Understanding and Identifying Specific Learning Difficulties: Dyslexia, Autism Spectrum, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity in the Adult ESL/EFL Classroom

Specific learning difficulties (SLDs), including dyslexia, autism spectrum disorders, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, are significant factors that influence the way and rate at which students learn English as an additional language. However, few Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) training programs address the cognitive and behavioral strengths and challenges these conditions carry for adult learners, in part due to concerns about bias in the over- and under- identification of learning disabilities among K-12 English language learners. Informed by Critical Disability Theory, and framed within a realistic discussion of the obstacles that remain in identifying and researching the parallel adult population and their learning needs, this thesis argues that all students in an English as a Second/Additional Language and English as a Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) classrooms benefit when SLDs are more readily recognized and teachers have a repertoire of research-backed, inclusive teaching strategies to draw on. The field project responds to this need for training with a teacher guidebook that explains U.S. legal requirements concerning students with disabilities, the effects of SLDs on second language acquisition, and the uses and limitations of current screening tools for SLDs in adult ESL/EFL populations. The guidebook also provides an annotated bibliography of effective adaptive and inclusive teaching strategies. Informed teachers will be better able to understand student needs, set realistic program and individual goals, participate in holistic identification processes, adopt effective teaching strategies, and serve as advocates for this understudied group of learners

Executive Functions and Word Reading Fluency: A Brief Intervention With Economically Disadvantaged Secondary Students

This study evaluated the use of a brief intervention that was designed to assist economically disadvantaged secondary students increase their capacity for attention to orthography and increase their ability to shift between rapid sight word recognition and decoding of unknown words in order to improve their word reading accuracy and fluency. The participants (N = 14) were eighth and ninth grade students enrolled in an urban public high school and receiving special education services. The study used analysis of variance for repeated measures and paired measures t-tests to analyze pre- and post-test data. The results indicated significant findings (p \u3c 0.5) in the students’ improvements in their sight word reading fluency and their ability to inhibit impulses and shift cognitive sets with accuracy and speed following the 8-week reading intervention. The findings suggest that exposure to repeated word fluency drills that target attention to orthography and shifting from sight word recognition to decoding may have influenced the students’ self-monitoring skills and offer further support regarding the hypothesized role of executive functions in the act of reading

Academics and athletics: a phenomenological study of self-advocacy and student involvement in Black student-athletes with disabilities

Studies on Black male athletes and their educational experiences have been conducted for quite some time, whereas research on Black female athletes, despite its emergence, remains limited. Recent research on student-athletes focuses on the rise in socioeconomic status in relation to their name, image, and likeness (NIL). Hence, the focus on education while it continues to exist, NIL deals and its impact on the NCAA have become a topic of interest. The tenets of critical race theory will be examined to comprehend the relationship between these principles and the impact of NCAA and college policies on Black student athletes, and how they support students in navigating the student-athlete experience, particularly those who have been recognized as having learning disabilities. Limited research has been conducted on the factors associated with Black student-athletes with disabilities, such as specific learning disability (SLD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Due to the paucity of research on this population, there is a lack of understanding of the difficulties associated with being Black, having a disability, and being an athlete. This phenomenological research aimed to better understand how Black student-athletes with disabilities could employ self-advocacy, balance their athletic and academic commitments, and cope with racial implications all while achieving full engagement in college life. Eight former student-athletes with SLD and/or ADHD were interviewed using open-ended and semi-structured questions around self-advocacy, racism, and student involvement. Inferences from the research, implications of the findings, and conclusions will highlight the theoretical framework and supporting theories. This study will contribute to the research and best practices when working Black student-athletes with disabilities

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by failure to acquire, retrieve, and use information competently. These disorders have a multifactorial aetiology and are most common and severe in children, especially when comorbid with other chronic health conditions. This book provides current and comprehensive information about learning disorders, including information on neurobiology, assessment, clinical features, and treatment. Chapters cover such topics as historical research and hypotheses of learning disorders, neuropsychological assessment and counselling, characteristics of specific disorders such as autism and ADHD, evidence-based treatment strategies and assistive technologies, and much more

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by failure to acquire, retrieve, or use information competently. They are the most severe and chronic form of learning difficulty in children. They can be present at birth or acquired as a result of illness, exposure to toxins, poor nutrition, medical treatment, sociocultural deprivation, or injury. Learning problems typically consist in failure to acquire reading, writing, or math skills, which are traditionally considered core domains. This book explores the epidemiology, neurobiological bases, and diagnostic tools necessary for a comprehensive assessment of children with learning disabilities. It also presents examples of children with specific learning disabilities and explains possible intervention strategies

The Dyslexic Issue: Resources for Parents, Teachers, and Related Professionals

This handbook and website project gives a thorough explanation of dyslexia, the history of dyslexia, and the latest resources available for parents, teachers, and related professionals who support students with dyslexia. The handbook and webpage will provide parents, teachers, and related professionals information which they may access in order to support students with dyslexia throughout their academic career. These resources will offer much-needed support for parents, teachers, and related professionals in learning how to properly identify the characteristics which are most often associated with dyslexia. Furthermore, they will provide an important myriad of resources for intervention for students with dyslexia for parents, teachers, and related professionals

Insight for Today and Tomorrow: The World of Special Education

These pages address the origin of disabilities and technologies impact on special education. The future of technology in special education, specific learning disabilities, common disorders, recommended computer software, and a directory of professional job opportunities related to special education will be addressed. With all these things in mind, this will be a guide to shape our perceptions and insights, regarding the world of special education and the exceptional child

Conflict within Special Education for Mothers of Children with Invisible Disabilities: A Case Study

In the United States, children with disabilities receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Evidence shows that parents of children who receive special education (SPED) experience conflict within the school system. Invisible disabilities (NVD) are unseen but affect learning or behavior in school, include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities, are eligible for special education. There is evidence that parents of children with NVD experience conflict while accessing the system and receiving services and mothers are often the primary advocate for SPED services for their child. What is not fully understood is how NVD influences the conflict process and influences the experiences for mothers. This study explored the experience of mothers of children with NVD who experienced conflict in the special education system using a qualitative case study methodology. Interviews and Kawa River Model drawings of the conflict experiences provided insight into the conflict experience, using Deutsch’s model of conflict as the primary theoretical framework. The findings included the following themes: Square Peg in a Round Hole, Bear the Brunt, Adding Insult to Injury, Game Changer, and Sea Change. Key findings include NVD-related conflicts involve identification and eligibility, the conflict experiences evolve from intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural level conflicts, which influence their advocacy, and the paradoxical experience of being both a professional in the workplace and a mother advocating for her child in special education, and how that influences conflict

Fundamental Principles of Metacognition: A Qualitative Study of Metacognition, Pedagogy and Transformation

This study investigated the transformative quality of a metacognitive education. It examined a transformative metacognitive education from both the subjective personal perspective of the student who has gone through the process of transformation and the more objective pedagogical perspective of the professors who work to bring forth such transformational experiences in their students. Through interview and analysis these perspectives were integrated to produce a pedagogical theoretical framework derived from experience and grounded in observations about metacognition across various scientific disciplines. The personal elements of metacognition that promote educational transformation from within the students were contrasted with the pedagogical approaches of the educators from the program that stimulated the transformation. The study compared and contrasted the theoretical and pedagogical insights gained from interviews of eight senior professors from Curry College’s Program for the Advancement of Learning (PAL), with this writer\u27s lived transformative experience years before as a student at that program. The study identified core pedagogical elements for teaching transformative metacognition and self-regulation. The findings ground metacognitive educational approaches to foundational neuropsychological elements of learning and perception. These findings suggest metacognitive education could be applied widely across educational environments, ages, and skill levels to support human development, productivity, and regulatory behaviors. It was found that one of the chief attributes of a metacognitive education was that it empowered self-authorship, particularly in those students traditionally disempowered by disability, disadvantage or prejudice. Future inquiry into educational approaches that improve and promote transformative self-directed learning are needed to broaden the scope of these findings beyond this study\u27s small and highly targeted sample. Findings suggest that a metacognitively focused educational pedagogy produces a student teacher relationship capable of promoting the self-regulatory behaviors needed to develop self-authorship and personal transformation