Specific learning difficulties

The Warnock Report describes children with some academic difficulties, such as reading, writing and spelling, as children with SpLDs. However, SpLDs have seen many definitions, which has sent confused message to parents, teachers and even professionals (Prior, 1996).

Using different terms such as learning disabilities, learning difficulties, SpLDs, intellectual impairment and ID has led to considerable confusion and a lack of full understanding by parents and teachers. Part of this confusion is due to the fact that SpLDs cannot be explained by lack of intellectual ability from deficient schooling (Prior, 1996). In addition, as the term SpLDs concentrates on academic skills, it does not have meaning in countries or societies where children do not receive formal education or SEN services are poor. Some studies indicated that there is confusion in explaining the SpLDs. For example, Ayers (2006) indicated that boys are identified with SpLDs more often than girls, which she explained by biological factors, or cultural ones, in societies where higher academic performance is expected from males than from females.

The first definition of SpLDs was suggested by Kirk in 1962. This definition excluded sensory or physical impairments, intellectual impairment and the effect of environmental, cultural and socio-economic disadvantages. Kirk (1971) focused on the basic psychological processes involved in understanding and using spoken and written language. During the 1960s and 1970s, various definitions of SpLDs appeared such as: Kirk (1962), Bateman (1965), National Advisory Committee on ‘Handicapped’ Children (1968), Kass & Myklebust (1969), Wepman et al., (1975) and The USA Office of Education in 1975 & 1977 (El-Roussan, 1996). Most of these definitions focused on the gap between actual intellectual ability and academic performance and achievement. The National Joint Committee of Learning Disabilities in the USA presented a new definition in 1988, which contains a heterogeneous group of disorders, and states that difficulties could occur across the life span (Pumfrey & Reason, 1992).

There are different types of SpLDs, including:

• Dyslexia (difficulty in reading and spelling).

• Dysgraphia (difficulty in writing).

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• Dyscalculia (difficulty in mathematics).

• Dyspraxia (difficulty in fine motor skills).

• Dysnomia (difficulty in remembering names or recalling words).

Dyslexia is the most common type of SpLDs. However, it has been defined in many ways and has different identification criteria. Most of these definitions indicate that dyslexia is a reading difficulty and it is not a result of low intellectual ability (Ayers, 2006) and also is not due to sensory disability (hearing or visual impairment), poor learning opportunities or inadequate teaching. Researchers have counted many factors which could be associated with dyslexia, including poor phonological awareness, weakness in visual skills, poor learning style and heredity (family and twins studies) (Ayers, 2006). Associated with SpLDs, there are some common behavioural problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). According to Larry and Silver (2008, n.p): ‘students with LD have a neurologically-based processing problem that interferes with the ability to master specific learning skills. Between 30-50 per cent of children with LD will also have ADHD, and the reverse is also true; between 30-50% of children with ADHD will also have LDs, so it is advisable to look for both possibilities’.

However, preschool children show some signs of ADHD when they experience difficulties in paying attention, or directing their behaviour, and exhibit some behavioural difficulties such as distractibility and/or impulsivity.

There are two types of developmental LDs:

(i) Initial (primary) developmental LDs refer to attention, perception and memory.

Attention is the first cognitive process used by a child when he or she responds to any stimulus. The child deals with many stimuli at the same time using his or her sensory organs, but will not be able to deal with them all. Attention helps the child to choose the important stimulus and ignore others which make the perception possible. Dennis et al. (2008, p.673) stated that attention is unobservable and ‘based on inferences about how an individual perceives, thinks and acts’. Westwood (2004, p.138) reviewed several studies by Detterman et al., (2000) and Taylor et al. (1995) which have shown that there is a strong association between attention and learning.

More often than not, children with development ID find it difficult to focus on the relevant stimulus. In other words, without the ability to select the proper stimulus, such children

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would fail to learn or even to remember the task. Dockrell and McShane (1992) suggested that prior experience may have also an effect on the attention given to the new information.

This explains the poor attention levels of children with developmental ID. These children have limited prior experience relevant to classroom tasks, so their attention is not discriminatory, but accidental (Westwood, 2004).

Alzyout (2005) studied the effectiveness of a behavioural program to improve the attention of children with mild intellectual impairment, who were enrolled in special education centres in Amman, Jordan. The new programme depended on four strategies:

feedback, positive reinforcement, response rate and organisation of the classroom environment. He found that the attention of children with mild general LDs increased after the programme, compared with the experimental group. Perhaps, the best way to overcome random attention is to provide the child with more experiences and help him or her gain more success. Furthermore, Richards et al. (1995) found that problems with paying attention were the component of externalising behavioural problems, and that inattentive students have difficulty achieving in an intensive learning environment.

Perception is the second part of initial developmental ID, and it is strongly connected to attention. Perception could be defined as a process of organising and interpreting the information which comes through the sensory world, based on prior knowledge (Rookes &

Wilson, 2000). It normally consists of the following: organising, interpreting, coding, analysis and storage. Coupe-O’Kane et al. (1986) pointed out that perception, cognition and action are linked to each other and each one depends on the development of the others.

Children with general LDs also have poor memory, and scan the information present in working memory more slowly than their peers (Dockrell & McShane, 1992). Most children with general LDs face difficulties with their memory which may take the form of taking more time to complete tasks, difficulty in generalising what they have learned, difficulty in remembering new information and difficulty in storing information in long-term memory (Westwood, 2004; Dockrell & McShane, 1992).

(ii) Secondary developmental LDs refer to thinking and oral language. As a result of initial developmental LDs, secondary developmental LDs will occur in children who suffer from LDs. Drifte (2001) referred to some of the features of secondary LDs, such as difficulty in acquiring skills in speech and language, literacy, dealing with abstract ideas, and generalising concepts from prior knowledge. Children with severe problems in learning will usually be

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identified before they join the school, while the less apparent difficulties will not appear until a later stage, after they have joined the school and start interacting with peers (Frederickson

& Cline, 2002).