Learning Difficulties in Children

• December 28, 2010 by Terri Zezula

Today, you are nine years old and in the third grade. You enjoy playing on the monkey bars at recess and drawing pictures of your dog and your fish. You also like watermelon hard candies, mac and cheese, and, to your friends’ bewilderment, you have an affinity for tuna fish sandwiches, especially when your mom has mixed crunchy celery in with the tuna.

But also unlike your friends, you have often felt that school seems harder than it should be. For some inexplicable reason, you tend to make more mistakes than your classmates. You have a hard time grasping math concepts that they seem to get easily. You don’t remember geography facts as well as they do. And because of those difficulties, you feel different and separate from those around you. You feel incapable. You feel like a failure. And because of it, you feel angry, sad and alone.

While this is a simplistic snapshot of the thoughts typical of children with learning difficulties, such an exercise reminds us of two things: the magic of being young, and the loneliness and frustration of a youngster who lives with these challenges.

According to the Child Development Institute, six to ten percent of school-aged kids in the US are learning disabled. The causes of learning disabilities vary from genetics to nutrition to pre-birth and early childhood injury, and the challenges that children with learning difficulties experience tend to fall into five different areas: spoken language, written language, math, reasoning and memory. They may simply work slowly. They may have disorganized thinking. They may have difficulty in sequencing tasks. They may have poor impulse control. They many experience these difficulties in any number of combinations and groupings.

All children have problems. They all experience challenges with school and in social relationships. But when these problems begin to appear in combinations and clusters, or if they persist for long periods, we as educators must take a close look and ask ourselves whether the student’s challenges fall within normal ranges, or whether they should be evaluated in more detail.

If an evaluation comes back with an indication that a student has a learning difficulty, it is absolutely essential for educators and parents to team up and support that student in every way possible. If an IEP (individualized education plan) is in order, everyone needs to be informed and on board to support the student’s new path.

What exactly can we do for these children to boost their self-esteem? Writing for the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois, clinical psychologist Aoife Lyons offers a number of recommendations:

1. 1. Help children understand what the label means. This gives them a degree of ownership and control that they did not have before.
   2. Help them recognize their areas of strength as well as their areas of difficulty.
   3. Help them feel special and appreciated.
   4. Help them develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.

The good news is that, for the student who has experienced years of frustration and difficulty and loneliness, a positive diagnosis can be freeing. It gives them a clear explanation for why they have been experiencing all these feelings and difficulties. It allows them to once again be proud of who they are and see their differences in a new light. And, given the research, expertise and research based interventions available, it gives these students a clearer path forward to define--and achieve--their own success.

For further reading, check out:

1. 1. Self-Esteem and Learning Disabilities, Aofe Lyons, Ph.D.
   2. How Can Parents Foster Self-Esteem in Their Children? Dr. Robert Brooks, Ph.D.
   3. About Learning Disabilities, Child Development Institute

 

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus, Reading & Learning, Special Education

Tags: academic problems, academic success, cognitive skills, decision making, learning disabilities, math, memory, self-esteem, sequencing, struggling students

Data Driven Decisions: A GPS Approach

• November 2, 2010 by Corey Fitzgerald

Technology offers us so many useful tools and strategies; it’s a wonder how we ever got along without them.  Let’s consider the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receiver and its remarkable ability to pinpoint our location anywhere on earth.  Accurate to within one meter, a long step for most adults, and capable of tracking your route across any terrain, they rely on a continuous feed of real-time data that is accurate and reliable.  As educators, can we apply concepts like these to the classroom to make better, faster and more accurate decisions about the learning landscape?   

It’s a rhetorical question, and the resounding answer is Yes. However, there is room to argue that our current system leaves us falling perpetually short as educators are forced to wait weeks or months for standardized assessment results to flow back into their hands.  The resonating concern is that this periodic data limits the ability to accurately address the underlying causes of failure in-step with the ongoing instruction.  Corrective action must ensue, and initiatives to support a more timely return on the data must be put into place through a process with strategies to track the day to day activities and progress monitoring for all students. 

Thankfully, some of these efforts are already underway, reflected in the nation’s focus to implement state-wide reform, with a priority being placed on Assessment and Standards.  However, a paradigm still exists, in that benchmarking is limited to designated grade levels and the “in between years” are somewhat neglected, leaving variability and non-standardization to chance.  So how does your state stack up?  Visit the USDOE Institute of Education Sciences website, National Center for Education Statistics, and query the collection of data and reports to learn more: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/

Next steps: Plotting a course to data utopia. 

Using cutting edge technology underpinned with neuroscience principles on how the brain learns, Scientific Learning has pioneered software that accelerates the acquisition of language and reading skills, yielding years of gain in a matter of weeks.  Like a GPS, a continuous stream of real-time data provides accurate and reliable measures of student performance daily, plotting an ideal course of learning that eliminates the lag time of data collection and analysis.  Furthermore, educators can weave this information back into the classroom immediately, and focus intently on the specific areas of need.  In keeping sights set high on the destination—achievement for all students—there’s a proven way to deliver success where getting lost is not an option.

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Categories: Education Trends, Progress Tracker

Tags: assessments, decision making, teacher effectiveness, technology in education

Adolescence: What’s the Brain Got to Do with It?

• September 21, 2010 by Sherry Francis, Ed.D

Last week I was sitting in a fast-food drive-thru when I noticed the car in front of me held what appeared to be an under-age driver and friend. They placed their order and pulled forward barely able to see over the steering wheel and dashboard. I am thinking, oh dear, do the parents know they have taken the car? As their order was handed out of the drive-thru window both seats popped up simultaneously revealing two teenage boys. I guess it’s cool to go through the fast-food drive-thru with the car seats fully reclined!

How do you explain adolescent behavior? This, of course, is the million dollar question that has been asked by adults for a long time. A question that finally has some answers coming out of brain research. So, you may ask, what does the brain have to do with adolescent behavior? Well, actually everything!

One very important factor to note is the adolescent brain is still under construction; something we tend to forget when we look at these “young adults.” Instead of thinking of the adolescent brain as a house that is completely built and only needs to have furnishings added, we need to think of the adolescent brain as a house that is only framed and still needs walls, wiring and a roof. (1, p167)

Sheryl G. Feinstein, author of Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, discusses the many aspects of the adolescent brain giving rise to an understanding it is a whirlwind of complexities and contradictions. She notes in the chapter on cognition and learning the adolescent brain is particularly susceptible to novelty, overcomplicates problems, idealizes the world, and has one saying one thing while doing another. In looking at the social brain and communication, Feinstein points out, because the adolescent brain relies more on the amygdala (an area of the brain that processes and remembers emotions) than on the frontal lobes (the part of the brain that is involved in decision making, language, problem solving, planning and controlling sense of self) adolescents experience emotions before they can verbally articulate them, thus setting the stage for emotional outbursts. In addition, adolescent emotions can easily cement lifelong memories or form powerful learning blocks.

Anyone who has worked with adolescents knows how up and down they can be from day to day – some days they appear to be with it and other days you wonder if they are even on this planet. What we now know is adolescence is a time of great fluctuation in the levels of neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers in the brain that excite and inhibit behaviors. When levels of these chemicals go awry adolescents face a variety of mental upheavals that can lead to depression, eating disorders, and shifts in sleep habits.

And, let us not forget the risk-taking behavior adolescents’ exhibit that has adults shaking their heads in despair and wondering if they have a brain at all. Actually, it is the brain that is heavily involved in this risky behavior. Adolescents are very susceptible to the dopamine rushes (a chemical in the brain associated with pleasure) that comes with risk taking. Again, because they rely on the emotional amygdala more than the rational frontal lobes, adolescents have trouble foreseeing the consequences of risky behavior, and giving them the sense of invincibility. Maybe this sense of invincibility is one of the reasons they so closely relate to our fictional “super heroes.”

So, the next time an adolescent turns to you and says “WHAT are you looking at?” you know that is not an alien being from another planet, but rather someone who is “going through startling growth and streamlining in the brain; an intelligent creature not yet accustomed to their (unevenly) burgeoning mental strengths and capabilities.” (1, p167)

For anyone who works with, lives with, or even knows an adolescent, I encourage you to read the latest research and literature on the adolescent brain. There is a wealth of new information and insight into that enigma called “teenager.” Here are some good reads to get you started:

Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, Sheryl G. Feinstein, Corwin Press (2009)

Unleashing the Potential of the Teenage Brain: 10 Powerful Ideas, Barry Corbin, Corwin Press (2008)

The Teen Brain Book: Who & What Are You?, Dale Carlson, Brick Publishing House (2004)

The Adolescent Brain: Reaching for Autonomy, Robert Sylwester, Corwin Press (2007)

References

1. Feinstein, S.G. (2009) Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today’s Adolescents, Second Edition, Corwin Press.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research

Tags: adolescence, behavior, brain development, brain plasticity, decision making

Video Games: A New Perspective on Learning Content and Skills

• July 22, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

Being in the business of e-learning, I am fascinated by video games. No, I’m not a big player myself, but they amaze me for what they can do in terms of teaching and learning. While their primary goal may be to entertain, the core of what they do is perform a continuous process of teaching, simulated practice and assessment, all while engaging learners in learning from worlds rich with content and experience.

As teachers, we’ve always looked to various types of non-interactive content to engage and instruct students. Prior to the 20th century, we depended upon print. In the 1970’s, I remember cassette tapes and film strips coming into the classroom. In the 1980’s, it was video cassettes. Now, we show DVD’s and online video.

Today our digital native students are looking for the kind of interactivity that they experience in their lives outside of school—and that includes the video games that they play. But what skills and experiences can students gain through interactive gaming environments?

• Learning to try. According to James Gee of Arizona State University, the essence of gaming is that, by its nature, it integrates learning with embedded assessment. With textbooks and lectures, a learner gains knowledge by reading and hearing about subjects. In simulated environments, learners experience situations and content first-hand. They attempt solutions, experience failures and learn from mistakes to proceed to higher levels. They are rewarded for pushing the envelope.
• Thinking about the big picture. In A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink discusses six different senses essential for success in our age, one of which is "symphonic thinking," or the ability to see the big picture of situations, manipulate multiple variables and add invention to solve problems. In today’s rich and detailed game environments, players must successfully learn to do exactly that to achieve the goals of the simulation.
• Collaborating and cooperating. With the introduction of online video games, successful achievement of objectives requires communication and collaboration amongst multiple players. In today’s world, these are clearly skills that one needs to achieve success.

While the so-called edutainment market is small, educators and entrepreneurs alike are in the process of bringing the true educational value of computer games into the classroom.

Is the shift going to be rocky? Absolutely. As an example, look at the debate around a "historical action" game called Six Days in Fallujah and the mainstream discussion that has taken place on NPR and in Newsweek. Will this genre of game become a new form of documentary? If contextualized appropriately by a teacher, can this breed of games represent a serious way for students to experience the civics, political science or world history first-hand? After considering that, check out Games for Change, an example of a new breed of online games for teaching and learning a wide variety of topics with significant human impact. This is a challenging and productive debate, one that will take the marriage between computer games and the instruction of content and skills to the next level.

Edutopia recommends many resources for further exploration of the value of computer games in education, including:

• Let the Games Begin offers a wonderful perspective on the educational value of games.
• Schools Use Gaming for Learning and Assessment (video) presents an overview of the benefits of computer gaming simulations.
• In Big Thinkers, Professor James Gee (mentioned above) discusses the opportunities and advantages that gaming provides for learning and assessment.

What role do you think video games should play in education?  Share your perspective on our Scientific Learning Facebook page!

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Categories: Education Trends, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: assessments, decision making, digital natives, innovation, learning environment, learning through play, motivating students, novelty, play, social studies, technology in education

What is Number Sense and How Does it Relate to Math Skills?

• April 20, 2010 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Let’s talk about the Approximate Number System, or just "the ANS." The ANS is the instinctive ability to nonverbally represent numbers. We constantly use this capability in every day decision making, such as choosing the shorter checkout line at the store or wanting to try a meal at a crowded restaurant. In these situations, our gut decisions are mathematically based. Evidence shows that many different species not only share this capacity, but use it to guide everyday behaviors such as foraging and judging time and distance.

So how does the ANS work in non-humans? Let’s do a little study of my two labs, Bella and Buddy. Both love to chase tennis balls, love to swim, and are highly competitive in the ball-chasing department. Buddy clearly exercises his ANS judgment routinely when I throw the ball into the water. If he and Bella approach the water’s edge at about the same time, they both jump in. On the other hand, if Bella beats him to the water by a significant distance, he recognizes instinctively that he can’t beat her to the ball in the water, so he’ll stop and wait until she brings it nearly to the shore. At that point, he jumps in and goes for the steal.

Why is the ANS important for math skills? It is believed that human mathematical competence comes from two representational systems. One is the "symbolic representations" that must be explicitly taught and are the basis for calculus and geometry. The other–the same one that Buddy uses above–is the older approximate number system. The evidence suggests that very young babies can use this ANS to make approximate number judgments, differentiating one item from two, two items from three and three items from greater than three. Further, a growing body of evidence indicates that individual differences in math achievement are related to variations in the acuity of an evolutionarily ancient, unlearned approximate number sense. Interestingly, evidence also suggests that this ANS may be subject to influence by early learning.

If you’d like to dig deeper into understanding the science of the ANS, I recommend reading Halberda and Feigernson’s 2008 study, "Developmental Change in the Acuity of the ’Number Sense’: The Approximate Number System in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-Year-Olds and Adults." For an overview, The New York Times published a write up on the article and even included a link to an interactive, online activity that demonstrates the ANS in action.

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Categories: Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: cognitive skills, decision making, early learning, Innate abilities, intelligence, math