Oklahoma State Department of Education Special Education Services • 405-521-3351 • www.ok.gov/sde/special-education FACT SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY SHEET

■ Definition of Specific Learning • Make many mistakes when reading aloud, and repeat Disability under IDEA and pause often Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or • Have difficulty understanding what he or she reads more of the basic psychological processes involved in • Have real trouble with spelling understanding or in using language, spoken or written, • Have very messy handwriting or hold a pencil awkwardly that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, • Struggle to express ideas in writing think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical • Have trouble remembering the sounds that letters calculations, including conditions such as perceptual make or hearing slight differences between words disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, • Have trouble understanding jokes, comic strips, and dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Disorders not sarcasm included. Specific learning disability does not include • Have trouble following directions learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, • Have difficulty following the social rules of conversa- hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of tion, such as taking turns, and may stand too close to emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or the listener economic disadvantage. 34 CFR 300.8(c)(10) • Confuse math symbols and misread numbers

DESCRIPTION It is normal for children to experience one or more of • Learning disabilities vary from person to person. One these warning signs from time to time. However, if person with LD may not have the same kind of learning a child exhibits one or more of these characteristics problems as another person with LD. Researchers think over a long period of time, the child may need to be that learning disabilities are caused by differences in how evaluated to see if he or she has a learning disability. a person’s brain works and how it processes information. • Children with learning disabilities are not “dumb” or TEACHING TIPS/INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES “lazy.” Their brains just process information differently. • Break learning into small steps • People with LD are of average or above-average in- • Administer probes telligence but still struggle to acquire skills that impact • Supply regular quality feedback their performance in school, at home, in the commu- • Use diagrams, graphics and pictures nity, and in the workplace. • Provide ample independent, well-designed, intensive • Learning disabilities are lifelong, and the sooner they practice are recognized and identified, the sooner steps can be • Model instructional practices taken to overcome the challenges they present. • Let students with reading problems use instructional materials that are accessible to those students with INCIDENCE print disabilities • As many as 1 out of every 5 people in the United • Let students with listening difficulties borrow notes States has a learning disability. Almost 1 million children from a classmate or use a tape recorder (ages 6 through 21) have some form of a learning dis- • Let students with writing difficulties use a computer ability and receive special education in school. In fact, with specialized software that spell checks, grammar one-third of all children who receive special education checks, or recognizes speech; and have a learning disability (Twenty-Ninth Annual Report • Teach organizational skills, study skills, and learning to Congress, U.S. Department of Education, 2010). strategies

POSSIBLE SIGNS AND CHARACTERISTICS This information developed from the following resources: The child may: • National Dissemination Center for • Learn language late and have a limited vocabulary Children and Disabilities (NICHCY) www.nichcy.org/disability/specific/ld • Struggle to pay attention and attend to tasks • National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) • Work at a slower pace than their peers www.ncld.org • Frequently forget to do assignments or homework • Bright Hub Education • Have trouble learning the alphabet, rhyming words, www.brighthubeducation.com or connecting letters to their sounds • LD Online www.idonline.org