For today’s class, I read Joanne Carlisle’s article, “How Can I Help Children with Learning Disabilities.” As she illustrated, nearly one in twenty students are said to have some sort of learning disability in the United States. To be honest, I was surprised at this estimate considering that many of the classrooms I have visited or been a part of have had a much smaller ratio of students to LD students. Personally, I believe that students in America’s classrooms are misdiagnosed and over-diagnosed. It often seems like an easy way to remove responsibility on the part of the teacher to place an “LD” label on a problem student. I am in no way an expert on this matter, but even in TE courses, I have heard TE students suggest to first get a child on medication for a specific disability, most often ADHD, and then approach the problem.

However, as Carlisle suggests, the first step is to have the child properly evaluated. According to such evaluations, the most common LD among elementary students involves reading and spelling. In fact, nearly 75% of LDs involve these two aspects of literacy. Research suggests that the number of students with this specific disability is so prominent because children often have trouble develop their phonological processes. As a result, this LD has direct implications on a child’s spelling and reading comprehension. As with any disability, it may have profound effects on the child’s self esteem and confidence in school or social settings. As teachers, we can avoid such problems and foster literacy development by creating a classroom environment that is safe and comfortable where intellectual risks are encouraged and rewarded instead of right answers. Once the classroom community is established, the teacher may aid LD students with certain activities that help them develop their spelling and reading skills, such as storybook reading and discussion, word games, journal writing, and other activities. In addition, when participating in whole-class activities, it is essential to break down tasks into a sequence of short activities.

I certainly agree with much of what Carlisle suggests, but I do not think that all LD students, even if they have the same disabilities, should be approached the same way. It is up to the teacher to evaluate and monitor each student's progress academically and socially tailoring activities and instruction accordingly.