New Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities

By

Rachel Schless, Rileigh Black, Megan Pilla, Alexander Tortorella, and Vasilios Hasapis

This issue of NASET’s LD Report was written by Rachel Schless, Rileigh Black, Megan Pilla, Alexander Tortorella, and Vasilios Hasapis. According to the authors, currently, most strategies being used to assist students with learning disabilities are based on academic interventions. While these may be somewhat helpful, they have not shown to lead to high levels of success for the individuals with learning disabilities (LD). This article delves deeper into new, more beneficial strategies that teachers of students with LD, parents of students with LD, and students with LD can use. We feel this topic is extremely important to take a closer look at as students with LD are more likely to struggle socially and emotionally, leading to an increase in mental illnesses and crime rates. Our aim is to inform students with LD as well as those who assist them on successful strategies they can use within their everyday practices.

Abstract

Currently, most strategies being used to assist students with learning disabilities are based on academic interventions. While these may be somewhat helpful, they have not shown to lead to high levels of success for the individuals with learning disabilities (LD). This article delves deeper into new, more beneficial strategies that teachers of students with LD, parents of students with LD, and students with LD can use. We feel this topic is extremely important to take a closer look at as students with LD are more likely to struggle socially and emotionally, leading to an increase in mental illnesses and crime rates. Our aim is to inform students with LD as well as those who assist them on successful strategies they can use within their everyday practices.

Introduction

People with learning disabilities can often be overlooked in both the classroom and real world because of the lack of education and effort given to them. Therefore, a major goal in the special education system is to adjust this. Before discussing strategies for teaching students with learning disabilities, we must understand what learning disabilities are. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, “Learning disabilities are due to genetic and/or neurobiological factors that alter brain functioning in a manner which affects one or more cognitive processes related to learning.” (LDA, 2020). These can include but are not limited to Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Auditory Processing Disorder, Language Processing Disorder, Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, Reading Comprehension Deficit, and Visual Motor Deficit.

Over the past several years, the prevalence of learning disabilities has increased tremendously. In a study done in 1996, 5% of students were diagnosed with a learning disability (LD) (Lyon, 1996). In a more recent study, it was found that this number increased to 8% by 2019 (Jenco, 2019). This number is alarming since there is only a 23 year difference, but a 3% increase in the number of students with a learning disability. Some misconceptions arise with this fact. Many believe that more children are being born with learning disabilities, but actually, we can see that more children are simply being tested and diagnosed with them. In fact, “60% of adults with severe literacy problems have undetected or untreated learning disabilities. As science develops, the funding for research and testing of learning disabilities increases” (Lyon, 1996). Lyon also mentions that “sound reasons for the increase include better research, a broader definition of disability in reading, focusing on phonological awareness, and greater identification of girls with learning disabilities.” (Lyon, 1996). Although the reasons for the increase are interesting, they are irrelevant to the overall goal of the special education system.

Recently, the special education system has been much more successful in teaching students with a learning disability. Still, students with learning disabilities have not always been treated the best. Before the 1950s, students with learning disabilities had no access to special education, and it was not until Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954 that students had access to this. The Brown decision ruled that “all people, regardless of race, gender, or disability, have a right to a public education” which began becoming a more trusted belief among Americans (Esteves & Rao 2008). There were many more milestones that added to the success of the special education system following Brown, such as the Education for All Handicap Children’s Act, the Board of Education of Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and many more. After these rulings, the current education system has become much better at supporting individuals with LD by requiring that measurable annual goals be written, that there is an assessment and measurement of progress, an increase in parent involvement in the development of their child’s IEP and overall education, and frequent reporting of goal progress to parents and school (Esteves & Rao 2008). These adjustments along with a greater funding increase for the special education system has truly helped students with learning disabilities have better access to a meaningful education.

Currently, the typical approach to teaching students with learning disabilities has been to adapt curriculum and/or focus strictly on academic strategies that students can use. For example, students with LD may be taken out of the classroom individually or in small groups throughout the day to work on certain subject areas whilst their peers receive full class instruction. They may also be put into groups with other students who have LD within the classroom and given easier/adapted materials to work with. This is thought to allow the students with LD to gain better understanding of the material they are struggling with, as they are receiving more individualized instruction. Throughout this paper, however, we will discuss why this may not be the best approach to educating our students with learning disabilities. We will begin by looking at the impact learning disabilities may have on students and why we need to change the way we teach them. We will then move into discussing strategies that teachers of students with LD, parents of students with LD, and students with LD themselves can use to best support their learning and development.

Literature Review

The Impact of having Learning Disabilities on Students:

One thing we must consider whilst discussing individuals with learning disabilities is the impact it has on both their education and mental health. This population has found it extremely difficult in a world made for neurotypicals. Students with LD are proven to have lower levels of motivation and academic self-regulation than their peers without LD (Grolnick & Ryan, 1990; Heavey, Adelman, Nelson, & Smith, 1989). This severely impacts their ability to do well in school, as it is more difficult for them to stay on task and truly engage in their work.

Education isn’t the only important factor here, however. Those with LDs are predisposed to have social and emotional difficulties, especially during adolescence (Mishna, 1996). It has been seen that those with one LD, and even more so those with multiple LD, display poorer functioning in the areas of school and clinical maladjustment, as well as emotional regulation (Martínez and Semrud-Clikeman, 2004). Social maturity is another thing that we have seen come into play. Those with LD show that they experience more impairment on the Atypicality scale than their neurotypical peers, causing professionals to believe that they will be late to develop what we consider to be age-appropriate social skills (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1998). This may lead to their exclusion in the classroom environment, impacting their ability to perform academically and lead adequate social lives. It has been theorized that a reason as to why students with LD experience so many difficulties socially and emotionally is because they experience cognitive deficits that most likely affect those areas just as much as they affect the student’s academics. At the very least, cognitive processing difficulties may lead students with LD to misinterpret “social events and subsequent personal actions that depend upon such interpretations” (Bender & Wall, 1994). We can also see that individuals with LD are frequently seen to have low academic and social self-concepts, viewing themselves in a particularly negative light (Elksnin & Elksnin, 2004), largely caused by their social and emotional difficulties. Due to all of the above findings, it has been found that it is more common for those with LD to deal with depression and/or suicidal ideations (Huntington & Bender, 1993) as well as anxiety disorders (Cooray, Bakala, Purandare, & Wijeratne, 2012). We can also see that individuals with LD have higher levels of involvement with the authorities and/or law courts than their neurotypical peers (Gregory et al., 1986). While many of the previous findings contribute to this phenomenon, it is also largely due to the fact that our school system fails individuals with LD, placing them in frustrating positions (both socially and academically) where they are unconsciously expected to fail. This leads these students to have higher dropout rates and lower graduation rates than the general population of students. Since crime statistics show that low academic achievement relates directly to a higher involvement in the criminal justice system, during both youth and adulthood we can see that those with LD are predisposed to this involvement from the very beginning of their academic careers (Winters, 1997).

We must consider all of these factors whilst working with students with LD. For years, remediation practices for LD have been focused on implementing academic strategies. While this is helpful for some students, many have found it to be ineffective. More often than not, individuals with LD reach a certain point in their academic careers, typically sixth through eighth grade, and then plateau entirely, regardless of the effort being put in from both teachers and students (Deshler, Schumaker, & Lenz 1984; Warner, Schumaker, Alley, & Deshler, 1980). Research has now, however, begun to shift from academic strategies we can use to assist students with LD to an approach focused on social-emotional interventions. Not only may this help students with LD to improve their academic performances, but it may also assist in bettering the mental health of these individuals; hopefully better preventing their exclusion, mental illnesses, and risky behaviors. From here, we will delve deeper into the strategies one can use to better the lives, both academically and elsewise, of students with LD.

New Strategies for Teachers of those with Learning Disabilities:

There are many different ways that teachers can impact all of their students, the main way being through our methods of teaching them. Because of the fact that there are so many different strategies and methods that teachers can use, it is of utmost importance to do a lot of research before determining what strategies are going to be the most effective for their students (Musyoka et al., 2017). We have to consider that many older methods of teaching students are now outdated, and lesson/behavioral plans that were created a while ago should be updated to reflect today’s norms. This is especially true for special education, due to all of the additional research that is done within this field every year. It is important to explore what new research says is working best.

Throughout much of the 21st century, the best teaching method for students with LD was to separate them from the general education students to ensure that they were going at a pace that worked for them. However, in recent years this has proven to be severely ineffective and harmful to students’ development (Harbach et al., 2020; Gena, 2020). A lot of new research pushes to have all students within one grade level together whenever possible, going into a separate learning group only a few times each day (Caspi et al., 2000; Verba, 1998). This would allow students with LD to be able to work with many different people, which is extremely important for the development of social skills. Teachers should be pushing for students with learning disabilities to be immersed in general education classes with people their age, which we can see has been done more and more in recent years. Due to new laws regarding least restrictive environments (LRE), it is now very rare to see those with learning disabilities being secluded within schools.

Knowing now that most individuals with learning disabilities are taught within a general education classroom, we are going to take a look at different strategies that teachers can use with their students who have LD. Peer tutoring (Juniper Gardens, 2001) and cooperative goal structures (Jenkins, Leicester, O’Connor, Jenkins, & Troutner, 1994) are two methods that have shown themselves to be effective. Peer tutoring involves high-achieving individuals to help their lower-achieving peers at a one-on-one level, whereas collaborative teaching involves a group of students working towards one defined goal. These allow students to work together over many subjects, promoting positive interactions within the classroom and providing a certain sense of familiarity for the students throughout the day. Both peer tutoring and collaborative goal structures have shown “a moderate increase in the friendship quality and peer acceptance of students with LD in classrooms” (Vaughn, Elbaum, Schumm, and Hughes, 1998). We also must consider that effective interventions within the classroom should promote positive self-image and higher rates of happiness. One strategy that has been proven helpful for students who struggle with low self-esteem is attribution retraining (Borkowski, Weyhing, and Carr, 1988) (Schunk and Cox, 1986). This involves teaching students to reframe their negative thinking into thoughts that will promote motivation and confidence. We can also see a similar positive effect when using teacher pep talks, self-induced positive thinking, the playing of happy music, and so on. We must remember that a student’s academics cannot flourish if they are thinking of themselves in a negative light. Their mental health must take precedence over all else if we want them to have successful academic careers. This is extremely important to remember in regards to those with LD, as they are predisposed to dealing with social and emotional difficulties.

Another thing that one must consider whilst discussing strategies for teachers to help students with learning disabilities is generalization. Once a skill is taught within the classroom, an effort must be made to teach students how to apply what they have learned to other areas of their life. Doing this should include “focusing on sequential modification, introduction of contingencies, training with several examples, training across settings, and mediating training generalizations” (Elksnin, 1994). If teachers do not engage in implementing these strategies within their classrooms, then we cannot guarantee that the students will fully benefit from their teaching over a long period of time.

One of the biggest improvements amongst the field of special education in recent years has been the continued development of assistive technology. Assistive Technology (AT) is any device or tool that can help an individual with disabilities best function within their daily lives (Temple, 2019). AT can range from what we refer to as low tech to high tech. Low tech consists of tools that use no battery/electricity, such as a pencil grip, which assists students who lack fine motor skills with holding writing utensils. High tech AT consists of tools that are extremely technologically developed, such as smart boards, which can be used to make lessons more engaging and appealing to all students. The pencil grip and smart board are just two examples of AT, but there are new discoveries in the field that are being made everyday. For this reason, it is very important for teachers to keep up to date with new developments in our field so that we are always supplying the best education possible to our students.

New Strategies for Parents of those with Learning Disabilities:

For parents whose child has a learning disability, it is important that the right strategies are used within the home. We want to ensure that the child is not only being supported by their family and friends, but also to make sure that they are being guided towards successful futures. We must keep in mind that having a child with a learning disability may cause significant changes to the way a family typically functions (Marvin & Pianta, 1996; Turnbull & Turnbull, 1990; Waggoner & Wilgosh, 1990). The diagnosis of an LD within a child may also lead to more health problems and higher levels of stress/depression for the parents of said child (Quine & Paul, 1985; Roach, Ormond, & Barratt, 1999; Valentine, McDermott, & Anderson, 1998). An LD is going to be a challenge for parents, but one must remember that it is even harder for the child, themselves. As a parent, one must take the proper steps and maintain a positive mindset in order to best help their child. This support has been proven to influence children with LD in a positive manner, leading to higher levels of acceptance, cohesion, and problem solving abilities within the household (Jain, 1990). We can see that, too frequently, “the mothers of children with learning disabilities perceive their families as more rigid and less flexible. They were significantly more controlling, emphasized organization, and were more rigid and authoritarian” (Wong, 2003). This is important to change, as it has been found that families who are flexible, demonstrate effective support, and employ effective coping strategies seem to be more successful in responding to the needs of children with LD (Morrison & Cosden, 1997). Rigidity typically only exacerbates the challenges that children with LD may pose to begin with (Heiman, 2008), whereas high levels of support and adaptivity are crucial in guiding children with LD towards bright futures (Feagans et al., 1991; Jain, 1990).

Along with providing a flexible and supportive home environment, parents of a child with LD may want to consider additional social arrangements, as it could be difficult for these children to make friends with others in their classes. This is because they may be perceived as “different” due to the extra help they receive throughout the day as well as their divergence from neurotypical norms. Playdates are a terrific way to encourage friendship and to work on those key social skills with children who have LD. Parents can use this time to teach social skills such as sharing, compromising, and starting conversations. Playdates can also encourage a stronger connection between parents themselves, which is extremely important as it is necessary for them to have someone they feel comfortable being around and conversing freely with (Coombs-Richardson, 2005). We can see that playdates greatly help all who are a part of a family in which one or more members are diagnosed with an LD.

Another tool parents can explore is the internet as a whole. They can use it’s resources to support both themselves and their child with an LD. The internet provides parents with many tools and materials which they can use in everyday life to best assist their child. They can also find communities online where they will be able to receive support and compassion from other parents in similar situations (Archer, 2012). This is extremely important as, stated before, having a child with an LD can cause great stress and lead to a variety of health problems for the parents themselves (Quine & Paul, 1985; Roach, Ormond, & Barratt, 1999; Valentine, McDermott, & Anderson, 1998). The internet is also a great resource for the child with an LD because there are many engaging educational tools and social opportunities for them to utilize. One individual with an LD stated that “as [his] main difficulty is verbal communication, the internet opened up a whole new world for [him]. [He is] very articulate when typing so [he] found it much easier to have conversations online than in real life. [He] started using chat rooms and online communities in order to share [his] special interest in a particular TV show. [He] even created [his] own website and forum for the show and got emails almost every day from fans all around the world. It made [him] feel like [he] was a part of something and that people cared about [his] opinions” (Archer, 2012). This is an extremely important thing, as those with LD often struggle with self-esteem. With the wide variety of creative outlets that the internet has to provide, individuals with LD can find ways to feel heard and important, which is wonderful. We also must consider the wide variety of assistive technology that is offered on the internet, such as text-to-speech software, calculators, AAC, etc. These can allow individuals better access materials to their schoolwork and other daily tasks, improving their overall self-image. Due to all of the above factors, it is important that parents of those with LD allow their children access to the internet and its tools. This being said, it is important to set up rules and guidelines for your child that will ensure appropriate internet use. You may want to establish time limits with your child for how long they are allowed to use the internet, let them know the dangers of telling strangers about themselves online, and set up parental locks/controls on the device your child will use to ensure that they cannot access inappropriate sites (Archer, 2012).

New Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities:

For students with learning disabilities, it is crucial to be able to fully engage in strategies and instruction that will help them develop a strong educational foundation. Without teacher strategies and the support of a classroom teacher, it is very challenging for students to develop strategies that will help them to complete assignments outside of the classroom. In order to formally introduce strategies for students to use on their own, there is a great deal of instruction that can be done by the teacher to develop strategies that work for each individual and hopefully make them more independent in their learning. The academic goal for these students is to effectively raise assignment and test scores, whilst the social-emotional goal for these students should be to provide them with a sense of confidence so that they are able to eventually complete these tasks on their own. Since all students with LD have different learning needs, it is important to look at each student on a case by case basis to ensure that the strategies they are being taught are proven to be effective in their learning. This means that the teaching strategies for every student will be different, but the overall goals will be the same.

In previous research, some articles state that the use of a “Self- Regulated Learner Framework” is most helpful for students with learning disabilities. These frameworks can be used in multiple content areas, but the research that was found focused on the content areas of math and writing. For the content area of math, the study done by Evelyn S. Johnson, EdD1, Anne B. Clohessy, PhD2, and Pragnyaa Chakravarthy, MEd2 focuses on students with learning disabilities and their increased probability of developing math anxiety. These respective authors were able to make this correlation because they could see that math anxiety can also be caused by a student’s “negative appraisal” from their math learning experiences throughout school (Johnson, E. S., 2021). When students begin to look at math in a negative light they can develop a cycle of negative thoughts that hinder their desire to learn math. In order to extinguish these negative thoughts, teachers have to help these students develop a growth mindset when learning math. This includes introducing a self-regulated learner framework that helps students to make academic goals and plans that are attainable and ambitious. Once these goals are made, they are more likely to become a successful self-regulated learner and develop skills that would help them in the math classroom. Research shows that this intervention introduces a five step method that begins with an introduction of the strategy led by the teacher but eventually transitions into a process that is fully led and regulated by the student themselves (Johnson, E. S., Clohessy, A. B., 2021). The first step of the process is called the “Connection” stage. This stage focuses on building a positive classroom environment and developing relationships with these students so that they feel understood and comfortable. Studies show that “students with LD (learning disabilities) and attention deficits have more distant, more conflictual, and more dependent relationships with their teachers” (Demirkaya & Bakkaloglu, 2015). This is a very apparent problem in a classroom and needs to be addressed immediately in order to implement this intervention. Being able to learn and incorporate students’ interests is a fun way to be able to help these students to feel more comfortable in the classroom (Johnson, E. S., Clohessy, A. B., 2021). Therefore, conducting and participating in student/teacher conferences where students can talk about their interests and goals or organizing classroom activities where students can share more information about themselves can be very beneficial. The second step in the intervention strategy is “Self-Awareness”. This step focuses on helping students become more aware of their emotions and how to properly express these emotions. This step is crucial for a student to understand their own social and emotional health as it has been demonstrated that emotional awareness can positively impact a student’s academic achievement (Johnson, E. S., Clohessy, A. B., 2021). One way in which students can promote emotional awareness is the use of a rating scale where they can express how they are feeling on a scale from 1-5. A rating of a 1 demonstrates that the student feels paniced or feels very uncomfortable or less confident about what they are learning. A rating of a 5 can demonstrate that the student feels very confident and feels as though they could complete their work alone. A rating scale can be a valuable way for students to be able to express themselves in a more comprehensive way so that the teacher is able to assist the students and help them feel more prepared and confident regarding both their academics and emotional wellbeing. The third step is called “Self-Determination”. This step focuses on goal setting and being able to monitor the progress of that goal (Johnson, E. S., Clohessy, A. B., 2021). Providing these students with goals in a set way in which they can monitor their progress will help them to become more independent in their learning and hold themselves accountable. For example, if a student were to set the goal of the amount of time it took in between problems to complete the assignment in the class period they would need to come up with a graph or a table where they can keep track of how long each problem takes them so they are able to see their own progress and become responsible for their progress as well. The fourth step in the intervention is called “Strategy” and it focuses on providing the student with a specific math strategy that focuses on a particular area in mathematics. Using strategies in math like manipulatives, charts, tables, and making visual representations can all be a part of the strategy but making sure that the teacher models these strategies is essential for student success and eventually student independence. Lately, “Resilience” is the last step in the self-regulation strategy (Johnson, E. S., Clohessy, A. B., 2021). This strategy focuses on giving the student a way to regulate their emotions and persevere through the challenges that they will continue to face. Some examples of this include providing students with visual charts and cue cards that are taped to the desk, their folder, or on their iPad when they become disoriented and are not confident in what to do next. These strategies can help them to stay on track and self-regulate while they are learning to develop their sense of independence and self confidence. Additionally, it is important to note that this stage might differ for all students with learning disabilities but as long as these students are able to continue their work and regulate their emotions and work ethic, they will continue to move forward and succeed in the classroom.

This strategy of using a self-regulated framework can benefit many students with learning disabilities in the content area of math but this framework can also be utilized in the writing process. In a research article titled, The Effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development On the Writing Process for High School Students With Learning Disabilities, authors focused on the writing process on how to write a persuasive essay and being able to create an end result that was clear and concise (Chalk, J. C., Hagan-Burke, S., 2005). Many students with learning disabilities struggle to utilize pre-writing strategies even though these strategies help students to become successful writers. The first step in this process is to be able to develop background knowledge in order to understand the students prior knowledge on the basic parts of an essay. The mnemonic device that was developed was “D.A.R.E” which stood for, “… (a) develop topic sentence, (b) add supporting detail, (c) reject arguments from the other side, and (e) end with a conclusion” (Chalk, J. C., Hagan-Burke, S., 2005). In this stage, it is important that the student is focusing on the teacher’s instruction and practicing using this mnemonic device frequently so that they are using the device correctly. The next step is an initial conference with the teacher to go over the students scores and goals. In these conferences, students set goals on the length of the paper and the overall quality of the paper. This stage also involves introducing the self-regulated strategy for the first time. Teachers were able to model this framework by using a posterboard and putting it up on the chalkboard. Having the visual prompt up there for students helps them become more independent in the process but also gives them the support they need to be successful. Step three is to model the strategy and in order to do this the student will have to be shown the strategy by their teacher (Chalk, J. C., Hagan-Burke, S., 2005). For example, if the teacher is walking them through the steps of the writing process it is crucial that she walks you through these steps with a sample paper and shows you step by step how to complete these writing process steps. Step 4 is memorization. This is crucial for students to be able to become successful on their own. This stage focuses on being able to memorize the strategy that was put in place and and practicing the strategy in the classroom. The fifth step of the strategy focuses on collaborative practice between the teacher and the student. The teacher was able to review the students’ goals and help them visualize the strategy of using “D.A.R.E” in their paper. Lastly, step 6 focuses on the independent practice done by the student and the importance of this stage for the student and their ability to become more confident and successful in their writing abilities. Overall, in this study they found that, “the word production and quality of students’ essays increased following strategy instruction” (Chalk, J. C., Hagan-Burke, S., 2005).

As you can see from both articles, the students cannot develop these strategies alone. These students need a solid foundation and teacher intervention from the beginning so that, afterwards, they are able to take their learning and turn it into a strategy that they can use on their own. This willingness of teachers to work with students and make them feel safe and comfortable in the classroom, develop goals and a plan for them, implement a strategy, and model/practice this strategy is crucial for the academic improvement of students with learning disabilities. This strategy not only improves students’ academic performances but it also provides them with a way of regulating their social and emotional needs.

Conclusion

Students with learning disabilities have a hard battle to face when it comes to schooling, no doubt. As more funding is being given to the programs that serve them, research is being done to decide the best strategies for effectively teaching students with learning disabilities. This is important as, currently, we see those with LD struggling with higher levels of academic difficulties, social/emotional troubles, mental illness, and criminal activities. As discussed in the sections above, there have been many strategies found for teachers of students with LD, parents of students with LD, and students with LD themselves to implement in order to allow the education and lives of those with LD to improve. Overall, these new strategies have been deemed as effective to use with individuals who have LD. Therefore, teachers of students with LD, parents of students with LD, and students with LD should try to integrate as many of these strategies into their daily lives for the greatest levels of success.

Resources