Social Impact of Learning Disabled Students in the Classroom
ABSTRACT
This paper explores twelve published articles that report on results from research conducted through Athabasca University’s online journal library. The purpose of this paper is to report on the various aspects of the social impact of adolescent learning disabled students in the classroom, to bring to light some of the challenges and to offer some practical solutions. Aspects such as the social impact on youths with disabilities, peer status, bullying, loneliness, how to develop social skills and practical social skills strategies for teachers will all be explored.
HETEROGENITY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
Before exploring what the social impact of students with learning disabilities is in the classroom, it is necessary to keep in mind a broad term definition of a learning disability. The term learning disability is a loosely used word to describe the difficulty someone may have in the use of a variety of functions, including an impairment in one or more academic areas. Martinez, and Semrud-Clikeman (2004) suggest that guidelines currently recommend that a diagnosis of a learning disability be based on the severe discrepancy between scores that measure ability and achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, reading and math. Despite these categories, educators will often group learning disabled individuals into a single learning disability category, even though there may be more than one learning deficit.
SOCIAL IDENTITY
In order for a child to move forward and find one’s identity, a child must learn to trust others, gain autonomy, and demonstrate initiative and industry (Zambo, 2010). As humans, we care about what others think about us, where we fit in the world and who we are. Research by social theorists shows that identity is comprised of four elements: the category we place ourselves in, the status we give these groups, the affection we feel towards these groups and the pride
This paper explores twelve published articles that report on results from research conducted through Athabasca University’s online journal library. The purpose of this paper is to report on the various aspects of the social impact of adolescent learning disabled students in the classroom, to bring to light some of the challenges and to offer some practical solutions. Aspects such as the social impact on youths with disabilities, peer status, bullying, loneliness, how to develop social skills and practical social skills strategies for teachers will all be explored.
HETEROGENITY OF LEARNING DISABILITIES
Before exploring what the social impact of students with learning disabilities is in the classroom, it is necessary to keep in mind a broad term definition of a learning disability. The term learning disability is a loosely used word to describe the difficulty someone may have in the use of a variety of functions, including an impairment in one or more academic areas. Martinez, and Semrud-Clikeman (2004) suggest that guidelines currently recommend that a diagnosis of a learning disability be based on the severe discrepancy between scores that measure ability and achievement in one or more of the following areas: oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, reading and math. Despite these categories, educators will often group learning disabled individuals into a single learning disability category, even though there may be more than one learning deficit.
SOCIAL IDENTITY
In order for a child to move forward and find one’s identity, a child must learn to trust others, gain autonomy, and demonstrate initiative and industry (Zambo, 2010). As humans, we care about what others think about us, where we fit in the world and who we are. Research by social theorists shows that identity is comprised of four elements: the category we place ourselves in, the status we give these groups, the affection we feel towards these groups and the pride
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