Chapter 5

Learning Differences and

Learning Needs

Overview
Intelligence
Language and Labels
What is intelligence?
Multiple Intelligence
Measuring Intelligence

Learning and Thinking styles

Learning Styles / Preferences

Individual Differences and Law

IDEA
Section 504 protections

Students with Learning Challenges

Neuroscience and Learning Challenges
Students with Learning Disabilities
Students with Hyperactivity and Attention
Disorders
Students with Communication Disorders
Student with Intellectual Disabilities
Students with Health and Sensory
Impairments
Autism Spectrum Disorders and Asperger
Syndrome
RTI

Students who are Gifted and Talented

INTELLIGENCE

LANGUAGE AND LABELS

What is person-first language?
The individual has many characteristics and abilities, but
we focus on the disabilities is to misrepresent the
individual.

Disability is inability to do something

specific .
Handicap is disadvantage in a certain
situation ,sometimes cause by a
disability.

What is intelligence?
From latin verb intelligere, to comprehend or perceive.
intelligence is reference to a persons general intellectual ability.

Intelligence: one or many

General intelligence
Fluid intelligence
Crystallized intelligence

What is g???
Charles spearman suggested that all mental
performance could be conceptualized in terms of single
general ability factor which he labeled g.

Gardners view of intelligence

Theory of multiple intelligence.
Identify eight separate areas of intelligence:

Logical-mathematical
Linguistic
Spatial
Musical
Bodily-kinesthetic
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
naturalistic

Strenbergs theory of intelligence

Triarchic theory.
Identify three basic areas of intelligence:
Analytical intelligence - mental process
Creative intelligence - adapt and respond
creatively
Practical intelligence solve personal
untaught problems

Measuring intelligence
The content of intelligence tests which are used to measure
intelligence or IQ.
Different tests include:
Binet & Simon Scale (1911)
individual test
William Stern (1912)
individual test
The Wechsler intelligence Scales
Group Test

Learning Styles and

Preferences

Cognitive
styles

Decisionmaking
styles

Individual
Differences in
styles

Thinking
styles

Learning
styles

Problemsolving styles

Styles
Cognitive-centered styles

Characteristic
Assess the ways people

Example
Being reflective / impulsive

Three traditions of individual styles

Personality-centered styles

Activity-centered styles

process information

in responding?

Assess more stable

Being extroverted /

personality traits

introverted?

Assess a combination of

1. Surface approach

both affect how people

memorizing not

approach activities

understanding
2. Deep approach
understanding concepts

Li-fang Zhang & Robert Sternberg (2005)

What is.?
Learning
Styles

The way a person

approaches learning and
studying

Learning
Preferences

Preferred ways of studying

and learning

Learning
modalities

Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic

Three Facets of the Visualizer-Verbalizer

Dimension
Cognitive Ability (images and spatial information)

High spatial ability

Low spatial ability

Cognitive style (thinking)

Visualizer

Verbalizer

Learning preference (instruction)

Visual learner

Verbal learner
(Mayer & Massa, 2003)

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND

THE LAW

IDEA

SECTION
504
PROTECTI
ONS

Latest
amendment
of PL 94-142
Includes 13
categories of
disabilities

Individuals
with
Disabilities
Education
Improvement
Act
(IDEA/IDEIA)

Child find
system
Applied for
student
with AIDS

Provide free,
appropriate
public
education
(FAPE)

Basic
principle is
zero reject

13 Categories Of Disabilities in IDEA

Specific
learning
disabilities

Speech
impairments

Health
impairments

Intellectual
disability

Emotional
disturbances

Autism
spectrum
disorders

Multiple
disabilities

Developmental
delay

Hearing
impairments

Orthopedic
impairments

Visual
impairments

Traumatic
brain injury

Deaf-blind

Major points in IDEA

Least
Restrictiv
e
Environme
nt

Individuali
zed
Education
Program
(IEP)

Rights Of
Students
And
Families

Two major groups are considered:

1. Students with ADHD (not covered by IDEA)
2. Students with medical/health needs

SECTION 504 PROTECTIONS

Prevents discrimination
againstinstructional
people with
Accommodations
including effective
A part ofdisabilities
civilpractices
rightsin
lawVocational
school
Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

Comprehensive legislation extends the protections of section 504 beyond the
school and workplace
Prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in:
Employment
Transportation
Public access (libraries, restaurants, hotels, theaters, stores)
Local government
Telecommunications

Students with
Learning Challenges

Neuroscience and Learning Challenges

Differences in structure and activity of brain between students with learning disabilities and
normal students.

Students with Learning Disabilities

Definition:
Problem with acquisition and use of language; may show up
as difficulty with reading, writing, reasoning, or math.

Specific difficulty
in one or more
academic areas

Reading
problems

Poor coordination

Characteristics of
students who have
learning disabilities

Difficulties in
social
interaction with
peers

Lack of
motivation

Hyperactivity &
Impulsivity

Problems with
paying
attention

Students with Hyperactivity and

Attention Disorders
Definition:
A pervasive pattern of inattention, impulsivity, and/ or hyperactivity
that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in
individuals at a comparable level of development.

Indicator of
ADHD

Inattention

Hyperactivity

Impulsivity

Students with Communication

Disorders
Communication
Disorders

Speech
Disorders

Language
Disorders

Speech Disorders

Articulation disorder

Distorting a sound,
subtituting one sound for
another, adding a sound,
or omiting sound

Stuttering

Can caused by emotional,

neurological problems or
learned behavior

Voicing problems

Speaking with an
inappropriate pitch,
quality, loudness or
monotone

Language Disorders
Students deficient in their ability to understand or express language,
compared to other students of their own age and cultural group.
**A student who just start to learn a new language and speak with an
accent is not language disordered!!

Students with Emotional or Behavioral

Difficulties
Definition:
Students with behaviors that deviate so much from the norm that they
interfere with the childs growth and/ or the lives of others.
More likely to involve in suicide and drug abuse

Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Definition:
A disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual
functioning and adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and
practical adaptive skills.
Six-hour Retarded Child
The name given to a child who appears to be slow
in school but functions normally outside of school.

Classification of
Intellectual Disability

mild (IQ 50-69)

moderate ( IQ 35-49)
severe( IQ 20-34)
profound (IQ below 20)

Amount of support required to

function to an individual's highest
level
intermittent (during stressful time)
limited (consistent, time-limited)
extensive (daily care)
pervasive (constant high intensity)

Students with Health and Sensory

Impairments
Cerebral Palsy
and Multiple
Disabilities

Vision and
Hearing
Impairments

Seizure
Disorders
Others:
HIV/AIDS,
Asthma,
Diabetes

Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger Syndrome

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Asperger Syndrome

Developmental disability significantly

affecting verbal and nonverbal
communication and social interaction,
ranging from mild to severe.

One of the disabilities include in the

autism spectrum.

Many students have autism also have

moderate to severe intellectual
disabilities.

Usually have average-to-above-average

intelligence

Impaired communication skills

Better language abilities than other

children with autism

Response to Intervention (RTI)

Goals:
1) To make sure students get appropriate research-based instruction
and support as soon as possible
2) To make sure teachers are systematic in documenting the
interventions they have tried and describing the effectiveness of
the interventions.

RTI Three- tiered System

Students Who Are

Gifted and Talented

Who are these Students?

Gifted = different gifts
Work = original, extremely advanced for their age
Therman et el (1925)Larger, stronger, healthier, walked sooner and
athletic----only academically gifted children

Who are these Students?

The Origin of Gifted Children
Prodigies and geniuses (Bloom 1982)
gifted children, child prodigies and savants are not made from
scratch but are born with unusual brains that enable rapid learning
in a particular domain Winner, 2000

Who are these Students?

The Problems Faced by the Gifted
Girls = depressed
Boys = bored, frustrated, isolated
waiting

Identifying Gifted Students

Recognizing Gifts and Talents
Friend (2011)
Work alone, keen sense of justice and fairness, perfectionism

IQ Tests
Judge the merits of a childs creation

Teaching Gifted Students

Acceleration
Skipping grades / advance placement in college

Methods and Strategies

Encourage abstract thinking (formal-operational thought)
Teacher must be imaginative, flexible, tolerant and unthreatened