Meeting the Needs of Students With Learning Disabilities in Reading

Introduction

In order to meet the needs of students with specific learning disabilities, one must first know and understand what it is, or what is meant by that term. Louisiana Bulletin 1508 offers this definition: Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken, or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Specific learning disability does not include learning problem that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities of mental disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (Louisiana Bulletin 1508 Pupil Appraisal Handbook, 2009). In short, to qualify for SLD, in the state of Louisiana, A student must have a strength (s) in one or more areas and weaknesses in one or more areas. Now, a reading disability is a specific learning disability and can be defined as the inability to acquire knowledge at the level of those who are the same age. Disabilities in reading can include deficits involving the five essential components of reading. According to (National Institute for Literacy, 2000) The five essential components of reading include the following:

• 1.

  Phonemic Awareness Instruction- Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with individual sounds in spoken words.

• 2.

  Phonics instruction- This teaches children the relationship between letters and sounds.

• 3.

  Fluency- Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly.

• 4.

  Vocabulary- Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively. Vocabulary can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary.

• 5.

  Comprehension- Comprehension is the reason for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are reading, it is not really reading. They are just calling words.

Children who are diagnosed with a reading disability may also have deficits in speech and language skills. The majority of students identified with learning disabilities are primarily impaired in reading (Fletch, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2007). Articulation deficits may have an impact on a child’s phonemic awareness. A child’s vocabulary may also be limited if language development is delayed. Since spoken language provides the foundation for the development of reading and writing, it makes sense that instruction in spoken language, or speech-language therapy, may result in the growth of a child’s reading skills (Educational Learning Centre,2017). Research suggest that when students are unsuccessful in reading, this can lead to a barrage of other problems such as behavior which leads to unending trips to the principal’s office. Difficulties in reading could also lead to difficulties in math (word problems) and all of the other subjects that students are faced with on a daily basis. Reading is an important subject and we, educators must do all we can to ensure that our students meet with success. Reading is the gateway to learning anything.