Working with Students with Learning Disabilities

A specific learning disability is a disorder within an individual affecting learning relative to potential. A person with a learning disability has average or above average intelligence. The learning disability, however, may interfere with one’s ability to acquire, organize, and/or express information relevant to school functioning so that the individual does not learn given the normal developmental opportunities and instruction provided in a traditional school environment. (See Learning Profile)

A learning disability can be demonstrated by a significant discrepancy between actual performance and achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, istening, remembering information, comprehension, written expression, reading skills, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, and mathematical reasoning.

Learning Profile
The diagram below (click on image for an expanded view) shows that a student who is a slow learner will be in the below average range in all areas of: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Reasoning, Math and Spelling. The student with learning disabilities will have some average skills, some above average and some below average skills. The student with average skills will have some skills that are better or worse than others, but all will be in the average range.

(Adapted from Brinckerhoff, L.C., Shaw, S. F., and McGuire, J.M.. (1993) Promoting Postsecondary Education for Students with Learning Disabilities)