Talking to Parents of Children with Exceptional Learning Needs: A Parent’s Top Ten List for Teachers by Kathryn Burke

September 3, 2010 – 10:41 am

Some teachers find me a bit frightening! Well perhaps it is not me personally, but people like me – a parent of a child with exceptional learning needs. It is not hard to imagine that it could be difficult for some teachers to muster up the courage, particularly if new to teaching, to share their concerns with a parent that the latter’s child has some exceptional learning challenges. Regardless of how difficult this may be for a teacher, having this discussion is of vital importance.

Over the last few years, I have had the opportunity to be a guest lecturer in the Faculty of Education in our community. The topic of these sessions has been on how to best deal with people like me! Given time constraints, and with a nod to the genius of David Letterman, I created my, “Top Ten List for Teachers for Talking to Parents of Children with Exceptional Learning Needs.”  This list is not intended to be comprehensive…each situation is certainly different and brings with it many complexities. But, I am hoping it provides some guidance on how this difficult task can be accomplished, written of course, from the perspective of a parent.

Some context here is important. This Top Ten List primarily pertains to situations where the teacher notices a child struggling and wants to take the next step of seeking additional support to better identify and address a concern.  The objective of the discussion is to involve the parent as a partner, and in so doing, build a relationship that is positive, collaborative and respectful. It goes without saying, but I will state it anyway, that the goal is to ensure a child receives all the support required to be a happy, successful and healthy learner whose potential is maximized.

The Top Ten List

1. Don’t wait too long.  Intervention of any type is better if started earlier. Don’t assume a previous teacher has already approached parents about the need to bring in outside support, particularly for students in Grade 4 or higher. Unfortunately, the exceptional needs of many children are missed.

 2. Preparation is critical. Your initial discussion with a parent is profoundly important. It is vital that meetings with parents be the end point of careful preparation.

Good preparation involves many different steps and considerations. Initial steps in the preparation process should  include:

  • Objective and careful observation of the student to identify their learning challenges and strengths
  • Consulting with other teachers, particularly those in mentorship or consulting roles, to gain new insight and understanding into the unique needs of the student or similar students
  • Collecting and organizing work samples. This is particularly useful to show parents, and help illustrate points you might want to make
  • Organizing your thoughts, including the key messages or actions you would like to see achieved through the meeting

Schedule a meeting with the parents. NEVER attempt to handle serious issues in an informal manner on the fly. Ensure that the venue you have selected for the meeting is comfortable and accommodating. Privacy is important. Select an environment that encourages parents to feel welcome. Remember, they are not the enemy.

It is not all about a child’s weaknesses. There is a tendency for many teachers, in fact many professionals, to focus only on weaknesses or problems. All interviews with a parent should include discussion about a student’s strengths in addition to their learning challenges.

Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. There may be areas in which you have greater skills and others where you have much to learn. Don’t oversell your abilities. But, at the same time, your opinion and observations have value. You have had a unique opportunity to see a child in an environment with others, and have a sense of whether a child is struggling relative to others.

There are consequences to failing to prepare for an initial meeting with a parent. They include:

  • Parents may be put off and alienated
  • Your credibility may be undermined
  • Parents may deny the issues, but this might happen anyway. It is just more likely if you do not prepare well.
  • Your relationship with both the parents and the student may deteriorate
  • Possible needed assessments and interventions for the child may be delayed
  • The child may suffer

3. Be flexible. Take cues from the parents. Listen actively to what parents are saying, including non-verbal communication. Your script and plans may not unfold exactly as you imagined. Be flexible, but remain focused on your goals of helping a student and in maintaining a positive relationship with the child’s parents.

4. Parents and families are not all the same. Consider family circumstances and plan accordingly.  

  •  Be culturally sensitive. Gain rapport by being respectful and sensitive to cultural traditions.
  • Be aware that you may be an imposing and intimidating figure to some. For example, families who are refugees from other countries may regard you as an authority or governmental figure; that may shape their interaction with you. Parents, who have not been successful at school themselves, may have preconceived notions of you and your role. They may be terrified to be back in an environment which caused them so much grief. Be sensitive to this reality.
  • The family situation certainly impacts a student’s performance at school. Health issues, a death in the family, marital discord and divorce, and a host of other considerations can affect a student. Life happens at home. You may not know about a child’s home life. And, families may be unwilling to share this information with you.

5. What you say isn’t always what parents hear.  Most parents will be listening with an emotional filter. They may only catch parts of what you say. An analogous situation may be when you go to see a doctor, and return home remembering only one-quarter of what your physician may have told you!

Here is a possible example of what you may say, and what a parent may hear. Also to be considered, what the parent is thinking as you are speaking.

What you say!

“Thank you for coming in today to speak with me about your son. It has been wonderful to get to know him this year. He is such a creative person. …I find now that there has been a bit more time to assess his performance; he is really struggling with reading and writing. I know that he tries very hard and I am pleased about that. But, he is really having a tough time keeping up with the curriculum.  What I would like to suggest is that in order for me to do the best possible job with him as his teacher, I would like to have one of the experts from downtown test him so that we can learn more about how he learns.”

What you said run though a parent’s emotional filter and thoughts as you speak!

“Thank you for coming in today to speak with me about your son. It has been wonderful to get to know him this year. He is such a creative person. …I find now that there has been a bit more time to assess his performance, he is really struggling with reading and writing. [Oh d@*m!  I thought it would be better this year with this teacher… She is supposed to be so good.] I know that he tries very hard and I am pleased about that. [What did she say?] But, he is really having a tough time keeping up with the curriculum.  What I would like to suggest is that in order for me to do the best possible job with him as his teacher, I would like to have one of the experts from downtown test him so that we can learn more about how he learns. [What is going to happen now?].”

6. Avoid reactive language. Reactive language will evoke strong and generally negative reactions, particularly in discussions with adults. Reactive language includes phrases like “must,” “should have,” or starting sentences with phrases like, “you have to….”  Be extremely careful about using prescriptive language. It can undermine all your good efforts.

7. Build relationships. Identify common goals. Build on common understandings. One of the best ways to engage anyone is to consider where there may be common goals and build a partnership to achieve those goals. You share many common goals with the parent of a child who is struggling. You all want the child to succeed.

8. Recognize the grieving process. Most parents who newly discover that their children have exceptional learning or other needs go through a process of grieving. What may be impossible at one stage or time may be possible at a later stage.

9. Create an action plan with the parent. Better yet, collaborate with the parent to create the action plan. This action plan should also include dates for next steps and strategies for ongoing communication with the parent.

10. Remember that what you are doing is important. A child’s future, indeed his or her life, may depend upon your actions.

Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.

© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows:  Kathryn Burke, “Talking to Parents of Children with Exceptional Learning Needs: A Parent’s Top Ten List for Teachers” www.LDExperience.ca,  September 3, 2010.

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10 Pieces of Advice for University from one Student with LD to another….. by Denise Goegan

August 26, 2010 – 9:44 am

It’s that time once again… the changing colours of the leaves, the smell of freshly sharpened pencils, coil note books without a single mark inside and for a number of students… a new school. Going to a new school can be quite daunting especially when that school is a university with tens of thousands of students and one comes from a high school of only a few hundred. It’s intense, intimidating and at times unbearable, but necessary for those who want to achieve. And, I haven’t even mentioned the challenges of students with a Learning Disability. For us, the fear of the unknown can be horrible! Will the accommodations I need be available? Will there be a support system available for me, a place I can go when I need help? Will I be able to find my classes? Will my instructors be supportive and accommodating? Will I be able to graduate? And the list of questions goes on and on….

Having gone through the experience myself, I know how difficult it can be… therefore with September just around the corner, I’ve decided to share some advice with my fellow students with LD who want to achieve more than some people think we can. I remember when I was first diagnosed and my mother was told that I was going to be lucky to finish high school and that university was out of the question… so many people didn’t believe in me, or see past the fact that I have a Learning Disability. But with determination and the support of family and friends, I am now in my final year as an Honour Psychology student and I am happy to report that those people who doubted me were wrong! We can achieve countless things we set our minds to… we just need to do things in our own way. And I hope that this article is reassuring to those going into university this year or maybe still are in university… we can do it!

 My first piece of advice is to forget about how long it is going to take to finish your degree. Just don’t even think about it. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. I am in my final year and it doesn’t bother me that it’s my seventh year. That’s irrelevant in my opinion. The point is, I’m at university and I’m working towards my goal with high marks in all classes. No one is going to ask you how long it took to complete your degree. They ask what the degree is in and sometimes what your GPA is. Why rush through and get mediocre marks or end up dropping out when you can take an extra year or two and focus on your studies?

With that said, my second piece of advice is to take fewer courses at least for the first year. At my university, students “should” take five courses a semester to finish in four years. Well… I have found that even students without disabilities seem to be taking four or fewer courses a semester and finish in five years, or more, because of the intensity of the workload and outside commitments that people have. When I started at the university I took three courses. This I found was the perfect amount for me to be able to get all my readings done and complete all of my assignments. I remember when I first started at university, someone told me that for every hour in the classroom you should be spending three hours outside the class on the material. Well I can say from personal experience that reading a single chapter in a textbook takes at least 4 or 5 hours, and that doesn’t take into consideration review or assignments or studying. Therefore I would say I spend 5 or 6 hours of my time for every hour I spend in class.

So with some quick math, I found that I have three hours of class per course a week, times three courses was nine hours. That means in a week I’m spending nine hours in class and between 45 to 54 hours outside of school on course work which means I spend 54 to 63 hours a week on school. A fourth class…. I don’t think so! I’m good with three. I know that with those three classes, I have a large workload, (that’s even more than the standard 40 hour work week!), but I am able to handle it and still do well in all my courses. And again I’m not worried at all about how long it takes. I want to do well and am prepared to put in the time to achieve.

My third piece of advice is to make sure to take some personal time every week. This can be as simple as taking an hour to watch your favorite TV show, or going for a walk. This advice is still a challenge for me especially around midterms or finals, but is necessary. The brain needs a break from all the work, especially when it’s over 50 or 60 hours a week! Take some time, life can’t be just work!

My fourth piece of advice brings us to the school. Every post secondary institution has to have a disability resource center of some kind. This center is vital for those of us with Learning Disabilities. For me, this place coordinates my exams, helps me get accommodations from instructors, gives me a place to work on computers that have the software I need and provides a support system while I am at school. Without this, I would not have been so successful. Therefore, I recommend getting to know the people and the scope of this center: who they are and what accommodations and supports they are able to provide you with. They are a key source of information for you at school and getting to know them is important for success. Over my years at university I have come to know these people, and they have been incredible and I could not image not having them. They have been advocates, advisors and friends and I am so appreciative for them being there.

With the support of the disability resource center, there is another key area where one can get a huge amount of support and information and that is other students. My fifth piece of advice is to talk to other students. Which courses and instructors are good? How do they teach? What is the work load of the different courses? Where are the best places to study?  There is so much information that one can gain simply from talking to other students. And, the best part about other students is that we are all in the same boat. We wouldn’t be at university if we didn’t want to do well, and we all have things to learn once we are there. Therefore we can help one another out.

When it was my time to start university, my sister was already at the same university, which was awesome. She had started her program a couple of years earlier and was able to show me around including: where my classes were, where the bookstore was, where the coffee places were, even bathroom locations which are not always so easy to find. Based on this experience, my sixth piece of advice is to take a tour of the school with someone, either a friend of sibling that already goes there, or even at orientation which most universities have before the first week of classes. This allows one to have some sense of where they are going.

With that said my sister and I developed a plan, as we both knew that I was horrible with directions and was constantly getting lost. Therefore, to make things a little easier, we decided that I would learn how to get everywhere from one central location. For me, this place was Mac Hall which was like a student center and had the largest food court on campus. The reason for this central location was that in case I got lost, which was inevitable, everyone knew where Mac Hall was, and all I had to do was ask someone where it was, and then once there, I would be back on track and know how to get to where I was going. Therefore, my seventh piece of advice is to have a landmark that everyone will know and learn how to get everywhere from there.

Now with a sense of where one is going, and a support system in place, its time to pick out classes to take. My advice here is simple…BALANCE. When I pick courses I look at when exams are scheduled and when things are due which can all be found in the syllabus one can see before classes start or within the first week. When I have the option to choose my courses, I pick those that have exams and projects due different days and ideally weeks apart. Therefore my stress levels will not be on overdrive as I won’t have three exams one day and have spaced out when things are scheduled so that I can properly prepare for each.

My advice of balance also takes into consideration when classes will be held. For me, it was too much to have classes back to back, or too early in the morning. Therefore, one should be cautious of when they have classes and try to balance them with times that work best with appropriate spacing between them. Everyone on this point is different, but we all know what works best for us academically, and we need to work within that, as much as possible.

When it comes to picking out classes, my ninth piece of advice is to work with your strengths. If you know that writing essays is not your forte, than find a course that does not have an essay component. That won’t always work as some courses are mandatory for a particular degree, but when you have options for course selection, why not pick ones where the work involved is linked to your strengths? Some of us are better at multiple choice, some of us are better at writing and some are better at oral presentations. Only you know what will work best for you. Just work within that framework whenever you can and go forward from there.

My last piece of advice is to just stay positive! Yes there will be challenges. Yes there will be courses that are horrible. Yes there will be instructors who aren’t as accommodating as you would like. But there is always a solution. Challenges can be talked through with friends, family, instructors, or a support person from your disability resource center and resolution found.

We have all been there with courses that are horrible. You are not alone! I remember taking History of Psychological Thought, filled with Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and many more men who don’t make a word of sense. It was the worst four months… EVER  at the university for me. But it was a mandatory course and I just pushed myself to get through it. I got help reading the textbook from my father and worked through the challenges with my friend who was also taking the class and before I knew it the class was over and I got an A! Looking back… I still hate the course but I was able to persevere by staying positive and believing in myself.

And for those instructors at university who doubt us… all I can say is that’s their loss, because they will never be able to see all that we are capable of and the amazing things we can accomplish. Furthermore, as much as they might not want to help us, it’s unfortunate for them that they feel that way, but legally…. they have too! When faced with this type of instructor at post secondary, go to your disability resource center and talk it through with them and find out what your options are. They are your greatest ally at school and can fight for your rights!

I hope that you find this list of advice helpful, but keep in mind that it is in no way an exhaustive list and there are many other strategies you will learn once you get to school. Just take it one day at a time, and remind yourself that you can be successful with whatever you choose. You just need to stay positive and discover the strategies and skills you need to be successful on your own terms. Consider every obstacle as an opportunity to learn and grow and a chance to show those who don’t have faith in your abilities that you can. The possibilities are endless! We can achieve extraordinary things when we set our minds to it!

Denise Goegan is a regular contributor to LDExperience. She is a successful university student, maintaining a stellar GPA, who in in an Honours Psychology Program. With her mother, she also speaks at conferences and other venues on advocacy for people with learning disabilities.

© Denise Goegan and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so Goegan, Denise “10 Pieces of Advice for University from one Student with LD to another” www.LDExperience.ca, August 26, 2010.

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School Boards and Special Education: Making the Connection by Kathryn Burke

July 27, 2010 – 9:15 am

I had lunch with a colleague yesterday, who is, to put it mildly, a sophisticated political operative. He has amazing insight into matters pertaining to the political process. I thoroughly enjoy speaking with him about democracy, citizen engagement, and the evolving nature of our society.

Both of us commented on how many people feel disenfranchised. They may not vote because they feel they are not able to make a difference. At our lunch, my colleague and I spoke about how many people may not be aware of some of the mechanics for “getting involved.”

A major focus of advocacy in the learning disabilities community is about access to and the quality of education. Throughout Canada, public school boards are governed by elected trustees. Similar structures are used in other jurisdictions around the world. The following is meant to provide some ideas about how to get involved and make a difference in school trustee elections.

School boards are important. While the responsibilities of elected school boards may vary in different jurisdictions, some common major functions of school boards include:

  • Planning and setting priorities for the school district in a way that reflects the community’s wishes, available resources and sound educational practice
  • Setting goals for the school district to ensure that education provided in the district’s schools is in step with today’s world
  • Evaluating the School Board Superintendent
  • Adopting an annual budget for the school system 
  • Making policy to guide the administration and employees toward district goals 
  • Communicating with the community and staff on behalf of the school district

Sadly, many votes for school trustees are cast without much consideration. Name recognition, rather than views on critical issues like special education, school closure or student transportation, often determines what trustee gets elected.

School trustees work for the public! Trustees do not work for the school district; the school district works for the trustees! Trustees represent the electorate on the school board. An important part of the role of the trustee is to listen to and represent the interest of the people he or she represents. The role of a trustee is also to help constituents get needed support if they are experiencing difficulties with the school system. And, as many families with children with special education will attest, students with exceptional learning needs often encounter problems. A good trustee can help to negotiate the system to help families better address a child’s education needs.

Trustees also make decisions about general district policy that can affect special education. The most notable policy decisions include the school district’s budget (that can either maintain, increase or decrease funds allocated to special education) and transportation – a pivotal service that can impact both the quality of a child’s educational experience and their accessibility to programs and services.

So, what can you do?

1. Find out what the prospective trustee thinks about special education issues.

a. Attend a Trustee election forum. Most school districts organize trustee forums, and post the schedule of forums on their website. Attend and ask questions. If your children are old enough, bring them along and encourage them to ask questions. They clearly have a vested interest.

b. Check out the prospective candidate’s website. Most candidates have a website that outlines their platform. If you do not know who the candidates are for your constituency, a great source is the municipal or county returning office. They can advise you about who is running for different offices.

c. If you are a Facebook or Twitter user, follow candidates on these media. Trustees or trustee candidates who are familiar with these media often provide updates about issues using social media, or solicit input about key issues using these vehicles.

d. Email or phone the prospective candidate to ask questions. This is also a great way to “test” understanding and knowledge. It is also a good way to check out their attitude toward key issues that may not be relevant from a website or campaign brochure.

e. Check out the voting record of incumbent trustees. Ask trustees running for re-election about why they voted the way they did on key issues. Minutes and meeting material from past Board meetings are always available on the School District’s website. If you do not have access to the internet, then it is possible to phone the secretary of the District’s Board of Trustees, and ask for information from past meetings.

2. Attend a public board meeting for your school district to see existing trustees in action. This is particularly valuable for Trustees running for re-election. It is useful to see trustees interact with their colleagues and the public. Some are wonderful and some do not live up to their campaign and website statements.

3. Consider campaigning for a trustee candidate whose values are consistent with yours. There are many benefits to this action. The first is to help your preferred candidate win the election. The second is that you will have an opportunity to communicate, at a much more personal level, some of the issues around special education that are important to you. As a parent of a child with exceptional learning needs, you are likely far more knowledgeable than the trustee candidate. Use this as an opportunity to share knowledge.

4. Use local resources. Websites and discussion boards seem to pop up around election time. They are easily found using search engines like Google. Check them out.

5. Get out and vote. Make your preferences known with an informed vote.

Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.

© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows:  Kathryn Burke, “School Boards and Special Education: Making the Connection” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 27, 2010.

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Myth-Busters! Blasting Apart the Dyslexia Myth by Michele Pentyliuk

July 26, 2010 – 8:36 am

Put up your hand if think that people with dyslexia have difficulties with letter and word reversals.  From where I am sitting, it looks to me like most of you have your hand raised.  I can’t really see you of course, but my experience tells me that the majority of people, even teachers, believe that the defining feature of dyslexia is reversals.  Sadly, even some individuals diagnosed with this disorder believe that this is the case. I met a man who proclaimed that he was dyslexic because he often mixed up numbers when taking down phone numbers over the telephone.  Mixing up numbers or backwards reading is not dyslexia.  Dyslexia means “difficulty with words”.  This difficulty is not characterized by reversing letters or words.  I have found that when I explain this to people, I am met by a great deal of scepticism and even some hostility.  That is why I was so happy to find a lovely, succinct, entertaining and insightful article dispelling this well-entrenched myth.

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology by Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, and Beyerstein (2010) is a treasure trove of myth-busting anecdotes including “The Defining Feature of Dyslexia is Reversing Letters.”  This is my personal favourite given the work I do, and I think that every elementary teacher and parent of a child who is struggling with reading should read this three-page explanation of how this myth started and what science now tells us about the nature of the disorder.  The authors, all professors of psychology, collaborated on this information packed book that not only dispels many commonly held myths but explains why it is that so many myths and misconceptions have been perpetuated despite the presence of oodles of research to prove them incorrect.

I had long wondered how the whole reversal myth began.  Lilienfeld and colleagues explained that Samuel Orton, an American neurologist, coined the term strephosymbolia (meaning “twisted symbol”) to refer to the tendency to reverse letters.  He initially believed that this was the underlying cause of reading difficulties and that many children could read more easily if they held their writing up to a mirror.  As the authors point out, however, letter reversals are a part of normal development for many children and are not unique to children with reading disabilities.  My own three children all reversed letters until they were eight or nine years of age and experienced no reading difficulties.  Despite little evidence to suggest that reading disabilities are related to visual problems, this belief is firmly entrenched in our culture.

Most researchers now agree that dyslexic readers have difficulty with phonological processing, or the awareness of and ability to manipulate the sound structure of spoken words.  The English language is comprised of 44 phonemes, or sound units.  These sound units are blended together to form words. Many individuals who experience problems learning to read have significant difficulty segmenting and differentiating individual speech sounds in spoken words, blending speech sounds to form a spoken word, and using phonological codes.   Without going into copious detail, Lilienfeld et. al. provide a lovely explanation of what researchers now understand about the nature of reading difficulties.  They also explain that many poor readers continue to exhibit letter reversals as well as other more important characteristics of younger children who are learning to read and write.

A more comprehensive explanation of dyslexia, one that not only answers, “What is dyslexia?” but also “What causes it?” and “What can be done about it?”is found in Tunmer and Greany’s Defining Dyslexia (2010).  While the focus of the article is on the first question, all three are inextricably intertwined.  And that is precisely why I believe that all professionals involved in the education of our children need to understand what dyslexia is.  To understand what dyslexia is, to understand what causes one of the leading reasons for reading disabilities, provides the foundation for understanding what intervention strategies will be effective.  It has been common practice and belief that children learn to read when exposed to instruction based on a whole language approach, or what Tunmer and Greaney refer to as the “multiple cues” approach. The authors explain, however, that poor readers rely too much on sentence context clues to help them compensate for their difficulties with alphabetic or phonemic principles. More emphasis on using meaning cues does little to improve reading (Tunmer & Greaney, 2010).

It has been well established that effective early identification and intervention can prevent dyslexia or at least minimize its impact.  For those children who do not intuitively develop an understanding of the connections between speech and print, explicit instruction in crucial.  And the earlier the better. Numerous research studies have investigated early predictors of reading achievement and have found that alphabetic knowledge and phonological awareness are good predictors of early reading ability.  Tumner and Greaney are bold enough to say that while approximately 10% of the population experiences significant difficulty learning to read, many of these children are not learning disabled, but teaching disabled (2010). They also contend that when children who are identified at-risk are provided with effective phonologically based intervention, they developed the skills and profiles of proficient readers  (p. 237). In fact, the authors offer that a child should not be labelled dyslexic if they have not been “exposed to high quality evidence-based literacy instruction and intervention” (Tumner & Greaney, p. 239).

It is unfortunate that much of the research regarding the nature of reading disabilities has not filtered down to the classroom level.  I think that most teachers would be surprised to learn what dyslexia is and what it is not.  So if you are looking for some light summer reading that will provide you with wonderful fodder for summer barbeques, pick up 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology. Not only will you bust the dyslexia myth but many other commonly held misconceptions.  For heavier and more in-depth reading regarding the nature of reading disabilities, Defining Dyslexia can be found in the Journal of Learning Disabilities, May/June edition.

Lilienfeld, S, Lynn, S, Rusico, J, & Beyerstein, B. (2010). 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology. Hong Kong: Wiley-Blackwell.

Tunmer, W. & Greaney, K.(2010). Defining dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(3), 229-243.

Michele Pentyliuk is a registered psychologist and respected expert in psycho-educational assessments. She is an active volunteer and advocate, and well respected speaker and teacher.

© Michele Pentyliuk LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows: Michele Pentyliuk, “Myth-Busters! Blasting Apart the Dyslexia Myth” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 26, 2010.

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The Deadly Implications of Not Keeping up with Research by Kathryn Burke

July 24, 2010 – 8:39 pm

I recently attended a conference on Brain Development and Learning.  I often describe myself as a “sociologist gone bad!” I am not a clinician nor am I an educator. My interest in the conference was to learn more about emerging research on learning, and brain physiology associated with learning disabilities. While at the conference, I found myself rubbing shoulders with research scientists, physicians, educators and other supremely dedicated people wanting to better understand how we learn or have trouble learning. I felt like a crack addict getting a hit!

I plan to write about some of the sessions in future columns. This column is focused on an issue that resonated with me greatly throughout the entire conference. It is the critical need to marry research and practice.

The wisdom of marrying practice to research is illustrated by looking back in time to the early investigations about the spread of infection. The research in question was to explore a puzzling situation in which a very high percentage of women died shortly after giving birth.  This occurred in the days before knowledge of bacteria and the spread of infection. The research, which was initially ridiculed,  identified a circumstance that appeared to be shared by all women who died. Specifically, their physician, before seeing them, had been at the morgue completing autopsies on others who had died of the same mysterious cause. We now know that these women were victims of infection unwittingly transmitted to them by the doctor who was trying to help them. The importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of infection, was not known at the time. Sadly, this research was initially ignored. As a result, many unfortunate women died.

It is easy to say, “That was a long time ago and this is now! This does not happen any more. We know about infections.”  But, I would respectfully argue that the issue of ignoring the research happens as much today as it did before we knew about microscopic bacteria and viruses. We have a track record of ignoring the implications of good research, particularly if those implications challenge “sacred cows,” or suggest a course of action that is not aligned with the prevailing “politics” of the day. I have seen it, and I would bet good money that readers of this column have as well. And to return to the issue of the spread of infection, how many people have you witnessed leaving a public washroom without washing their hands? I have seen many and we all know hand washing is a vital weapon in stemming the spread of disease.

It is possible to default to the view that learning disabilities are not like infections. People don’t die from having learning disabilities. In which case I would indicate that there is a body of quality research that clearly indicates that the negative social and emotional consequences of unremediated learning disabilities can kill just as effectively as if the person had an unchecked infection. The cause of death, in this instance is suicide and not infection, but the people are just as dead, and the survivors just or even more so devastated from this loss of life.

There has been an explosion of research, of high quality, that addresses strategies for supporting students with learning disabilities. In the decade since I have been in the “learning disabilities community,” both as a volunteer and professional, I have encountered situations where research findings have been willfully ignored. It leads me to the question, “Why? Don’t we want people affected by learning disabilities to live well, and maximize their potential? Shouldn’t we have an obligation to stay on top of our field, and be constantly aware of new research that could improve outcomes?”

At the conference, I sat in sessions where I learned about studies that clearly revealed how the brain of a person with dyslexia processes information. Reading disabilities are neurological in nature. Yet I have heard from educators and administrators, or policy advisers and many others that learning disabilities, or in this case dyslexia, are “not real” and that the people in question should just apply themselves. The message — learning disabilities are a consequence of being lazy. Having seen our son with learning disabilities work three times as hard on his schoolwork as his non-LD brother, indicates that in our family, its not a matter of being lazy. It is being “LD!”

Clearly, I believe we have a moral obligation to keep up and to be mindful of new developments. That is not to say that we should cast aside critical reason or question and accept blindly all results. But I do believe that it is time for the field of education, in particular, to be ever mindful of the research on learning and to adjust and refine approaches to include these developments. No longer do I want to hear a teacher who says, “I have been doing it this way for twenty-five years,” unless of course, the following phrase is, “and the research indicates that this is a great approach!”

Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.

© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows:  Kathryn Burke, “The Deadly Implications of Not Keeping up with Research” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 24, 2010.

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Labels, Boxes and People with Learning Disabilities – Labels Have Their Uses, but Also Their Abuses by Dr. Peter Flom

July 16, 2010 – 3:07 pm

Peter Flom has his Ph.D in Psychometrics from Fordham University and an MA in Special Education from New York University. He has his own consulting firm where he specializes in helping graduate students and researchers in psychology, education, economics and the social sciences with all aspects of statistical analysis. He is also a parent, husband, and self disclosed adult living with Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities. He is also an active volunteer, author and advocate.

In medicine, doctors use diagnoses to help them determine appropriate treatment and to give them some idea of prognosis. Treatments are established for many diseases and conditions, and what works for one condition is contraindicated for others. So, diagnosis is important, and getting the correct label can be a matter of life and death.

This is rarely the case with learning disabilities.

In education and psychology generally, and in particular with learning disabilities, we are not so fortunate. We often don’t know the appropriate treatment for a particular condition; the definitions are constantly changing, and, for any particular condition, what works with one person fails horribly with another. Further, the best treatment plans often are intentionally vague, because they depend on the characteristics of the individual. Diagnosis is, therefore, much less useful in these fields than in medicine. Diagnoses and labels do have some value, even for those of us with learning disabilities. Presumably, you are reading this article because you are interested in learning disabilities. That’s a diagnosis, and that’s part of the title of the article. When you are looking for resources, a label is a great place to start. Nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) is not the same as Asperger’s. It’s not the same as high functioning autism. It’s its own thing. But there are significant overlaps with those conditions and others, and you may find help in resources designated for those groups.

But, taken too seriously, a label can be a box, and people do not fit into boxes. If you, or your child, doesn’t fit with some aspect of NLD, then that does not indicate some flaw in you or your child; it indicates that we don’t really know all that much about these things yet. I have also seen people ask questions such as ‘Can a child have LD and ADHD?’ My answer is another question: “Does your child have NLD and ADHD?” If a child has both, then, clearly, it is possible to have both; if a book says otherwise, the book is wrong. Can you be LD and good at reading and math? Since I am LD and good at reading and math, I can answer that one: Yes, you can.

Labels Have Their Uses, but Also Their Abuses

You can be LD in anything that is learned – and, since babies are born with very few skills, that covers a lot of ground. Not just the academic skills (where disabilities have names like dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia) but in social skills, in visual skills, in auditory processing – in almost anything. A lot of people don’t realize this. They think a learning disability can only be associated with a topic learned in school. But, then, we would call them schooling disabilities. A lot of what we learn on the way to adulthood is learned outside of school. Some of it is learned without our being aware of it.

Note from LDExperience. This article was originally published by Dr. Flom on October 3, 2009.  Republished with permission. © Peter Flom.  Follow Dr. Flom on Twitter at @PeterFlom. His business website is http://www.statisticalanalysisconsulting.com/

Please cite this article as: Flom, Peter. “The Labels, Boxes and People with Learning Disabilities – Labels Have Their Uses, but Also Their Abuses” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 16, 2010. Originally published October 3, 2009 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2245479/labels_boxes_and_people_with_learning_pg2.html?cat=4.

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The Role of School Trustees and Special Education: Ostriches that hide their head in the sand don’t get the big picture by Kathryn Burke

July 16, 2010 – 10:12 am

I helped organize a panel discussion on special education that took place this week. The target audience was people in our city running in the fall election as school trustees. I am one of a small group of active parent special education advocates within our local school district. With the impending election, we all had received multiple requests to meet with trustee candidates to discuss special education issues. The panel discussion emerged as a practical way to address the increasing requests.

Three of us served on the panel. None of us profess to have all the answers. We simply believe we have a practical understanding of special education issues within our school district. Each of us took a few minutes to share our personal stories. Each of us stressed, quite strongly, that we believe that within our school district there are many amazing things occurring. But we were honest and blunt in our views that there were huge gaps in the way the school district meets the needs of special learners. Indeed, during the inevitable post mortem discussion on “how it went,” each of us admitted that we might have soft-peddled some of our concerns. Or, to put it another way, we held back and could have been much more critical.

The question and answer session was lively. Many people remained after we had formally adjourned to continue the discussion. One conversation stuck out for me. It began with, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but….” With an opening like that, I knew it could not be good. The person went on to criticize the panel for having been too critical. The belief was that we had painted a negative picture of the school district with our comments. I pointed out that we had, to a person, acknowledged excellent work within our school district. During the back and forth dialogue, I pointed out that the purpose of the session was to speak about special education issues. Nevertheless, our criticisms were generalized to be an overriding indictment of the entire school system. I was also challenged about the validity of a comment that I had made about how failure to succeed at school was a leading cause of teen suicide. This claim, I might add, can be substantiated by many peer reviewed studies.  The comment back to me was that there were “other causes of suicide and that other groups think those causes are the leading cause! Everyone thinks their issues are the most important!”

Regardless of cause, teen suicide is a serious issue. A debate within this context about what cause of suicide is the most “important” to me negated the significance of my original comment; failure to succeed at school is a leading cause of teen suicide. And moreover, students with special learning needs are at risk of failing to succeed at school. On a personal level, as a parent of a child who once spoke, at the age of 8 about “flying into the sun” because he was so upset about his struggles with school, I embraced a virtual cornucopia of feelings that ranged from being upset, angry, incredulous, shocked and frustrated. My response, before departing to join another conversation was along the lines that if my “strong comments” had somehow engendered action among any of the other individuals in the room that might ultimately save the life of a child who was contemplating suicide, I could live with he/she being upset with me for “being overly negative” about our school district.

The point about raising this conversation is not to single out this one candidate per se, but rather to discuss a mindset. The mindset is that of an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. “If I don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.” It is as if the mere act of posing a question is being disloyal. To ask several questions that may speak to system deficiencies is seen as full out anarchy. My colleagues and I also agreed, in the continuing “post mortem discussions” about the comments from the candidate, that the attitude that had been expressed was not all that uncommon. (And as a sidebar note, we also questioned, “And why did we pay personally pay downtown parking rates to volunteer to both organize and speak at this session!?!”) The belief, which I perceive to be more pronounced among retired school board employees in Trustee positions, is that by raising issues, we “troublemakers” are not supportive of public education or the efforts of the many good people in the school district. Our advocacy speaks to our belief in the value of public education. Questioning a publicly funded and operated organization about whether they are fully meeting their legislative mandate is our democratic right. The three of us who served on the panel have all been criticized for having the temerity to question the public system and hold them to account. It is our right to do so. And, in fairness, each of us has been thanked by a selection of Trustees for making the regular trips to public board and being advocates. Each of us has also been thanked by parents who are simply too terrified to speak-up in a public forum about what they view as system failures or worried that if they do advocate, their children will be singled out and sanctioned.

As a mother of a child with exceptional needs, I believe it is my obligation to do whatever I can, to the best of my ability, to advocate for my child, to parent and support him to maximize his potential. I want his talents to be fully realized. I want him to be happy. I certainly don’t want him to feel stupid or to contemplate suicide because the school system is deficient. My obligation to him is, I would also argue, his birthright. He did not ask to be born. We made a choice to have a child and will be his parents forever. To the extent that I can advocate for others as I advocate for him, I will. The latter is not my son’s birthright; it is part of my moral code.

The Trustee candidate in question subsequently made efforts to soften their criticism about our comments on special education in our school district. Perhaps the back and forth dialogue caused that individual to reconsider their perspective. I have no way of knowing. But what I do believe is that people in leadership roles cannot promote excellence if they fail to be receptive to questions or comments that identify opportunities for improvement. An ostrich, by hiding its head in the sand only gets glimpses of the “big picture” when it moves from one patch of sand to the next. When it comes to the wellbeing of my children, I want trustees and leaders who are willing to explore questions, even if those questions makes them feel uncomfortable.

Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.

© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows: Kathryn Burke, “The Role of School Trustees and Special Education: Ostriches that hide their head in the sand don’t get the big picture” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 16, 2010.

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Questions I want my School Board to Answer: Inquiring Minds want to Know by Kathryn Burke

July 15, 2010 – 12:44 pm

It seems like Einstein really was onto something with the theory of relativity. Time really is relative. Our son, affected by learning disabilities and ADHD, has been in the school system for a decade. Sometimes that decade feels like it has gone by in a heartbeat. At other times, I feel like time is stretched and past events are stuck on replay.  Over that last six months, as my son has been getting ready for the huge transition to high school, I have frequently felt like a miscast actor in a bad science fiction movie where the time space continuum is completely out of whack. System and service failures of a decade ago seem to be the same today as they were before the new millennium. This leads me to ask, “Are we, as a society, making real progress in supporting students with learning disabilities?”

In our province, schools are part of districts governed by elected trustees. Our school board posts its packages for public board meetings online and members of the public can register to address a particular agenda item. I am a regular member of a core group of parents of children with exceptional learning needs who routinely attend public board meetings and speak to reports that deal, in some way, with special education. 

One such opportunity emerged a few weeks ago at the final board meeting before the summer recess. It took me more than 4 hours to write my 3 minute presentation. I was a bit stumped as to what to say, and simply started writing down questions which had emerged from our real life journey with our son. It quickly became apparent to me that it was important to pose a selection of these questions to the elected officials who govern our school district. And, some of my questions were not pretty. Others led me to the sad conclusion that in the decade our son had been at school, the pace of progress had been glacial.  In some cases, it felt like we were moving backwards in time, instead of forward. This led to another question, “Is it just our school district or is it the same everywhere?” In posing this last question, I do not mean to take away from or in any way diminish or minimize the good things that are happening and the extraordinary efforts of many caring people. Rather, I would claim that the actions of these “local heroes” have been salvational. Without these heroes, the outcomes for us, our family and our son, may have been far worse. I simply am questioning if the “system” has been set up to maximize the potential of students with learning disabilities or if progress is still dependent upon the extraordinary efforts of pockets of caring and knowledgeable individuals.

Being optimistic about the future when you have a child with exceptional needs is critical for survival. But being realistic and honest about what is happening is a critical prerequisite for change. So, I would like to share with you some of the questions that I presented to our Board a few weeks ago. They have been modified for a general audience and to remove specific technical references or questions specific to our local school board. However, the meaning or intent of the questions has not changed. I suspect other families like ours might have similar questions. If so, we need to have a serious chat with Einstein’s ghost and see what is necessary to break out of the time warp we seem to be in where there has been precious little progress for students with learning disabilities.

  1. Why, after having been formally diagnosed with learning disabilities in Grade 3 and now entering Grade 10, does our son, with superior intellect, feel he is stupid because he perceives he is failing to succeed at school?
  2. Why did it take until our son was in grade 3 for his exceptional learning needs to be formally acknowledged?
  3. What plan is there to support a generation of teachers to confidently and competently program for students with exceptional learning needs?  
  4. How can Trustees effectively monitor educational outcomes of students placed in inclusive and specialized programs to be confident that exceptional learners are progressing academically?    
  5. Why isn’t every school an exceptional learning environment?
  6. Why is there so little printed or web information from school boards that describes options and supports for exceptional learners? Why is the information that does exist so general or “fluffy” that it is basically useless?
  7. Why are financial burdens placed on parents of children with learning disabilities in public schools through the practice of quietly but consistently referring these children to private agencies to address their learning disabilities? Is this not the role of the school? Why aren’t the referrals accompanied by the fee charged by the private agencies?
  8. Is there validity to concerns about the quality and independence of psycho-educational assessments performed by psychologists employed by school districts?
  9. Why has our family paid in excess of $10,000 for extra supports and services in the years since our child has been in the public system to enable him to be successful?
  10. Why is it that we have felt it necessary to hire a private learning strategist to help our son identify and use strategies to be successful at school? Shouldn’t he already have those skills having spent over a decade in the system?
  11. Why is it that even though our son’s Individual Program Plan (IEP for those of you in other districts), has clearly mentioned assistive technology as a necessary accommodation, that he has not had an AT assessment to identify the technologies that would best work for him?  Why is it that an assessment was only scheduled after we learned that this type of service could be made available to our son?
  12. How can a teacher of 25 years repeatedly use the term “diclectic” to refer to the learning disability of dyslexia? Can you understand how this misstep seriously erodes our confidence in the skills of some teaching staff?
  13. How can it be possible for teaching staff, in designated positions with accountability and authority for helping high school students with exceptional learning needs, immediately equate learning disabilities with autism spectrum disorder or developmental disabilities? Can you appreciate how frustrating it is to discover that the very people who are in positions to advise and help us – families of exceptional learners, don’t know the difference between autism, learning disabilities or developmental disabilities?
  14. Why do we continue to encounter people in our school systems that make the assumption that because a person has learning disabilities they are both stupid and unable to learn?
  15. Why is it that there are so few teachers who actually know how to use Assistive Technology?
  16. Why is it that many teachers do not appreciate the nature of accommodations for students with learning disabilities?
  17. How can it be possible that a person we know, when completing an advanced teaching practicum, had a preceptor respond to their question about children with IPP’s, “Don’t worry about them. They are the bottom feeders.” Why was it that this person felt that it would be a career limiting move to complain about this disgusting attitude to the school district?

 These questions suggest we have far to go to meet the vision for special education reform that results in a system where the outcome is maximizing the potential of all learners.  In our local community, I believe a critical step towards improving education for all learners is to openly and honestly address these and similar questions. It is also to say that it is no longer acceptable for a decade to go by where the questions and concerns are the same. I suspect that the same is true in communities around the planet.

Kathryn Burke, BA (Hon), MA is the founder of LDExperience. Follow Kathryn on Facebook and Twitter.

© Kathryn Burke and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so as follows: Kathryn Burke, “Questions I Want My School Board to Answer: Inquiring Minds want to Know” www.LDExperience.ca,  July 15, 2010.

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The Mountain of Sensory Overload and Non Verbal Learning Disabilities by Dr. Peter Flom

June 3, 2010 – 10:38 am

Peter Flom has his Ph.D in Psychometrics from Fordham University and an MA in Special Education from New York University. He has his own consulting firm where he specializes in helping graduate students and researchers in psychology, education, economics and the social sciences with all aspects of statistical analysis. He is also a parent, husband, and self disclosed adult living with Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities. He is also an active volunteer, author and advocate.

Nonverbal learning disabilities and sensory overload
Many NLDers have problems with sensory overload. This is partly because we have to do a lot of processing consciously that neurotypical (NT) people do without thought. Sensory overload is more or less what it sounds like. There is so much coming at us – via sight, hearing, smell, touch – that we can’t cope. We get overwhelmed. Even people without learning disabilities can have this happen if too much is going on – too many people, too many sights, sounds and smells at once. But we NLDers tend to have it more often, at lower levels.

How can we cope with this? I will use the analogy of the mountain, and the four ways: Giving up, going over the mountain, going through the mountain, or going around the mountain.

I didn’t want to get to the other side of the mountain – giving up on sensory overload because of nonverbal learning disabilities
With regard to sensory overload problems, giving up would mean seeking to live with very little input. How exactly this would play out would depend on the circumstances in which the overload arose. Thus, if you get overwhelmed by the noise in restaurants or at parties, giving up would involve staying at home or engaging only in relatively quiet activities. This is at least somewhat workable. It means that you will miss a lot of socializing, and, if you are not careful in how you decline invitations, you may offend people. Also, occasionally there are events that you simply cannot avoid. But this is a case where giving up is not altogether ridiculous.

Similarly, if you are easily overwhelmed by too much visual stimulation, it may be possible to arrange your living space and possibly your workspace so that they are less visually busy. If, like many NLDers, you are driven mad by being in a dentist’s chair, you could just wait for your teeth to fall out. This is not a good option. But you might find a sympathetic dentist and explain what bothers you and work out ways around it (one NLD child I know was panicked by the chair moving. This could be gotten around by having him get out of the chair and back into it; or by warning him when the chair was going to move.) On the other hand, some NLDers are annoyed by the feel of electric clippers on hair – this is relatively easy to avoid.

One of the many reasons that college is often better than high school for NLDers is that, in high school, you have very little control over your school environment, and relatively little over your living space. Most adolescents live with their parents or other adults; they may have some space of their own (or they may not) but most of the space is not going to be under their control. This changes in college, particularly if you live on your own, either in a single dorm room or in an apartment or other arrangement.

Going through or over the mountain of sensory overload because of nonverbal learning disabilities
There are limited opportunities for ‘trying harder’ in terms of sensory overload. What is needed are ways to try less hard. Trying harder often makes overload problems worse. There are also relatively few ways to take longer to deal with sensory overload. The problem is inherently happening all at once. If the input could be spread out, the problem would disappear

Going around the mountain of sensory overload because of NLD
Sensory overload manifests itself in various ways, and so there are various ways around the mountain. In lectures, in school, and in meetings at work, I find it hard to look at a person and listen to them at the same time. I also find it hard to take notes, preferring to concentrate on listening. Therefore, I use my note pad for doodles. This makes it appear that I am taking notes (and thus not able to look at the speaker), and frees me to pay attention.

Sometimes, if there is sensory overload at your house, it is possible to use one room as a refuge. As a child and adolescent, I found that a long bath often relieved my sensory overload. Not only were baths calming in and of themselves (as they are to many people), but the bathroom is a spot where you are unlikely to be disturbed and where sensory input can be limited. I also find it helpful to wake up early; early mornings tend to be quiet times. In a lot of cases, this is also a good strategy for work – a lot more people will stay late than come in early (but be careful that your boss knows you are arriving before everyone else).

For the problem of excess noise, one relatively straightforward solution is earplugs. However, you have to be careful about the social situation. If you are at a restaurant with friends, it would be unacceptably rude to put in earplugs; but it might be possible to work out a way to cope in some situations. For example, if there is only one other person and he or she is a very good friend, tell him or her about the problem, and ask that you use a pad to communicate (as if you were deaf and did not lip read).

The earplug solution can work well in a workplace through a bit of subterfuge: You can wear earphones, pretending that they are playing music; if you buy a pair of earphones that are large, they will be obvious, and anyone wishing to talk to you will know you have them on and will give some sort of signal for you to take them off. However, you shouldn’t get the sort that cancel noise, as they will block out things you need to hear (such as the phone ringing).

Similarly, in some situations, you can wear the sort of blindfold that some people wear when they sleep, and I believe there are nose plugs that function similarly for smells.

Note from LDExperience. This article was originally published by Dr. Flom on September 19, 2009.  Republished with permission. © Peter Flom.  Follow Dr. Flom on Twitter at @PeterFlom. His business website is http://www.statisticalanalysisconsulting.com/

Please cite this article as: Flom, Peter. “The Mountain of Sensory Overload and Non Verbal Learning Disabilities” www.LDExperience.ca, June 3, 2010. Originally published September 19, 2009 at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2192587/the_mountain_of_sensory_overload_and.html?cat=72

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The “Illusion” of Behavior in Children with Learning Disabilities by Dr. Kristin Morrison

May 19, 2010 – 9:13 am

As a community pediatrician with a special interest in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, I frequently am referred children because of behavior problems.   While some people may shudder at the thought of being locked in a small room for 2 hours with “whirling dervish” or “Tasmanian Devil”, I have generally enjoyed this type of referral.   I feel that each one of these children presents a mystery, a puzzle that needs to be solved.  It is my strong belief that most normal, typically developing children want to be “good”.  They want to be successful and they generally want to please the adults in their world.  I do not believe that children choose to get into trouble.  If a child is not living up to the expectations of a teacher or parent, then there must be some problem or more often a combination of problems that are getting in the way.  The challenge is to figure out what those problems are, and then to determine what can be done to address them.  This is a little like detective work.  It takes time.  It takes patience.  But most of all, it takes someone who will stop and consider what else might be going on.

As a doctor, I usually think of behavior in the same way that I think of a fever.   Fever is what doctors call a symptom.  It is not the fever that makes your child sick, it is the underlying illness.  This illness causes the child to have a fever and perhaps ear ache or cough.   When I see a child with a fever, I can give them Tylenol which will bring down the fever for a few hours but will not actually cure the underlying illness.  If the fever is caused by a cold or flu, then in a few days it will go away without any other treatment.  If however the fever is caused by a more serious infection, the fever will not go away until the underlying problem is found and treated.  Behavior is just a symptom of some underlying problem.  For example, many children act up when they are tired, but once they have slept the behavior goes away.  In children with ongoing behavior problems, there is generally an underlying problem that needs to be identified and treated before the behaviors will improve.

I find it very distressing to hear children described as lazy, unmotivated, uncaring or manipulative.  Often these terms are coming from parents and teachers who are very caring and concerned about the child. Unfortunately these terms can be very damaging to the self-esteem and self-confidence of the child.  In fact, current research is suggesting that many of the secondary mental health problems connected with learning disabilities, such as anxiety and depression, have more to do with the approach parents and teachers use in helping a child then how severe the learning problems are. The more negative, antagonistic and demanding the environment is the more likely, the child is to develop problems with anxiety, self-esteem, self-confidence and depression.  For this reason, I think it is essential for parents and teachers to understand the reasons behind the child’s behaviors.

One of the problems in working with the child with learning struggles is that the adults involved tend to personalize the child’s behavior.  By this I mean that the adult feels that the child is choosing to try to make the adult upset or frustrated. The term attention seeking is a good example of this.  This term implies that the child is deliberately trying to get attention from others.   Why is this considered to be a bad thing?  It is bad because it is interrupting others from doing what they want or need to do, which causes them to become frustrated and upset.  The adult feels that the child is selfish, inconsiderate and self centered.  But what is actually going on in the Child’s mind?  Frequently I find that no one has taken time to find out from the child, if they are actually trying to get attention, nor have they stopped to think about why the child might want the attention in the first place.  This is one of the problems with irritating behaviors.  We, the adults tend to react out of frustration or annoyance at the time, then forget about it until the next time.

There are many behaviors that have been described to me as “attention seeking”.  Many of these behaviors are merely habits or unconscious actions that other people find irritating or annoying. The child is not actually trying to gain attention, but is unaware of the effect their behavior is having on others or is unable to stop themselves from repeating this behavior.  This is common in children with ADHD, but also occurs in children with Tics, Tourette’s syndrome, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  These children are not trying to annoy others, nor are they being deliberately defiant (another term I strongly dislike).  It is simply that their underlying medical condition is preventing them from noticing how their behavior affects others.  It also prevents them from stopping the behavior even when they know it is bothersome.

If indeed the child is actually trying to get attention, then it is likely that the child has a need or desire that they are unable to meet by themselves.    Generally, children with attention seeking behaviors often have poorly developed problem-solving skills.  When they run into a problem, which may be as simple as being bored or as complex as very complicated math problem, they have not yet developed the skills to solve this on their own.  Often there are other things that make it difficult to ask for help in an appropriate way.   Children are often nervous about asking an adult for help, particularly if they have had a negative response from that person previously.   So the child starts to fidget, talk or act out, which brings the attention of an adult, which then helps them solve their problem.  Children like all of us learned from experience and will continue to use a successful strategy over and over again.  If the child can be helped to learn a new strategy that is more successful to help them meet their needs then it is likely that the undesirable behaviors will decrease.

Being told that you are lazy, uncaring or unmotivated are other terms that can be very harmful to a child’s self esteem and self perception.  There are many reasons why children might find it hard to start or complete a task.  Difficulties with initiating – or getting started, especially on anything that is not enjoyable, is one of the criteria in the diagnosis of ADHD.  Not understanding the task at hand and  being afraid of making a mistake are also common reasons why children do not get started or complete their work.  I think it is safe to say that for any of us; it is far easier to get started on something fun or interesting than it is on something boring or difficult.  In children with any form of learning or attention problem the getting started becomes even harder. These children generally have to expend more mental energy over the course of the school day than the average child.  Sometimes they just run out of energy!

My final and probably greatest pet peeve is the term oppositional defiant disorder.  All too often I find this label given to a very frustrated, anxious, and emotionally fragile child.  This diagnosis seems to be implied that the child is biologically programmed to be difficult.   However, unlike ADHD and Learning disabilities, I do not believe ODD to be a biological or medical condition.  Children are not born “oppositional” or “defiant”.   ODD is a pattern of behavior which has developed as a result of other underling problems.  The majority of children who are given a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder actually have other emotional, mental health or learning problems.  The two most common conditions are ADHD and Anxiety.  Another frequently unrecognized condition is a language or communication disorder.   There are many children who may speak clearly and use lots of words, but have difficulties with understanding what is said to them.   Sometimes these children take everything literally.  They do not understand when someone is joking or being sarcastic or even using a figure of speech.  (You can imaging the confusion for a teacher who finds a child lying down on the mat  rather then working, after being told to “give it a rest”.  From the child’s point of view however, he is doing exactly what he thought the teacher told him to do.)   In most children who have been diagnosed with ODD, when the underlying conditions are identified and addressed oppositional behaviors decrease or disappear.

In the past 10 years research into learning disabilities ADHD and mental health conditions has skyrocketed.  While our understanding of the brain and how it works is still in the early stages, new technology that allows scientists to see not only the structure of the brain but also how it functions during specific activities.  This research is helping us to better identify the specific problems that get in the way of learning or behaving.  It is helping us start to develop effective methods of diagnosing, treating and in some cases preventing learning, attention behavior problems.  There are many professionals available in the schools and in the community who can help to sort out the cause of a child’s behaviors, identify the underlying problems and develop an appropriate plan to help address these issues.    Recognizing that behavior is often the first sign of a problem can ensure that a child gets the right diagnosis and the right help which can prevent further problems.

As I reflect back over what I learned about ADHD and LD almost 20 years ago in Medical School, I can see how my understanding and approach to these conditions has changed over the years.   I am fortunate in that I have always enjoyed learning.  As an adult and a professional, I enjoy going to medical conferences, reading journals and listening to presentations which has allowed me to keep pace with the rapidly changing information in Medicine. I feel that a life long love of learning is one of the best gifts we can give our children.  When my daughter started into school in Kindergarten, I was asked about my goals for her education.  My response was, and still is, that I want my child to enjoy learning and to come out of her school years with her self esteem and self confidence intact.  If she possesses these 3 things, she will be well prepared to take on most of life’s challenges.

Dr. Morrison is a pediatrician who practices in rural Alberta. She has a special interest in children’s mental health. She is a medical representative on national and provincial committees dedicated to enhancing the mental well being of children. She joined the Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta Board as a Director in 2009, where she has been extremely active with the Right To Read project which focuses on implementing universal screening for reading difficulties for all students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 in Alberta, Canada.

© Dr. Kristin Morrison and LDExperience. If citing this article, please do so at Morrison, Kristin “The ‘Illusion’ of Behavior of Children with Learning Disabilities.” May 19, 2010. www.LDExperience.ca. A print copy of this article will also appear in the  forthcoming summer issue of  Perspectives published by the Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta – Calgary Chapter, available at www.LDAA.net.

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