Read lecture transcript and respond to assignment Each weekly APD is a narrative, generally composed of several thoughtful, thorough paragraphs per section based on your knowledge, skills, and dispo
ey, everyone, this lecture, we will be discussing individuals with learning disabilities.
So specific learning disabilities is actually the highest incident disability. So students with this classification make up the vast majority of eligible students who receive special education services? But when we say specific learning, disability, what does that look like.
So idea defines specific learning, disability as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language spoken or written that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.
So this just refers to those internal cognitive functions that help a person process information. So
these processes would include things like attention, memory, perception, language processing, phonological processing, any visual spatial processing. So
a deficit in any one of these areas can actually disrupt warning.
And
the speech or specific learning, disability actually affects language, related tasks a lot. So both receptive. So that's understanding things and expressive. So that's using language.
So
specific learning, disability shows up in school performance through difficulties and thinking, so organizing and retrieving information, expressing your thoughts clearly, reading, particularly with decoding, or fluency or comprehension for what you just read, spelling so writing words correctly, and then mathematical calculations. So some struggles with number, sense and basic computation.
So specific learning disabilities are neurologically based disorders that impact one or more of those cognitive processes that are pretty essential to learning.
So all right.
these challenges aren't really due to a lack of intelligence or motivation, but they're more. They're rather internal processing difficulties that interfere with specific academic skills.
So specific learning, disability or sld is really an umbrella term that we use in an educational and in a legal context like Ida, and that just describes a category of disorders that affect a person's ability to understand and process and use information effectively, particularly in an academic setting.
So
they include things like dyslexia. So that's a specific learning disability that affects reading, especially decoding and word recognition and spelling
dysgraphia. So disorder that affects writing skills, including handwriting, spelling, or just the ability to organize your ideas on paper.
dyspraxia. I think this is also called developmental coordination disorder. And that's a disorder that affects motor skill, development. So your coordination or just planning your physical movements
and then visual perceptual difficulties. So having challenges, interpreting or understanding visual information, including like spatial relationships or visual discrimination, or even visual memory, and then other things like nonverbal learning
disabilities. So those are just any sort of struggle with visual, spatial, or nonverbal, or any practical tasks.
So idea include.
It includes what is known as the exclusionary clause and the exclusionary clause specifies what a specific learning disability is not. And this just helps ensure that students aren't mistakenly identified as having a learning disability when there may be other factors that cause their academic struggles.
So here's what it says in plain language. So a student cannot be identified as having a specific learning disability. If the primary cause for their learning. Difficulty is one of the following, so visual hearing or motor disabilities.
So if a student struggles in schools because they are blind or hard of hearing, they should receive services under another disability category, not a specific learning, disability
an intellectual disability.
because a specific learning disability refers to students who have average, or sometimes even above average intelligence, but they struggle with specific academic skills. So if a student has an intellectual disability that would mean that their learning problems are due to
alright significantly below average intelligence. But
and their eligibility would actually fall under intellectual disability and not specific learning, disability, emotional disturbance it. That's not what sld is.
So those are emotional or behavioral disorders, like anxiety or depression, or a conduct disorder that can also impact learning
environmental or cultural economic disadvantages. So a student could not be identified as having a specific learning disability if their struggles due to a lack of due to poverty or a lack of early educational opportunities or language differences or cultural barriers.
So those may affect academic skills. But they're not neurological learning disabilities.
So that exclusionary clause is just meant to prevent that misidentification and ensure that specific learning, disability is diagnosed only when the root cause of the disorder is a basic psychological process and not due to external factors. So
it really helps reinforce that need for comprehensive evaluations that examine things like learning, history, or instructional quality, or socioeconomic background, or sensory and health statuses.
So the early history of the field of specific learning disabilities actually began in the early 20th century, when researchers and clinicians, they actually observed children who struggled to learn despite appearing to have average intelligence.
This early period is what's known as that foundational phase of Sld research.
So in 1919, Kurt Goldstein, who was a German neurologist and psychiatrist, he worked with World war. One veterans who had traumatic brain injuries, also called the Tbi, and he observed that these young men had intact intelligence, but they exhibited difficulty with language and motor skills and problem solving.
And then we had Alfred Strauss and Heinz Warner, who work with the Wayne County Training Center in Michigan.
with people's thought to be brain injured. So they study children who were labeled Minimal brain dysfunction
at a time when brain imaging did not actually exist. And what they found is that these children again, they had average intelligence, but struggled with attention and impulse, control and learning, and their work really challenged the idea that learning, failure was due to low intelligence or poor teaching, and really reinforced the theory that
brain-based dysfunction or disorders could explain some learning disabilities.
And then, in the 19 twenties, 19 thirties.
We had Samuel Samuel Orton and his studies of dyslexia, so he studied children with reading difficulties.
especially those who would reverse letters and had trouble decoding words, and he called these children dyslexic, and proposed that these difficulties were caused by neurological dysfunction particularly.
and he said it had to do with like a brain hemisphere. Dominance, like one side of the brain, is probably more dominant than the other, and he actually ended up partnering
with Anna Gillingham to develop a structured phonics based reading intervention. So
his theories actually really helped shape the remedial reading field. So it really laid that foundation for modern interventions that we use with students with specific learning disabilities.
So the next phase in the Sld field of research is the transition phase.
So we have Marion Frostig, who believe that children
with academic difficulties were actually consequences of poorly developed visual perceptual skills. So she was an educational psychologist and a special education pioneer, and she proposed that
their academic difficulties, like reading or writing problems, were due to, were not actually due to a lack of intelligence or effort, but to deficits in visual perceptual skills. And those visual perceptual skills include things like visual discrimination. So noticing the differences in shapes and letters and visual motor integration.
so difficulty, just copying shapes or writing and difficulty with things like spatial awareness. So her work also helped. Educators recognize the underlying processing issues were
most likely the root cause of this, and not laziness
or below average intelligence that often causes academic failures.
And next, we have Sam Kirk and the Illinois test of psycholinguistic abilities. So Dr. Kirk was actually a psychologist, and he is as a side note. He was referred to as the father of learning disabilities, and
he developed the Illinois test for psycholinguistic abilities or the Itpa in the late 19 fifties, and the purpose of this test was to assess the different cognitive and language processing functions children used to learn. And so it evaluated areas like auditory processing, visual processing, short term memory, also expressive and receptive language.
And it was actually one of those 1st tools used to identify students with Sld.
And then eventually, in 1963 learning disabilities was coined by Dr. Kirk. So prior to this, children with average intelligence. But academic difficulties were misclassified as being slow or emotionally disturbed, brain injured. And this term actually gave this those children.
distinct identity and category that acknowledged that they had
a neurologically based learning issue and not a general delay or a behavioral disorder.
So as for the prevalence of learning disabilities. As I've mentioned before, students with learning disabilities make up the largest proportion of those receiving special education services under idea.
So, according to federal data about 2.3 million school age students in the Us are classified as having a learning disability. So that's the vast majority.
The percentage of students identified with learning. Disability has actually declined since the early 2 thousands. And there's several possible reasons for this. So changes in the diagnostic criteria and the intervention models, better early interventions that would actually reduce the need for special education classification.
and then also stricter eligibility standards in some districts, and boys are disproportionately identified with learning disabilities compared to girls. And there's some possible factors for that. Boys may show some more externalized behaviors like inattention or hyperactivity, making those learning struggles really more noticeable.
And there's also probably a referral bias or differences in how boys and girls actually express academic difficulties.
So these are the suspected etiology, of learning, disabilities based on research, theories over time and etiologies, just refer to those causes or contributing factors that may explain where these learning disabilities come from.
So the 1st one is acquired trauma to the central nervous system. So this theory suggests that brain injuries or neurological damage, especially in early life, can disrupt the development of skills related to learning.
The issue with this theory is that in many learning disability cases there's no identifiable injury. So this is considered possible, but not a universal cause to explain learning disabilities.
The next suspected etiology is genetic or hereditary influences, and this actually has a much stronger link.
So the research shows that there actually might be a genetic component to many learning disabilities, especially dyslexia.
And the evidence is that learning disabilities often run in families, and there have even been a handful of twin studies that show higher concordance rates in identical twins.
The next one is an environmental possibilities. So
here. The explanation is that there's certain environmental risk factors that may increase the likelihood of developing learning difficulties, especially in early childhood. And these key factors would include things like low socioeconomic status, because that is linked to fewer educational resources and increased stress. And when you increase the cortisol, it's actually harder to learn malnutrition, so particularly during brain development and infancy.
lack of access to healthcare.
So including things like hearing or vision screenings and any sort of developmental support. So these factors do not necessarily cause learning disabilities directly, but they can contribute to developmental delays or limit opportunities to develop foundational academic skills.
And then we have biochemical abnormalities, and this is known as the Feingold hypothesis.
Because in the 19 seventies Dr. Feingold proposed that certain food additives like artificial colors or preservatives actually cause learning and behavior problems.
There's actually very minimal scientific support
around this. So research has found little reliable evidence that these dietary factors actually cause or even significantly affect learning disabilities.
and these are the characteristics often observed in individuals with learning disabilities, and these characteristics are not diagnostic on their own, but they frequently Co. Occur with learning disabilities and impact school performance and daily functioning. So the 1st one is perceptual motor impairments. So that's difficulty recognizing and interpreting and responding to sensory information
and and translating it into coordinated physical action. So they would demonstrate trouble copying from the board or difficulty distinguishing between similar letters like B, or D, or P, or Q,
and then struggling to align numbers and math problems.
Also emotional a liability.
So that's rapid and sometimes unpredictable changes in emotional state. So mood swings
so a child can become very frustrated and anxious or overwhelmed by small academic challenges, because they know that if they're already having a struggle, now that it's going to get worse, as class goes on.
so they may shift very quickly from being relatively happy to angry or withdrawn.
There's also coordination problems. So difficulties with gross motor skills. So those are large movements like walking or jumping, and also fine motor skills. So those precise tasks like writing or buttoning. So the characteristics are mostly associated with dyspraxia. So that's also known as like a developmental coordination, disorder
or visual motor integration difficulties.
And then there's attention disorders. So those can include Adhd
so that's just difficulty sustaining attention or controlling your impulses or regulating activity level.
so other characteristics of individuals with learning disabilities that may include memory difficulties so struggling with storing and retaining and retrieving that information.
academic difficulties. So struggles in core academic areas, your reading, writing, and arithmetic, despite adequate intelligence and instruction.
social skills, deficit so difficulty, understanding and using appropriate social behaviors and cues.
So trouble, interpreting things like body language or tone of voice or joining peer activities, or maintaining conversations or inappropriate reactions or impulsivity in social settings
information processing disorders. So problems with how the brain receives and organizes stores and then expresses that information. So you could have an audio auditory processing. Issue. So understanding spoken language, a visual processing issue, so interpreting what is seen
or speed of processing even so like how quickly a student can respond to information.
then also lack of cognitive strategies for success. So this is also known as metacognition. So difficulty using
difficulty thinking about thinking strategies. So those strategies that help plan and monitor and evaluate learning. So, not knowing how to study effectively or trouble organizing tasks or setting goals or difficulty, monitoring or adjusting strategies when stuck.
and then
they often have language and math deficits. So difficulties with those foundational academic skills due to deficits in language, so reading, writing, and speaking, and then, of course, math. So that number, sense, basic operations and problem solving, and any sort of mathematical reasoning.
and just to get into the weeds a little bit more language. Difficulties
are a common characteristic of students with learning disabilities, especially with dyslexia. So they have issues with comprehension that ability to understand and make meaning of what they just read
decoding. So that process of sounding out words by applying your letter. Sound knowledge.
or any word relationships like SH makes, or TH makes
word recognition. So the ability to instantly and accurately recognize a familiar written word, because as you become better at reading, you're sounding things out less and less and more, just recognizing the word
and then phonological awareness, so that ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in spoken language. So they would have difficulties, recognizing things like rhyming or using segmenting or blending words together. And that's pretty foundational in reading. So deficits here are actually a core trait of dyslexia
and then dyslexia, that specific learning, disability that affects reading, especially that decoding. Any phonological processes involve sounding things out, word recognition, so just identifying sight words that you can't sound out.
And then, of course, issues with writing, so that ability to express thoughts clearly and correctly through written language.
and then specific learning disabilities involving mathematics. Those difficulties include things like computational skills, so that ability to perform basic math operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.
trouble, recalling math facts, or using correct steps, or even things as simple as aligning numbers. When you're calculating on a page
word problems. So problems written in a sentence form that require reading and problem solving
and then spatial relationships. So understanding how objects, shapes, or numbers relate to each other in space, and then writing numbers so accurately forming and sequencing numbers on paper and copying shape, so just reproducing geometric figures or any sort of visual pattern.
So
just the general understanding of mathematical concepts, so grasping the meaning behind math procedures and their relationship. So things like, you know why we regroup, or how fractions work.
So we know that a learning disability is a neurological difference that makes it harder for a student to process certain types of information.
A teaching disability refers to ineffective or inappropriate instruction that fails to meet the students. Learning needs so
not all academic struggles are due to a disability. So if
teaching methods are not differentiated. If they're not inclusive, or if they're not evidence based, they can actually create barriers to learning, especially for students who think or process a little bit differently. So we need to practice shared responsibility. So, moving from a deficit view of the student where we're constantly asking ourselves what's wrong with them and actually examining the effectiveness of our own teaching practices.
So it implies that sometimes the issue lies not in the learner, but in the lack of responsive instruction.
So we need to ensure that we are using effective teaching strategies. And one way we can do that is by implementing a multi-tiered system of supports or Mtss.
And we talked about this a bit in a previous lecture, but as a refresher, multi-tiered system supports. That's a school-wide, data-driven framework designed to improve learning outcomes for all students. It uses a three-tiered system of increasingly intensive, evidence-based interventions.
That are matched to each student's individual needs. So this is what we would ideally go through before we decide that a student should be receiving special education services. So under Ntss umbrella, there's actually 2 pieces of implementation. They include pbis, which focuses on the behavior of our student body and Rti.
so that's focusing on academic levels of support.
So, as I mentioned before. Rti is the piece of Mtss. That focuses on responding to academic difficulties for students to ensure that they are receiving quality evidence-based instruction at various levels of intensity as needed before we recommend a student for special education evaluation.
So when this is implemented well.
then, we can actually ensure that a student's difficulties are not due to poor or inappropriate instruction.
So schools use structured evidence-based teaching methods to support the students who are struggling academically or behaviorally. But we're focusing on the academics here and how this works is teachers monitor that student progress regularly. And then the student receives interventions that are adjusted based on the data. So that means that maybe they're receiving interventions more frequently. Or it's a more targeted support.
And the goal here is just to catch learning issues early and provide help before referring a student for special education. Evaluation.
So Rti involves that tiered approach to instruction within the general education setting so tier one is what what all the students are receiving, which is high quality instruction for all those students. Tier 2 is small group interventions for students who need a little extra help.
and then tier 3 are the intensive individualized supports for students with more advanced needs. But this is not special education. This is the key idea behind. This is the support becomes more focused and intensive as the students move through you through those tiers based on their response. And if they are responding to a tier. 3 intervention. Then you would
begin to scale down the amount of support that they're having. So
if a student continues to struggle, despite receiving those targeted intensive interventions.
then it would actually signal an underlying specific learning disability. So the next steps would be to conduct a comprehensive evaluation to determine if the student qualifies for special education services under Ida, so Rti helps ensure that learning difficulties are not due to poor instruction, but possibly due to an actual disability.
So the recent updates to Ida aimed at addressing inconsistent specific learning, disability identification rates across the States by allowing alternative methods for identifying learning disabilities, such as response to intervention, instead of relying solely on traditional IQ achievement, discrepancy models, and we'll get into that more deeply.
So when assessing
a student suspected of having a specific learning disability. The old informal guideline used by schools was the 2 years below grade level standard, in which, if a student was performing
2 or more years below grade level. In reading, writing, or math, they were considered for special education.
You can probably already see the big issue with this. The big problem is that it was really consistent, and it also relied on the idea that the student should keep falling behind until they were so far behind that they were finally offered special education services, and
this also meant that assessments for eligibility were based on a wait to fail model. So the official model was called the discrepancy model, which looked at. If there was a severe discrepancy between the students, IQ and their achievement, so you could have an average or high IQ. But low achievement in certain academic areas.
And it relied on that model to determine if a student had a learning disability. And this is problematic for several reasons. For one, it delayed
early intervention, which meant students were falling even more behind. Students missed out on supports until their academic failure became severe enough.
and it also placed blame on the student rather than addressing those potential instructional gaps. So our modern approach is that framework that includes response intervention, and a multi-tier system of supports to which the aim is to provide that support early and proactively, rather than waiting for the student to fall significantly behind.
So a little bit more about how we would determine a severe discrepancy. So a student would take a standardized intelligence test. So that would be something like the Stanford Binet test. And then the evaluator would calculate the full IQ score which reflects the students general intellectual ability, and this score would be standardized with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15.
So the student would also take a standardized achievement test
to assess their writing or their math skills. And these scores are also expressed in standard scores with that same scale. So a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, so that they can be compared directly to the IQ.
So in California and many other States
that still allow or reference the discrepancy model.
A significant difference is actually defined as a gap of at least 1.5 standard deviations between the IQ score and the achievement score.
So this equals approximately 22, or more points, so an example would be, a student has an IQ score of 105, but then they have a reading score of 80, so that discrepancy is about 25 points, and so that would actually meet the criteria for a severe disability or a severe discrepancy, I should say
so. Here is another example of the discrepancy results.
So here you have a student with a full scale, IQ of 1 0, 2, and that's considered an average cognitive ability. Especially with that mean set at 100
and that standard deviation of 15. And then their reading standard score is a 76, as you can see.
and so the discrepancy here is just 1 0, 2, minus 76 leaves us 26 points, and since 26 points is greater than 1.5 standard deviations.
this is considered a severe discrepancy. So the conclusion here would be that a student would qualify for a specific learning disability in reading based on that discrepancy model.
And then in math, their math standard score was 88. So again, the discrepancy would be that full scale. IQ score so 102 minus 88, that leaves us with 14 points since 14 points is less than 1.5 standard deviation.
That cut off would tell us that that student does not meet the criteria for a severe discrepancy.
So the conclusion here is, the student does not qualify for specific learning disability in math, but they do in reading
and this discrepancy model was actually challenged several times.
and one particular case occurred in the seventies, and this was the Larry Pv. Riles case of 1971. And this was actually a Landmark Court case concerning specific learning disabilities and using intelligent testing to place students, particularly African American students in special education programs that were referred to as educable mentally retarded.
So this case began as a class action lawsuit in 1971 by the parents of 6 African American elementary school children in San Francisco, and then the defendants were the California Department of Education and the school officials, and the parents alleged that their children were being wrongfully placed in these Emr classes.
And these placements were often based primarily on IQ. Scores which the plaintiffs argued were culturally biased and discriminatory.
And so the lawsuit targeted the use of those IQ tests as that primary tool for identifying if students belonged in these Emr classes, and
the plaintiffs argued that the tests were not culturally neutral and that they failed to consider
the cultural, linguistic, and experiential backgrounds of these students.
and the process lacked multiple measures of alternative assessments. So it relied heavily on a single test score to make high stakes, educational decisions which was very inappropriate, and the plaintiffs also argued that the IQ test contained cultural content that was unfamiliar to these students, and thus it was underestimating their abilities, and
this testing bias actually led to a disproportionate number of black children being placed in these classes which were segregated. They were lower level tracks
within the school system, and then, once placed, those students receive less rigorous instruction. They had limited access to the general curriculum. They had fewer opportunities for academic advancement or mainstream reintegration, and as a result, these placements actually widened existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities rather than addressing the students, actual learning needs.
and these classes were often described as Dead End, because once a student was placed in them they were unlikely to return to a general education setting, they were labeled for life. It was very stigmatizing. The curriculum was a lower tier, where it was way less rigorous, and
the educational system failed to provide pathways for these programs. So this effectively limited any future opportunities for these students and it
reinforce that cycle of educational and social marginalization.
So the implementation
So, although California claimed to had revised their special education laws to require multiple assessment tools in practice, the schools still heavily relied on the IQ tests. So
the implementation was shown to be biased in court even after the supposed reforms. So the court examined the data and found that black students were still disproportionately placed in these emr classes.
and this showed that the statutory changes were not effective in practice, and that the testing processes remain discriminatory. And then the defense tried to argue that genetic differences or socioeconomic disadvantages explained why black children scored lower in IQ. Tests, and the court rejected these arguments, and then the court really emphasized that there's
no scientific basis to support racial differences in intelligence. And IQ tests actually did reflect a cultural
knowledge and experience more typical to white middle class children. And then the court finally concluded that the cultural bias of these tests were significant, and they did not actually detect intellectual deficits.
And as a result of these findings the courts issued
pre landmark ruling. So it was. It effectively banned. Standard IQ. Tests to assess African American students, because the courts already gave California some leeway, and it was abuse. So the courts came back and said that African American students will not be offered standardized. IQ tests as a means for placing them in special education programs. And
this ban was really specific to African American students, due to that demonstrated racial discrimination, and how the tests were used, and they ordered schools to use alternative non-discriminatory assessments that were more culturally responsive and actually better reflect the students potential and their learning needs.
So now, when it comes to specific learning disabilities, 3rd grade is actually a really pivotal year. So in early grades, K. Through 3 instruction focuses on those foundational literacy skills like decoding and phonics and fluency.
This is the learning to read phase and then starting in 4th grade, students are expected to use reading as a tool to learn more complex content across subjects like science or social studies or math. And this is the reading to learn stage. So if a student is.
if they're not a proficient reader by the end of 3rd grade, they're likely to struggle academically in later grades because
they can't fully access the more advanced curriculum. So, recognizing how critical reading proficiency is. By 3rd grade 38 States have actually enacted legislation aimed at improving early reading outcomes. And these laws typically included measures such as early identification of reading difficulties, interventions and supports like tutoring.
We're offering summer reading programs, parent notification requirements.
annual reading assessments. So the goal was to prevent that long term academic failure by ensuring that these students have strong reading skills before progressing in elementary school.
and then
23 States mandated that they mandate 3rd grade retention. If a student fails to meet certain reading proficiency levels
usually determined by some sort of standardized assessment that that State decides to use. So the idea is to give those struggling readers more time to develop those essential skills before facing the challenges of 4th grade
However, nearly all these States actually allow for exemptions, such as
students with disabilities or limited English proficiency, or students who've been previously retained. So if you've already been retained for 3rd grade for a second year in a row, they're probably not going to retain you for a 3rd year.
or students who demonstrate reading proficiency through alternative assessments or port portfolios. That's also accepted in some States.
So concerning Idea 0 4 and specific learning disabilities and the discrepancy model idea 2,004. Actually, that reauthorization 2,004. It kept the core definition of specific learning disability. But it modernized how students are identified and evaluated by first, st it removed that requirement of a severe IQ achievement, discrepancy. So it allowed those schools to intervene sooner and more effectively, aiming
to support struggling students before they fall too far behind.
But now it was officially part of the law.
So you should be aware of several barriers that are specific to
the success of students with specific learning disabilities. So about 1 3rd of students with Sld have been held back a year, and while retention sometimes
is intended to give the students more time to master content. The research depressingly shows that it often does not improve long term academic outcomes, so
instead, being held back can potentially lead to lower self-esteem, social stigma, greater sense of disconnection from peers, and these effects can actually increase the likelihood of these students dropping out of school, especially if the student is retained more than once.
So students with Sld are more than twice as likely to be suspended compared to their peers without disabilities. So suspensions and other disciplinary removals include things like
they would lead to a loss of instructional time. They make it harder for students to keep up academically, and it really adds to that sense of alienation and resentment towards the school. So repeated, discipline issues.
can actually lead to school avoidance where a student doesn't even want to go to school anymore. Increased course failure or just overall disengagement from learning because they feel like they can't catch up, and it doesn't matter.
Students with Sld drop out at nearly 3 times the rate of the general student population and the key reasons for this include disliking the school, poor relationships with their teachers or peers, or feeling unsupported or misunderstood, so that lack of access to appropriate interventions and accommodations or positive relationships that really contributes to a sense that the school is not the place where they can succeed.
And when
learning and attention issues go unaddressed and students may become frustrated, they would act out, they would disengage those behaviors, can lead to a lot of disciplinary referrals and even legal trouble.
So these issues are central to what known as the school to prison pipeline, where struggling students are removed from the classroom rather than being supported, and then the harsh discipline and lack of intervention increase the likelihood of contact with the juvenile justice system.
So students with specific learning disabilities are actually overrepresented in juvenile detention centers so that really highlights, how academic failure and behavioral issues, when they're ignored or mishandled, that can escalate into involving
Everyone. So in this lecture we're going to discuss individuals with attention, deficit, hyperactivity, disorder, or Adhd.
so to introduce you to the concept. Here are the key historical developments in the field of researching Adhd.
So the 1st known medical description of behaviors resembling Adhd was by a British pediatrician known as Sir George still, who observed a group of children with serious problems and sustained attention, self-regulation and impulse, control, and he attributed these difficulties
to a defect of moral control whatever that means. So he was suggesting that it was a problem of willpower or character rather than a medical or neurological issue in this early framing that really reflected
the lens of the time rather than a scientific or neurological understanding of what Adhd was.
In the 19 thirties. During this period stimulant medications were discovered to have a paradoxical calming effect on children
who were hyperactive or inattentive, and this accidental discovery actually was a turning point because it offered the 1st biomedical treatment for attention and behavioral disorders, and that fueled a lot of interest into the biological reasons for some of these behaviors. And then in the 19 forties and 19 fifties.
regarding the distractibility issue. So there were scientific studies that were increasingly focused on distractibility and attention deficits rather than the hyperactivity portion of it. So researchers began investigating how children with these symptoms process information differently, and that really helped to lay that groundwork for
future neuropsychological theories of Adhd. And then in the 19 forties and fifties.
there were some professionals that attributed hyperactive and inattentive behaviors to quote minimal brain injury. So this was a vague term used to suggest subtle neurological damage, even if no specific injury could actually be identified. So this idea, linked to Adhd like symptoms to brain dysfunction, though it lacks any clear medical evidence at the time.
So this term later evolved into minimal brain dysfunction, and that reflected more of the uncertainty
and nature of the diagnosis.
And then, in the 19 sixties
it came along the term hyperactive child syndrome, and
as the concept of minimal brain injury became less popular. The tension shifted to observable behaviors, especially excessive motor activity. So that's where we got this term hyperactive child syndrome. That kind of emerged to describe children who were excessively active and impulsive and had difficulty staying focused. So this period really shifted towards defining the condition behaviorally rather
than neurologically, and then, in the 19 eighties, we had another shift. So researchers moved away from
unprovable theories of brain injury and focus instead on identifiable behavioral patterns, such as inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, and that shift really helped to improve diagnostic clarity, so that led to the inclusion of attention, deficit disorder, and later Adhd
and those different subtypes based on the symptoms.
So Adhd is defined as a persistent pattern of inattention and or hyperactivity, impulsivity that interferes with functioning and development, and that definition comes to us from the American Psychiatric Association. So the Apa
and
Adhd is actually not an individual Ida classification category. So students with Adhd would not be eligible for special education services on their own
as having Adhd does not necessarily mean a student will have academic or behavioral issues if it's treated.
There are situations in which Adhd coexists with other disabilities, or can be severe enough to
qualify a student under the other health impairment classification in Ida. In many cases students with Adhd will not qualify for special education services, but will require some accommodations for them to access the general education curriculum. In these cases a student could qualify for a 504 plan which outlines things like more time on a test, or preferred seating near the teacher, etc.
So Adhd is a disorder that is physiological.
So it is a biologically based disorder, meaning. It involves differences in how the brain functions and processes information. It's also neurobiological.
So
involves differences in brain structure and activity, particularly in areas that control executive functions like attention or planning.
And it's lifelong. So while symptoms can change with age and maturity, for example, like hyperactivity, may decrease as you get older, inattention, disorganization impulsivity often persist into adolescence, and sometimes into adulthood.
And
Adhd is also one of the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders in children. And it's also not very easy to diagnose. And that's because symptoms overlap with other conditions like anxiety or a learning disability, or even trauma. And
there is no single test for Adhd. So diagnosis relies on clinical observation, behavioral checklists and reports from parents and teachers and symptoms
must be present in multiple settings. So it has to be present at school and at home and interfere with their functioning.
and especially in girls or highly intelligent children. Adhd can be missed or misdiagnosed because of symptoms may be less obvious.
So, according to the Dsm-five, which is the Dsm-five, is that official manual used by mental health professionals in the United States to diagnose mental disorders. So, according to the Dsm-five Adhd has several subtypes of inattentiveness that are usually present before the age of 12. So this means that people diagnosed
have very short attention. Span frequent changes of activity and extreme distractibility which manifests as hyperactivity, so that excessive physical movement, even when it's inappropriate for the situation and impulsivity, so that involves acting without thinking, and often leading to some inappropriate or sometimes risky behaviors.
And Adhd affects about 5 to 11% of school age children, which is roughly 6.4 million kids in the Us. So the rates vary significantly between different states. Recently there has been an increase in the number of students identified under other health impairment categories so that they could qualify for special education services in Ida.
and usually students who qualify under other health impairment. It often includes a co-diagnosis of Adhd.
So some of the suspected causes of Adhd include neurological dysfunction. So it's believed to be linked to differences in brain structure and function. So that could be anatomical differences.
Some brain imaging shows that some areas of the brain, especially that prefrontal cortex which controls attention and impulse regulation may be smaller or less active in some individuals with Adhd. But this isn't always true
brain chemistry imbalances. So Adhd can be associated with imbalances,
with things like dopamine or norepinephrine and those chemicals, they actually help regulate attention and motivation and behavior. There's also hereditary factors. There have been family studies that show Adhd tends to run in families. So children with a parent or sibling with Adhd are actually more likely to have it themselves.
And there's also suspected environmental factors. So certain environmental influences may increase the risk of developing Adhd especially related to
early development. So your prenatal perinatal and postnatal trauma, so exposures to toxins, maternal stress infections during pregnancy, complications during birth, low birth, weight, oxygen, deprivation, early childhood injuries or exposure to environmental toxins like lead that can possibly contribute to Adhd risk.
and some common characteristics of individuals with Adhd may include behavioral intervention or sorry behavioral inhibition and executive functioning. So people with Adhd often struggle with behavioral inhibition, which means that they find it hard to stop or control impulses and reactions. And this affects their ability to self-regulate, to manage their behavior and emotions and attention.
There's also potential social, emotional issues, so they frequently experience difficulties in social settings, so they may have trouble making and keeping friendships due to impulsivity or inattentiveness or misunderstanding of social cues. They often face emotional challenges. So
including like frustration, low self-esteem mood swings sometimes anxiety or depression which can result from ongoing struggles and social rejection.
And then there's frequently comorbidity so
Adhd often coexists with other disorders, meaning that many individuals with Adhd also have learning, disabilities, anxiety disorders depression or oppositional defiant disorder.
So how does this manifest in the classroom, or potentially manifest in this classroom?
what may happen to students with Adhd? So students with Adhd may struggle to pay sustained attention, so they might miss important instruction or details or explanations which can affect their understanding and performance.
They may have difficulty with task, initiation and sequencing, causing them to freeze or get overwhelmed when faced with multi-step tasks or new assignments. Impulsivity can lead to
lead students to interrupt the teacher or classmates by blurting out answers without waiting their turn, and that can disrupt the flow of the class and cause social difficulties.
Students may show
excessive movement or fidgeting, making it hard to remain seated during lessons or quiet activities which can draw maybe, some unwanted attention, and sometimes lead to disciplinary actions, inattention, and poor executive function often leads to errors due to rushing or overlooking details or not. Following directions carefully. They may also struggle with keeping track of materials or assignments
and schedules, and that can lead to a lot of lost work, late homework, or missed deadlines and repeated challenges and negative feedback.
It can actually cause these students to feel very frustrated, very discouraged, or disengage, which may affect their motivation and self-esteem.
And because of these challenges, students with Adhd are more likely to be suspended or expelled. They're also more likely to be retained. So, due to those academic struggles. Incomplete work, disorganization missed instruction. Students with Adhd may fall behind grade level expectations. As a result they are more likely to be held back a grade, even though
that retention rarely addresses the underlying cause.
they're more likely to drop out of school. So the combination of poor academic performance repeated disciplinary actions, low self-esteem, lack of support. Put students with Adhd at a higher risk of dropping out, so they may feel pretty discouraged or disconnected from the school and feel like they're unable to succeed in a traditional classroom environment.
and they're also more likely to be rejected by their peers because their impulsive behavior, their trouble reading social cues or difficulty regulating emotions. Students with Adhd often struggle in social situations, but not always so. This can lead to some peer rejection, isolation maybe being labeled as annoying or a troublemaker which impacts their social development, and that really affects their emotional well-being.
But people with Adhd often exhibit very positive traits as well. So many individuals with Adhd have strong creative abilities. Their brains tend to think nonlinear imaginative ways which can lead to original ideas, artistic talents, innovative problem solving. They can be naturally spontaneous and energetic, which makes them flexible and adventurous, and open to new experiences, so that spontaneity can really be a strength.
Adhd is not a reflection of intelligence. So many people with Adhd are actually highly intelligent, but their symptoms can sometimes mask their academic or intellectual abilities. So with the right supports
their potential can really shine through, and some people with Adhd show exceptional talent in specific fields, such as music or art, or technology, or athletics, or or a lot of hands-on tasks
when they're interested in a subject, their hyper focus can actually lead to deeper learning and outstanding performance. So while Adhd comes with a lot of challenges. It actually brings strengths that can lead to that can be powerful assets, especially when those traits are recognized and supported in some positive ways.
So here's just a quick list of some strategies that have been shown to help students with Adhd, so really help them with attention, self-regulation, and engagement in the classroom. So the 1st one is really easy. But a lot of teachers do not like this. One is chewing gum because chewing really provides oral sensory input and can help those students stay focused and self regulate.
so it may improve attention and
probably reduce some of that restlessness without being too distracting with others.
Timers. So usually using visual or auditory timers, help students manage time, stay on task and transition between activities. So it breaks work into those manageable chunks, and that really helps support their executive functioning. Things like spinner rings another one. Teachers don't seem to like a whole lot, but a small, quiet fidget. Item that a student can wear
and use without drawing attention, it can help channel that excess, energy and help them maintain focus, especially during instruction or waiting periods.
exercise ball or a seat cushion.
So sitting on a stability ball or a wiggle cushion that allows for some subtle movement while seated, which helps students with Adhd stay alert and engaged without needing to get up frequently
beanbag chairs. So another alternative seating that can be a pretty comfortable or calming environment, particularly for reading in small groups, offers some deep pressure input
other fidget toys. So
stress balls, putty textured objects that gives them another way to quietly move their hands, which can increase the focus and reduce the urge to engage in some other disruptive behavior.
Exercise and movement break. So really incorporating movement into the school day helps release built up energy. It also has been shown to improve executive functioning and re-engage intention. So this includes things like a quick stretch, quick walk, jumping jacks between tasks.
2 pencil toppers. So for students who need that oral sensory input chewable pencil topper, those are pretty safe. And
it also helps reduce chewing on clothes or pencils, or other objects that might not be the best for them to chew on
sensory can. So things like beans
so like a sensory bin or a can filled with materials like dried beans or rice, that allows students to engage in some calming tactile experience, it can be used as a sensory break to really reset their attention. So dipping their hand in there and just feeling around
also whole brain teaching. So that's an instructional approach that uses gestures and chants and movements and call and response strategies to engage that whole brain. So it increases student participation and focus and retention which benefits students with Adhd, and then Yoga. So Yoga supports self regulation, and that body awareness, and that mindfulness so practicing poses and breathing exercises that can help students with Adhd that can help any student really.
And it helps improve their focus and reduce anxiety and manage that impulsivity.
So these strategies are not a 1. Size fits all, but when thoughtfully applied they can create a more supportive and inclusive classroom environment. For these students with Adhd.
