mentioned in the article I found a lot more information about norm
referenced grading and instruction and how that can be detrimental to properly
assessing students. They go into detail about their approach names The ICE approach.
Wherein you compare progress to where the student started from regardless of where
the other students started. (Susan&Wilson,2000,p.2)
Application:
Going deeper on the path of assessment that both the original resource and the
additional speak heavily on I have only ever had one norm referenced exam to work
against. These are the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) grade level examinations for
classical guitar. I have a few students working through these grade levels, but they must
take a standardized playing exam yearly to advance. I always feel terrible for how this
affects my teaching, as it ceases to be about individual goals, or learner goals, or
enjoyment of the act of learning as they must meet exam requirements. The entire year
aside from a few weeks at Christmas and summer is devoted to learning what the exam
needs. I know I hate teaching to a script and unfortunately these norm style
standardized tests force a certain style from me. I can only imagine how these students
feel having something as subjective as music be judged against each other for
advancement of ability.

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Insights-Resources-Application

Introduction to Students with Learning Disabilities

This resource is a journal article written in response to both standardized testing

Making a difference : Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated

Making a Difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated

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