CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
CHILDREN WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS
A HANDBOOK FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS
A graduate project submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Educational Psychology
Specializing in Counseling and Guidance
by
Jay Robert Borenstein
May, 1983
The Graduate Project of Jay Robert Borenstein is
approved:
Dr. Robert Docter
Committee Chairman
California State University, Northridge
ii
DEDICATION
To my wife, Michele, the love of my life, who believes in
me more than I believe in myself.
Her gentle love
and everlasting support has made my success possible.
To my parents, who constantly provide an abundance of
love, encouragement, and understanding always at the
times I need it most.
To my sister, whose empathetic encouragement has always
been strongly felt.
To the rest of my family and friends, who always make me
feel happy by just being there.
'
.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DEDICATION.
iii
vi
ABSTRACT.
Chapter
1.
2.
PURPOSE.
.
• •
1
Introduction
1
Purpose of the Project
6
THE LEARNING PROBLEMS . . .
8
Types of Learning Problems .
8
Limited Mental Ability .
8
.
.
Social and Emotional Problems.
10
Sensory Impairments.
11
Specific Learning Disabilities .
12
Lack of Educational Opportunity . . .
14
Prevalence of Learning Problems • .
15
Legal Provisions for Handicapped
Children .
. . . . • .
18
DIAGNOSTIC AND REMEDIAL CONSIDERATIONS .
19
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION OF SOCIAL AND
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS . . . . • .
22
Hyperactivity . .
22
Hypoactivity •
25
Distractibility and Short Attention Span •
25
Impulsivity . . • .
27
Perseveration.
28
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Chapter
2.
Page
Disorganization.
.
29
Dyslogic Syndrome.
30
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION OF PERCEPTUAL
MOTOR PROBLEMS . • . • • . . .
31
Gross Motor Coordination .
31
Fine Motor Coordination.
32
Laterality and Directionality.
33
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION OF VISUAL
PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS. .
. ...
Visual Perception . . .
Visual Discrimination.
35
35
.
36
Visual Association .
37
Visual Memory . . .
38
Visual Form Constancy . . .
39
Position in Space.
40
Spacial Relations . .
41
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION OF AUDITORY
LANGUAGE PROBLEMS • . . . • . . . . .
42
Auditory Discrimination.
43
Auditory Reception .
44
Auditory Association
44
Auditory Memory . .
45
Auditory Closure .
45
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION OF READING
PROBLEMS . . . . . . • . . • .
47
3.
IMPORTANT REFERENCES
53
4.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . .
57
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . • • . • . . .
59
v
ABSTRACT
CHILDREN WITH LEARNING PROBLEMS
A HANDBOOK FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS
by
Jay Robert Borenstein
Master of Arts in Educational Psychology
(Counseling and Guidance)
This project is an accumulation of techniques and procedures for diagnosing and remediating learning problems in
children.
It is designed for 1) students in school psy-
chology who are preparing to work with those who teach
children; 2) use as curriculum for in-service training
programs for educators; 3) use as a reference for administrators, teachers, and students; and 4) use as a general
source of information for anyone participating in the development of individualized education programs.
Chapter One discusses the purpose of the project
including an introduction and outline for the remaining
chapters.
Chapter Two describes the types of learning problems
perceptual problems, auditory language problems, and
vi
'
reading problems.
Chapter Three provides an annotated list of important
references which emphasize techniques for diagnosis and
remediation of learning difficulties.
Chapter Four provides a summary and draws conclusions
concerning the future of school psychology.
vii
Chapter 1
PURPOSE
Introduction
Historically, the role of the school psychologist has
been rooted in the mental testing movement and special education.
Around the turn of the century the influence of
Binet and Simon determined the original role of the school
psychologist to be that of a psychometrist.
The first
schools to employ psychologists used their services mainly
in administering intelligence tests.
At the same time, the work of Freud and his disciples
on personality and emotion in relationship to early childhood experiences, held a special interest for educators
concerned with the emotional health of children in the
schools.
The National Committee for Mental Hygiene,
founded in 1909, generated public interest in mental illness.
Child guidance clinics appeared and acted in part
as training centers for psychologists working in the schools
to develop their clinical skills.
With heightened general awareness of emotional problems following World War II, schools became increasingly
concerned about emotionally disturbed children.
By the
early 1950's classes for both mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed children were being established.
Teachers became aware of the connection between learning
1
2
and emotional problems.
However, their interest to control
their students and limited knowledge of behavioral management techniques led them to look for specialists to either
cure the child or remove him from the classroom.
Hence
school psychologists functioned as diagnosticians AND
clinicians.
In the 1960's and early 1970's the social problems
of delinquency, drug abuse, the generation gap, and student
apathy became more visible in the schools.
The school
psychologist who was functioning as a psychometrist and
diagnostician was now being asked to deal with more diverse
problems.
Their training which was directed heavily toward
testing was becoming limited with the changing needs in
the school setting.
Between 1975 and today the field of school psychology
has been confronted with many changes.
With the recent
and significant revisions in public policy on the education
of handicapped children as reflected in Public Law 94-142,
there comes an increased emphasis on rights of children.
Judicial and legislative rulings have mandated zero exclusion within educational settings, appropriate educational programming for all handicapped children, placement
of all children in a least restrictive environment,
assurance of extensive child identification procedures,
and maintenance of an educational plan for each handicapped
pupil.
School psychologists are currently required by
most state laws to provide these data to be used in these
3
decision-making activities.
Few school psychologists were
involved in the development of new regulations.
Few have
had adequate training to comply with these new requirements
(Ysseldyke, 1976).
Some of the new changes now taking place in both
special and regular education have tremendous implications
for the future of the practice of and training in school
psychology.
During the past few years several forces,
singly, and in interaction have produced an impetus for
change.
Greatest among these has been an increased dis-
illusionment on the part of teachers with the kinds and
quality of services which school psychologists provide.
Classroom teachers are speaking out on what they see as
limitations in the kinds of services provided by school
psychologists.
Study after study has shown that classroom
teachers in general view the school psychologist as a
tester, a number getter, whose sole usefulness is to
remove a deviant student from the classroom (Gilmore &
Chandy, 1973; Kahl & Fine, 1976).
Many teachers want to know specifically what to do
for and with children, both academically and behaviorally.
Rather than getting specific information, they report that
they typically receive generalities clouded in impressive
arrays of subtest scaled scores, grade equivalents, and
psychological jargon.
Rather than receive clear psycho-
educational pictures of children and precise statements
regarding specific skills which youngsters have and do not
4
have, they receive statements regarding causes of a child's
difficulties ranging from unfulfilled needs and unresolved
conflicts to specific perceptual motor, psycholinguistic,
and cognitive deficits (Ysseldyke, 1976).
Teachers are
looking for increased diversification of knowledge and
services provided from school psychologists.
The school psychologists, themselves, perceive their
roles as changing in many ways.
A wide range of problems
are presented to them on a daily basis, all of which require different kinds of interventions.
The student with academic problems is one of the most
common.
Low performance in one or more subjectareasneces-
sitates an investigation into the possibility of a learning
disability or low intelligence.
Behavioral/Social/Emotional problems with symptoms
related to hyperactivity, short attention span, inability
to get along with peers or teachers, truancy, aggressiveness, isolation and depression are also high on the list
of presenting problems to school psychologists.
With the increase of divorce and conflicts in the
home such as sibling problems and child abuse, the family
crisis is often a presenting problem to psychologists in
the schools.
With these presenting problems, today's school psychologist has two main role models which he/she follows:
1) The individual case study model for the practice
of school psychology involves a process of
5
referral, assessment, diagnosis, and prescription.
When a child is referred to the psychologist a
lengthy process of information getting begins.
Data may be acquired from observations, school
records, other school personnel, teachers, parents
and testing of the child.
When the psychologist
has determined the nature and extent of the behavioral and/or learning difficulty, he or she makes
formal recommendations for interventions to both
parents and teachers.
2) The Consultation Model involves the use of psychologist's time as a resource in diagnosis and
remediation of children with academic, social/
emotional, and psychological needs.
The psychologist in a consulting relationship with
the teacher would use the child's problem as presenting
material for discussion.
The interaction is limited to
helping the teacher execute an intervention with the
student.
The primary goal is to facilitate the teacher's
complete understanding of the child and the ways to fulfill
his needs.
The psychologist fosters change in the teacher,
who in turn fosters change in the student.
The psychologist in the role as consultant may help
the teacher when there is a lack of understanding of the
student's needs, an inability of the teacher to formulate
an action, or emotional involvement of the teacher in the
problems of the student.
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6
Purpose
of the Project
Today's school psychologists often find themselves in
roles which require them to have the knowledge of specific
ways to diagnose and remedy learning problems of children
within our schools.
Teachers are seeking psychologists as consultants who
have expertise in instructional approaches, prescriptive
techniques, and other clinical teaching procedures to help
them develop and operationalize student's individualized
educational programs.
With these new roles, the traditional school psychologist is finding himself limited in the ways in which
he can be helpful to the teacher.
This project, put together as a handbook for school
psychologists, supplies the reader with a wide range of
diagnostic and remedial suggestions for use in providing
adequate educations for children who have trouble learning.
The handbook is designed for 1) students in school psychology who are preparing to work with those who teach children
with learning problems; 2) in-service training programs to
update and extend the knowledge and skills of school psychologists who wish to become more proficient in working
with teachers and students; 3) use as a valuable reference
when the needs of a teacher or student call for a rarely
used technique or procedure, and 4) as a general source
of information for anyone called on to participate in the
development and administration of individualized
&
L
Chapter 2
THE LEARNING PROBLEMS
Types of Learning Problems
The kinds and severity of learning problems vary from
student to student.
Rarely do you find the same specific
type of learning problem between more than a couple of
students exhibited in a classroom.
There are students who have difficulty learning with
problems relating to limited mental ability, social and
emotional problems, sensory impairments, and specific
learning disabilities.
Students having educational
deficits may lack educational opportunity as a causal
factor as well (Faas, 1980).
Limited Mental Ability
Students with limited mental ability have learning
problems due to slow intellectual development ranging
from a mild discrepancy from the average or norm of the
population to very severe or profound mental retardation
(Faas, 1980).
There are many factors that cause retarda-
tion, including Down's syndrome and other chromosomal
abnormalities; inherited metabolic errors; blood incompatibility; cranial abnormalities; premature birth; birth
injury; prenatal infections; and ingestion of toxic substances.
~
8
9
Diagnosing limited mental ability is easy when the
severity of reduced capacity is obvious.
This is particu-
larly so when the child's low ability accompanies a condition such as Down's Syndrome.
Diagnosing mental ability
that is only mildly limited is much more difficult. For
example, it is easy to confuse emotional disturbance with
limited capacity when certain behaviors are noted relating
to difficulties in learning.
It is also very easy to con-
fuse lack of prior experience with the inability to profit
fully from experience (Faas, 1980; Kirk and Kirk, 1971).
It is believed that the selection of a test for evaluation purposes is one of the most important steps in the
measurement of a child's mental ability.
While choosing
devices to measure mental ability, caution must be exercised in the following areas (Faas, 1980):
1) Avoid the problems that frequently occur when a
test of verbal ability is administered in a bilingual child's second language.
2) Avoid selecting an instrument that calls for performance in only one skill area.
For example,
the assessment of the mental ability of children
with visual perception problems should not depend
entirely on their performance on nonverbal items
that call for matching or discriminating between
visual figures.
3) Avoid confusing an inability to process one type
of information with a general reduction in mental
10
inability.
Use a variety of instruments or a
single instrument that contains a number of subtests, each of which assesses specific skills.
This practice makes it possible to examine the
differences in a student's performance on various
tests and subtests.
Information regarding intra-
individual differences that occur within a student's performance may be more helpful to a
teacher than information that compares a student's
performance with that of other students.
Social and Emotional Problems
Social and emotional problems are often evident in
students who are having trouble learning.
Teachers often
complain to school psychologists that these students have
a tendency to waste time trying to avoid or delay facing
the material they should be studying.
Students who have
trouble adjusting tend to be extreme in the way they
structure their behavior.
too little.
They either impose too much or
Those who over-structure their performance
tend to spend too much time devoted to details that are
unimportant and have no time left to perform the assigned
learning tasks.
Those who are unable to structure their
behavior often do not attend to tasks long enough to
complete them.
When students are succeeding, they have a much better
chance of working on the academic problems than when they
~
11
are failing.
Procedures and techniques will be reviewed
later in this project which can help school psychologists
work with teachers in designing and delivering appropriate
instructional experiences to students who have social and
emotional problems.
Sensory Impairments
Students with sensory impairments have learning problems related to a partial or total inability to see or
hear.
Sensory impairments should be distinguished from
the failure to gain meaning from what is seen or heard.
Students with sensory impairments are often referred to
as partially sighted, or blind, and hard-of-hearing, or
deaf.
Students with limited vision or hearing may also have
a combination of limited vision or hearing and information
processing disabilities.
These are among the most diffi-
cult students to teach (Faas, 1980).
Special techniques
have been developed to educate children with limited vision
and hearing.
In some cases the tasks reviewed by this
project can be useful.
In other cases psychologists need
more specialized techniques.
For those who wish to become
more aware of the specialized techniques available for
teaching hard-of-hearing or deaf should refer to Moores
(1978).
A comprehensive handbook full of special tech-
niques used in teaching the blind and partially sighted
student is found in Lowenfield (1973).
12
Specific Learning Disabilities
Students with specific learning disabilities are a
heterogeneous group who have learning problems that do not
fit nicely into the traditional categories of the handicapped (Kirk and Gallagher, 1979).
These students have
average or above average intellectual ability.
Their
academic performance is characterized by a significant
discrepancy between their achievement and their cognitive
ability to achieve (Bateman, 1965).
They have the sensory
acquity to see and hear, but lack the ability to receive,
organize, store, and remember stimuli efficiently.
Even
though they are not physically handicapped, they may seem
awkward, poorly coordinated, or inefficient in their use
of their hands and fingers.
During the 1970's, the National Advisory Committee
on Handicapped Children developed a definition of learning
disability which is commonly used today.
It states:
Children with special learning disabilities exhibit
a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or in using spoken
or written language. These may be manifested in disorders of listening, thinking, talking, reading,
writing, spelling, or arithmetic. They refer to conditions which have been referred to as perceptual
handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,
dyslexia, developmental asphasia, etc. They do not
include learning problems which are due primarily to
visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, to mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or to environmental
deprivation.
Adopted by Congress as part of the Children with
Specific Learning Disabilities Act of 1969, thisdefinition
was included with a few minor changes in the 1975 Education
13
for All Handicapped Children.
Kirk and Gallagher (1979) believe that the 1978
National Advisory Conunittee definition "has been adopted
by many and criticized by others."
They felt that it
could be interpreted to exclude inadvertently children
with learning disabilities among "the mentally retarded,
the disadvantaged, the emotionally disturbed, and those
with sensory handicaps."
It is reported that in February
1972 the Professional Advisory Board of the Association
for Children with Learning Disabilities clarified the 1968
definition by adding the following paragraph:
Children with specific learning disabilities who
also have sensory, motor, intellectual, or emotional
problems or are environmentally disadvantaged, should
be included in the definition, and may require
multiple services.
According to Kirk and Gallagher (1979)
in their
co-authored book entitled Educating Exceptional Children,
three criteria or factors must exist before a child can
be diagnosed as learning disabled:
1) A discrepancy must
exist between the child's abilities or between potential
and achievement; 2) The child must have a learning problem
that excludes, or is not due to, general mental retardation, auditory or visual impairment, emotional disturbance,
or lack of an opportunity to learn; 3) The child must
require special education services.
The following definition of specific learning disabilities fulfills these three criteria:
A specific learning disability is a psychological
14
or neurological impairment to spoken or written language or perceptual, cognitive, or motor behavior.
The impairment 1) is manifested by discrepancies
among specific behaviors and achievements or between
evidenced ability and academic achievement, 2) is of
such nature and extent that the child does not learn
by the instructional methods and materials appropriate
for the majority of children and requires specialized
procedures for development and 3) is not primarily
due to severe mental retardation, sensory handicaps,
emotional problems, or lack of opportunity to learn
(Kirk and Gallagher, 1979).
Kirk and Gallagher (1979) divide the learning disabled
population into two broad groups:
and development disabilities.
academic disabilities
They define the term "aca-
demic disabilities" as when the student's performance in
reading, writing, spelling, and/or arithmetic falls below
the expected level.
The Bureau of Education for the Handi-
capped of the U.S. Office of Education defined academic
disabilities as problems in oral expression, basic reading
skills, reading comprehension, mathematics, or mathematics
reasoning (Federal Register, December 29, 1977).
Developmental learning disabilities involve those
skills that lead to successful performance.
Developmental
learning disabilities include 1) disorders of attention,
2) perceptual and receptive disorders, 3) limited use of
mental operations of memory, seeing relationships, generalizing, associating, and so forth, and 4) language disorders
including limited ability to decode and encode concepts,
either verbal or motor.
Lack of Educational Opportunity
The United States has for many years made formal
15
education mandatory for the youth of our society.
Still
and yet, not every child has had an equal educational opportunity.
Faas (1980) states that:
Students who have not had an opportunity to obtain
an education should not be confused with those who
have failed to respond to quality instruction.
Students may have lacked the opportunity to receive
an education, for many reasons: they live in isolated, sparsely populated areas where bad roads and
weather prevent regular school attendance during
certain times of the year; they move too often to
become familiar with only one instructional series;
they miss school frequently due to poor health; they
have been living in a location where instruction
was unavailable or of substandard quality; they attend schools that are overcrowded, underequipped
and/or understaffed; or they drop out of school
during part of the school year to harvest fruit and
vegetables.
Many of these students have trouble learning new
material because they have not been taught prerequisite
skills.
These students do not lack mental ability, they
do not suffer from vision or hearing loss, and they are
able to process information.
Their primary reason for
failure is poor curriculum and ineffective instruction.
Prevalence of Learning Problems
The wide variations existing among the individuals
being studied, plus the difficulty of defining learning
problems has made attempts at determining prevalence
frustrating.
The question of how severe a student's
problem must be to be referred to as a learning problem
has not been answered satisfactorily.
The National Advisory Committee on Handicapped
Children (1978) of the U.S. Office of Education states:
16
The total number of children involved cannot be
accurately determined until more adequate diagnostic
procedures and criteria have been developed. The
disorders may range in degree from mild to severe.
While the milder degrees of learning difficulties
may be corrected by the classroom teacher, the more
severe cases require special remedial procedures.
A conservative estimate of the latter group would
include from one to three percent of the school
population.
Few comprehensive studies have been conducted on the
prevalence of learning disabilities in a school population.
Myklebust and Bashes (1969) made an extensive study of
learning disabilities in four school systems.
By admin-
istering psychological and educational tests to a large
group of third- and fourth-grade children, they were able
to identify what they termed children with learning disabilities and those without.
They then examined both
groups medically and neurologically to determine the
differences between these two groups.
asked such questions:
Their research
Does a pediatric examination or
an EEG identify the same children as do the psychological
tests?
To establish criteria for learning disabilities,
Myklebust and Boshes derived a learning quotient (LQ)
for each of the psychoeducational tests by dividing the
age score by the chronological age.
Using an IQ of 90
as the cut-off point, they defined as learning disabled
those children who scored an LQ below 90 on any one of
the seven tests.
Using this criterion Myklebust and
Bashes found 15 percent functioning as underachievers.
.
~
17
When additional tests were given and a criteria of 85 or
below on any one test was used, the percentage of children
labeled as learning disabled dropped to 7 percent.
The U.S. Office of Education (1975) estimates that
2.3 percent of the population age 19 and under are mentally
retarded.
Hallahan and Kauffman (1978) report that actual
surveys tend to show a prevalence figure of about 3 percent, while 2.27 percent of the population fall two
standard deviations below average on the normal curve.
The number of children who show problems is estimated
by the U.S. Office of Education (1975) at 2 percent.
Wood
and Zabel (1978) indicate that between 2 and 3 percent of
the school population have serious recurrent or persistent
problems requiring special services for extended periods
of time.
The U.S. Office of Education (1975) estimates that
0.575 percent of school age children have learning handicaps and that an additional 0.075 percent are considered
deaf.
It is very difficult, however, to estimate the
number of students whose hearing may be limited at times
because of the congestion that comes from head colds,
allergies, etc.
An estimated 0.75 to 0.56 percent of the
population is legally blind according to a 1971 report
by the committee on Rehabilitation of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.
18
Legal Provisions for Handicapped Children
From an historical perspective, care for handicapped
children has evolved from pre-Christian times, when
children were often mistreated and neglected, to current
times, when all handicapped children are entitled to a
free appropriate education as mandated by law.
This
period of evolution can be divided into five specific eras
characterized by abuse in the pre-Christian era, protection and pity during the early 1800's, development of
instructional services of the late nineteenth century,
establishment of public school programs during the past
fifty years of the twentieth century, and mandatedservices
in least restrictive environments today.
The passage in 1975 of PL 94-142, the Education for
All Handicapped Children Act, which became law on
November 29, 1975, has been referred to as the "bill of
rights for all handicapped children"
1977).
(Anderson and Zettel,
Weintraub (1977) reports that PL 94-142 represents
the standards that have been laid down by courts, legislatures, and other policy bodies since 1970.
As described
by Ballard and Zettel (1977) the act has four main purposes:
1) guaranteeing the availability of special education
programming to handicapped children and youth
2) assuring fairness and appropriateness in decisionmaking with regard to providing special education
to handicapped children and youth
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19
3)
establishing clear management and auditing requirements and procedures regarding special education
at all levels of government
4) providing financial assistance to state and local
governments through the use of federal funds.
For young adults and older persons, Section 504 of
the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (PL 93-112)
has been written as a basic civil rights provision designed
to end discrimination against handicapped persons.
It
requires many of the same guarantees and provisions as
PL 94-142.
Section 504 states
11
NO otherwise qualified
handicapped individual in the United States shall, solely
by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected
to discrimination under any program or activity receiving
Federal financial assistance."
DIAGNOSTIC AND REMEDIAL CONSIDERATIONS
At the first indication that a learning or behavior
problem exists, procedures in diagnosis and remediation
should begin.
Remedial attention and evaluation of prog-
ress should continue until it is obvious that a student
no longer needs special assistance.
There are eight steps that school psychologists
should follow in the procedures involved in diagnosis and
remediation (Bush, 1976):
1) Determine that a problem exists
6
20
2) Obtain appropriate parental permission for psychological testing
3) Perform a psychoeducational evaluation
4) Determine the physical, environmental and psychological correlates of the student's problem
5) Formulate the diagnostic hypothesis
6) Develop an individualized education program
7) Use clinical teaching procedures to operationalize
the program, and
8) Conduct program evaluations and systematic followups.
In planning and delivering instruction there are
fifteen remedial considerations school psychologists should
keep in mind (Faas, 1980):
1) Diagnostic-Based Planning - Remedial programs
should be based on a thorough psychoeducational
diagnosis and systematic planning.
2) The Starting Point - Remediation should start at
an early enough level so that the student cannot
fail.
These students need to experience a pro-
longed feeling of success.
3) Sequencing - A step-by-step sequence of the skills
to be learned is essential for the child with
learning problems.
4) Remedial and Compensatory Teaching - Minskoff and
Minskoff (1976) suggest that instruction to students with learning problems should be divided
~
21
into these two areas.
They indicate that "The
aim of remedial teaching is to have the learning
disabled child reach a basic level of competence
in his disability areas so he can meet the minimal
social demands made upon him to use these processes
in school, at home, and in adulthood."
5) Value of Tasks - The remedial program must have
social relevance to be easily absorbed and assimilated.
6) Frustration Level - A warm positive approach that
sets high expectations while providing for recognition of step-by-step progress toward skill
mastery should facilitate quick change with little
frustration.
7) Attention Span and Distractions - Teachers should
be sensitive to a variety of environmental factors
which can help or hinder a student's attentiveness
and concentration.
8) Cluing - Teachers should examine the cluing system
(hand gestures, pointing, color coding, verbal
prompting, and so on) they are using to help focus
the student on the material being used.
9) Overloading - Teachers must be aware of the problems that can occur with bombarding students with
too much at one time.
10) Flexibility and Restructuring - Teachers must be
ready to restructure a task if they see that the
22
student is not getting it.
11) Integration - Students with learning problems when
learning new material quite often need to be shown
how this new material relates to previouslylearned
material.
12) Teaching to the Automatic Level - Many problem
learners exhibit noticeable inefficiency in their
thought and decision-making process.
They often
slow down or stop to think through decisions that
should be by habit or at the automatic level.
13) Error Analysis - Careful analysis of errors can
provide valuable information while planning future
instructional materials and activities.
14) Feedback - Every student needs reinforcement that
he is being successful.
15) Record-Keeping - It is easiest to monitor and
evaluate a well kept record of successes as an
indication of what changes have occurred and what
changes to expect.
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION
OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS
Hyperactivity
Students who are labeled hyperactive display excessive movement.
Their behavior quite often involves dis-
tractibility, impulsiveness, short attention span, clumsiness, lability, poor relationships, low self-esteem, and
23
irritability.
The exact cause is generally unknown, though many
researchers have developed hypotheses related to hyperactivity.
Langhorne and Loney (1976) estimate that
approximately 50 percent of all childhood behavior disordered referrals are for hyperactivity.
Straus and
Lektner (1947) list hyperactivity as one of the characteristics of the brain-injured child.
Johnson and Myklebust
(1967) describe hyperactivity as·a "nonverbal disorder of
learning that often accompanies brain dysfunction."
Wunderlich (1973) believed that hyperactivity is
often caused by a combination of minimal brain dysfunction
and allergy.
Photobiologist John Ott (1973) suggests that hyperactivity in children is caused by minute levels of radiation given off by color television sets and fluorescent
lights.
Whalen and Henker (1976) state that the following
procedures and methods are often effective in working with
hyperactive kids:
1) Structure the classroom and lessons so that the
sources of stimuli are limited and the work area
is free from distractions.
2) Provide areas for students to retreat when they
are having trouble controlling their activity
level.
3) Structure the students daily schedule so they
'
~
24
won't have to cope with last-minute changes.
4) Structure each lesson so that the students can
master the material in the time limit related to
their attention span.
5) Reinforce appropriate behavior with free time or
time to participate in preferred activities.
Denckla (1973) has suggested three types of hyperactive behavior and has hypothesized, on the basis of
clinical observations, that various types of hyperactivity
might respond differentially to various drugs.
Denckla
suggests that out of the three different types of hyperactivity, only one will respond favorably to drug intervention.
One type is characterized by the child demon-
strating anxious, aggressive, destructive, unpredictable,
and impulsive behavior.
A second type of hyperactivity
is that in which the child is placid, sweet, socially
kind, flits about aimlessly while accomplishing little
and is motorically clumsy.
Neither of these types of
children, according to Denckla, will respond well to
drugs employed to alter their hyperactive behaviors.
The
third type of child is described as "on-the-go," very
verbal and talkative, a happy child who fails to act his
age, and a fidgety one who "thinks out loud."
This child
is described as one who responds well to different drugs,
including Ritalin.
Solomons (1971) describes a classification scheme
where finer differentiation is made with regard to
~
25
hyperactivity.
He suggests three categories.
Fidgetiness
is described as constant movement of body parts without
locomoting in space; overactivity, where the child does
not stay in place the usual length of time; and the
hyperkinetic impulse is described as impulsive, distractible, irritable, and hyperexcitable behavior.
Hypoactivity
Kronick (1973) characterizes the hypoactive child as
one who "fails to respond when a response should be made.''
He suggests the following techniques in dealing with this
type of child:
1) Give him specific tasks to perform and specific
lengths of time to complete these tasks.
2) Reward the student for completing a task in the
expected time limit.
3) Use an egg timer to time tasks.
Distractibility and Short Attention Span
These students are easily led away from the assigned
task by any noise, motion, light, or color in the classroom.
Many hyperactive students have short attention
spans and are highly distractible.
The following procedures may be effective with these
students:
(Faas, 1980)
1) Use carrels to isolate them when they are unable
to handle the level of visual stimuli they are
encountering.
26
2) Remove background noise, bulletin boards, and other
sources of potentially distracting visual and
auditory stimuli.
3) Create an environment that has neutral colors and
sound-absorbing floor, walls, and ceiling surfaces.
4) Remove all materials that are not required for completing the assigned lesson from students' desk
tops.
5) Provide students with a specific time for completing each assigned task.
6) Place stereo headsets on students without plugging
them into a sound source to reduce the reception
of distracting sounds.
7) Use a card with a window cut in it or a frame to
focus the students' attention on a specific area,
problem, line of print, or paragraph.
8) Use a colored placemat as the background for
assigned tasks.
Use the student's favorite color
to restrict his or her tendency to be distracted
by other visual stimuli.
9) Organize the various events of the day so that
activities that tend to stimulate or excite
students come after, rather than before, activities
that require extended periods of concentration.
10) Provide a "study booth" made out of a large welllighted and ventilated box that has been carpeted
for comfort.
~
Permit students to retreat to this
27
quiet box to get away from distracting auditory or
visual stimuli.
11) Seat these students so that they are facing a wall
with their backs to the other students.
Impulsivity
Impulsive students are characterized as acting or
talking without thinking about what they are saying or
doing.
Faas (1980) suggests the following procedures for
dealing with the impulsive child:
1) Involve students in purposeful structured activities that follow a predictable sequence.
2) Have students practice pausing a few moments
before acting or speaking so they will have time
to preview the planned response.
3) Have students outline planned responses in writing
before acting or speaking.
4) Tape-record students' oral responses so they can
be reviewed and discussed later.
5) Assure students that it is not necessary to be
the first one to speak or hand in assignments.
6) Set definite limits that the students know will
be consistently and fairly enforced.
7) Be as accepting and understanding as possible.
8) Permit students to earn the opportunity to
participate in desired activities by demonstrating
self-control.
28
9) Impose the external control needed to protect
students from danger and injury until they develop
the control needed to handle the activities like
crossing streets and using knives and matches.
10) Help students develop self-control and responsibility for their own behavior.
11) Systematically reward students for progress they
make in learning to control their own impulsivity.
12) Remove pressures that students may interpret as
signals that immediate responses are required.
Per severation
These students tend to be unable to discontinue a
response pattern once it is started.
Faas (1980) and
Johnson and Myklebust (1967) recommend the following
procedures which may help students who tend to perseverate:
1) Remove toys or objects with which they tend to
perseverate.
2) Place a red check mark or X at the point on the
line or page where the students should end a
written activity.
3) Verbally tell the students to stop when a task
is completed.
4) Change the type of task so that a different type
of response will be required when the level of
perseveration becomes excessive.
29
5) Avoid assignments that involve repetitious tasks.
6) Develop a clue to use to let students know they
are perseverating.
7) Have students practice varying their responses to
certain social situations, for example, using
various greetings.
8) Have students participate in a game that requires
stopping and starting.
9) Have one student alternate making responses with
a companion.
Disorganization
These students are often unable to complete their
assigned classwork successfully.
cedures suggested for use are:
Some effective pro(Blanco, 1972)
1) Structure the environment and activities so
that students are aware of upcoming changes and
events.
2) Organize tasks so they follow a predictable,
sequential pattern that can be followed step by
step.
3) Use self-correcting materials that give immediate
feedback to students.
4) Reduce or remove auditory or visual stimuli that
may distract students from the procedures they
should be following.
5) Teach students the importance of making outlines,
30
arranging notebooks carefully, and lining up
figures neatly.
Dyslogic Syndrome
Anderson (1963) describes dyslogic syndrome students
as "restless, driven youngsters who are distractible and
immature and who do not get along well with others." She
indicates that they give faulty logic when defending their
behavior.
Anderson (1963) suggests the following for helping
the dyslogic syndrome student:
1) Begin habit training early in life.
2) Shift from abstract to concrete communication.
3) Try not to overact when the child seems confused.
4) Give students time to digest the information
given them.
5) Increase your tolerance level for the student's
behavior by showing acceptance of their difficulties.
6) Use medically prescribed medication to reduce
anxiety.
The following are useful tests for assessing students
with social and behavior problems:
1) American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD)
Adaptive Behavior Scale Public School Version
(1969)
31
2) Burks Behavior Rating Scales
Author:
H. F. Burks (1969)
3) California Psychological Inventory
Author:
G. Harrison (1959-1969)
4) California Test of Personality (CTP)
Authors:
L. P. Thorpe,
W. W. Clark & E. W.
Triggs
5) Arlin-Hills Attitudes Surveys
Authors:
B. Arlin & W. N. Hills
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION
OF PERCEPTUAL MOTOR PROBLEMS
Gross Motor Coordination
Students with gross motor coordination appear clumsy,
uncoordinated and awkward.
They often have feelings of
inadequacy and self-concept problems related to their
condition.
Valent ( 1969) suggests the following gross motor
activity procedures be encouraged and supported:
1) Rolling one's body in a controlled manner.
2) Sitting in a normal erect position without support
or constant reminders.
3) Crawling on hands and knees in a smooth, coordinated way.
4) Walking erect in a coordinated fashion without
support.
32
5) Running on a track or obstacle course without a
change of pace.
6) Throwing a ball or beanbag with a reasonable
of accuracy.
7) Jumping over simple obstacles without falling.
8) Skipping in normal play.
9) Dancing in a coordinated response to music.
10) Using muscular strength to perform physical tasks.
Fine Motor Coordination
These students have difficulty manipulating objects
and performing tasks with their fingers.
Activities and
procedures found to be helpful in developing fine motor
coordination are:
1) Fold, cut, paste, draw, color, paint.
2) Tap, lace, wave, string beads.
3) Stacking blocks and fitting objects together.
4) Sorting objects, cards.
5) Hand or finger puppets, finger games.
6) Identify textured materials by touching them.
7) Playing games such as pick-up sticks, bolt boards
with bolts, nuts, and washers.
8) Tracing along a straight line, a diagonal, a
curve.
Drawing circles, squares, then continuing
to other shapes.
9) In writing, first trace while saying letter sounds;
use wet sand, clay slab, sandpaper, paper towel
33
to get the motor input.
Then copy.
Finally
reproduce from memory.
Laterality and Directionality
Students who have laterality problems do not display
an awareness of the immediate area located to the left or
right of the middles of their bodies.
Students who have directionality problems experience
difficulty projecting the internal awareness of left and
right that is involved in laterality into the space
located beyond their fingertips.
Some procedures and activities often helpful with
laterality and directionality problems are:
1) Mark sides of table or paper where child is to
start; or have a bracelet or other identification
on his left hand.
Color-cue first letter or word.
Use small arrow indicating direction.
2) Put nail polish on the little finger of the student's left hand.
Teach them that reading and
writing both start at the far left-hand side
(Kronick, 1969).
3) Trace hands on paper; tell which hand is left and
which is right.
Put up many hand patterns and
child fits hands to patterns.
4) Play Simon says:
Touch right foot, left ear, left
foot with left hand, etc.
5) Have students identify right-hand and left-hand
34
sides of their bodies, other people's bodies, etc.
6) Draw lines up, down, and left, right.
7) March.
Say or sing "left, right."
8) Child names objects on his left, on his right.
Then he moves to opposite side of the table and
repeats.
9) Play mirror games.
Touch your left eye.
Touch
the left eye of the face in the mirror.
10) Work on the up and down, over and under, above
and below, in and out, near and far, inside and
outside.
The following are useful tests for assessing students
with perceptual motor problems:
1) Southern California Test Battery for Assessment
of Dysfunction (Southern California Perceptual
Motor Test; Southern California Figure-Ground
Visual Perception Test; California Kinesthetic
and Tactual Perception Test; Ayers Space Tests,
1969)
Author:
A. J. Ayers
2) Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency
Author:
R. Bruinicks (1978)
3) Harris Tests of Lateral Dominance
Author:
A. J. Harris (1947-1958)
35
4) The Picture Perceptual Motor Survey Test
Authors:
C. Roach & N. C. Kephart (1966)
5) Psychoeducational Inventory of Basic Learning
Abilities
Author:
R. E. Valett (1968)
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION
OF VISUAL PERCEPTUAL PROBLEMS
Visual processing consists of receiving, organizing,
and interpreting visual stimuli.
Some of the tasks
involve visual perception, visual discrimination, visual
association, visual memory, eye-hand coordination/visual
motor integration, visual form consistency, perception
of position in space, and perception of spacial relations.
Visual Perception
Kirk and Kirk (1971) describe visual perception as
the "ability to gain meaning from visual symbols."
Some of the activities that are useful in developing
skills in visual perception are:
1) Ask the student to point to named objects.
2) String beads to match a pattern.
Use colored pegs
to reproduce increasingly complex patterns.
3) Ask student to complete partial pattern on worksheet.
4) Have students identify shapes, colors, letters and
numbers.
36
5) Have students observe for missing parts in prepared cards or pictures.
6) Play games with cards with pictures or shapes e.g. players each have four cards to start.
A
student draws a card; if he has one like it, he
may discard the pair.
cards first wins.
The one who runs out of
Later use words on the cards.
7) Learn to use charts, graphs, maps, etc.
8) Take walks and trips and help students interpret
what they see.
9) Study a picture, learn what to look for and to
interpret it.
Have students tell stories about
the pictures.
10) Allow students to watch experiments and discuss
them later.
Visual Discrimination
Visual discrimination involves the ability to determine the likenesses and differences among symbols,
pictures, etc.
The following may be used in developing visual discrimination skills:
1) Have the students clip from old magazines all
the pictures they can find with similar shapes
or similar topics.
2) Ask the student to name details in a picture.
3) Use readiness books that have many good matching
37
pictures and shapes.
One student may be "the
teacher" with others matching his picture or
form.
4) Students make their own Something's Missing
game.
Cut pictures of objects, cut off some part
and paste it on cards.
The game is played by tell-
ing what is missing.
5) Play the Look for It game.
of assorted objects.
Have a basket or box
Empty them on the table.
The teacher or student asks for someone to find
the
After a few trials, move the objects
about.
6) Play the I Spy game.
ular part of the room.
Hide something in a partieFor those students who
can't find things easily, help them by guiding
their eyes with your hand in looking for something.
Visual Association
Kirk and Kirk (1971) describe visual association as
"the organizing process by which one relates concepts presented visually."
Karnes (1972) recommends the following activities
for improving visual association pkills:
1) Sort objects, blocks or pictures according to
particular classifications (animals, toys, things
that grow, plants, shapes, color).
2) Have students match objects of the same size,
.
~
38
shape, color, or number.
3) Have students identify opposites.
4) Select things that go together such as cup and
saucer.
Have students use objects with self-
checking worksheets, using flannel board with
teacher, etc.
5) Provide lessons where students match words to
pictures and sentences.
6) Select pictures that are alike; mark one that is
different.
Have sets of pictures in which three
things have something in common; the fourth does
not.
Have students explain.
7) Constantly encourage the student to verbalize
what he is doing.
Visual Memory
Students with visual memory problems have difficulty
in recalling or retaining what they see.
Johnson and Myklebust (1967) propose the following
techniques for increasing visual memory:
1) Use auditory and tactile kinesthetic modalities
to prompt visual recall.
2) Have students reproduce a series of beads, blocks
or colors from memory.
3) Give students practice in revisualizing part of
the visual image by filling in the missing letters
in partially completed words.
39
Some procedures gathered from many sources and experiences which have shown to be valuable in working with students having difficulty with visual memory are:
4) Place a number on a table.
The student observes,
then closes eyes while an article is removed and
placed in a box with others.
The student then
selects the item that was removed.
5) Place objects one at a time, left to right.
The
student observes the sequence, closes his eyes
while objects are mixed up; he then replaces them
in order.
6) Show pictures in sequence.
Then ask student to
tell a story from memory.
7) A student touches an object in the room.
The next
student touches that object and another object,
etc.
8) Have a student observe another student or object
in the classroom.
He then closes his eyes and
describes.
Visual Form Constancy
The ability to recognize figures, letters and numbers
even when their size, color, shading, texture or position
in space is changed is known as visual form constancy.
Frostig and Horne (1964) have developed the following
remedial activities and experiences that are often helpful
in developing an understanding of visual form constancy:
40
1) Locating all the objects of a certain size, shape,
texture, position, or color in a room.
2) Identifying objects or drawings at different
distances and angles.
3) Finding words that are printed in various type
styles.
Position in Space
The relationship between single objects in space and
to one's own body is called perception in space (Frostig,
1961).
This perceptual skill involves the ability to
locate forms that appear turned around in space; to
organize likenesses and differences; and to discriminate
the position of figures, objects, letters, and numerals
in space.
Remedial suggestions and procedures that may help
one develop an understanding of position in space include
the following:
1) Identifying geometric figures, letters, ornumerals
on a page when placed upside down or rotated in
some way.
2) Reading maps, blueprints, and unconventional
cursive writing.
3) Locating objects from verbal or written directions.
4) Play games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and
see it, close your eyes and find it.
~
41
Spacial Relations
The relationships of objects to oneself is known as
spacial relations.
Activities that may be helpful in diagnosing and
remediating problems with spacial relations are:
1) Copying cube and block designs.
2) Following directions in locating objects or places.
3) Practicing writing and spelling.
4) Initiate animal walk; play follow the leader.
5) Help students draw pictures with people, landscape,
objects, all in perspective.
The following are useful tests in the assessment of
students with visual perception problems:
1) Bender Gestalt Test
Author:
L. Bender (1964)
2) Frostig Test of Visual Perception
Author:
M. Frostig & D. Horne (1964)
3) Picture Perceptual Motor Survey
Author:
c.
Roach & N. C. Kephart (1966)
4) Lincoln-Osteretsky Motor Development Scale
Author:
N. Osteretsky (1955 rev.)
5) Winterhaven Perceptual Testing and TrainingProgram
Author:
F. Sultan
42
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION
OF AUDITORY LANGUAGE PROBLEMS
Kirk and Gallagher (1979) have described three different types of auditory language problems:
language
disorders, delayed speech and language, and aphasia.
Disordered language occurs when there is a disruption
in the content,form and use of language.
Language content
consists of the messages that we are trying to convey.
The form entails the acoustic and phonetic sounds we make.
Language use includes the style and form we choose.
Delayed language is one that is progressing in an
orderly but significantly slower than normal fashion.
The term aphasia has been used to describe people
who fail to gain meaning from all the sounds in the environment except speech.
The term is also used to describe
one's failure to understand speech.
Auditory processing dysfunctions describe students
who do not process auditory stimuli effectively and may
have difficulty identifying, discriminating, and reproducing sounds.
Difficulties in auditory-vocal communication may
include problems in the areas of:
1) Auditory Acuity - The sensory ability to hear
sounds.
2) Auditory Attention - Purposeful listening to
auditory stimuli and attending to the sound
produced.
43
3) Auditory Discrimination - The ability to detect
differences in sounds and words that exist in oral
language.
4) Speech Articulation - Learning to vocalize individual speech sounds correctly.
5) Auditory Reception and Verbal Comprehension - The
ability to understand auditory symbols.
6) Auditory Memory - The ability to retain and recall
what one has heard.
7) Sound Blending and Auditory Closure - Consists of
synthesizing and integrating isolated sounds into
syllables and words.
Remedial activities and experiences that school psychologists might suggest that would be helpful with students having auditory language problems are hereby presented in each appropriate category:
Auditory Discrimination
1) Tape sounds.
Replay tape for students and ask
them to identify what they heard.
2) Ask students to close their eyes and listen for
"quiet" sounds and identify them.
3) Have the students listen for the sequence of
sounds; high, low, etc.
4) Have students say similar words and note differences; e.g. sit - set.
5) Name several words and the student discovers those
44
that start alike.
6) Play a game where students categorize sounds as
pleasant, not pleasant, cheerful, sad.
Auditory Reception
1) Give a series of directions to be followed.
Increase the complexity.
2) Have the student locate a word the reader has
defined in a story that has been read.
3) After a story, have students find words that
describe, or tell about a person, place, animal.
4) Have students listen to an exclamation or a
sentence with emphasis and tone variation; then
have them guess the meaning or emotions being
expressed.
5) Ask students to listen to a sentence describing
something.
They must come up with the word being
described (Minskoff, Wiserman, and Minskoff, 1972).
Auditory Association
1) Present lessons including opposites, categories,
synonyms.
2) Talk about how things are different, then later
about how things are alike.
3) Have two rows of words that students can read.
The student marks opposites or crosses out those
that are not alike or finds two that are alike.
45
4) Play the game What would happen if •.. ?
5) Say words and have the students put them into
categories (Bush and Giles, 1977).
Auditory Memory
1) Tap a pattern to be repeated, reproduce rhythmic
patterns, tape simple then complex sentences for
student to hear and then say.
Record jokes or
riddles for students to repeat.
2) Have students tell places visited in the right
order from a story and then repeat or retell the
story in order of events.
3) Begin a story; each student repeats the story and
adds something.
4) Have students listen for beginning, middle, and
ending sounds in words.
5) Inputs should be organized so they are presented
in context, in pairs, in association, and by
category (Johnson and Myklebust, 1967).
Auditory Closure
1) Have students predict the outcome of incomplete
sentences (Lerner, 1972).
2) Say a well-known rhyme for students to finish.
3) Say a word omitting the initial consonant.
students complete the word.
&
Have
46
There are a number of language development programs
commercially used across the nation.
Some of the most
commonly used are:
1) DISTAR Language (Engelman, Osborne, and Engelman,
1969)
2) GOAL - Goal-Oriented Activities for Learning
(Karnes, 1972)
3) Goldman-Lynch Sounds and Symbols Development
Kit (Goldman and Lynch, 1971)
4) The MWM Program for Developing Language Abilities
(Minskoff, Wiseman, and Minskoff, 1973)
5) The Peabody Language Development Kits (Dunn,
Horton, and Smith, 1968)
The following are useful tests for the assessment of
students with auditory language problems:
1) Auditory Discrimination Test (ADT)
Author:
J. M. Wepman
2) Durrell Analysis of Words
Hearing Sounds in
Words - Sounds in Letters
Author:
D. D. Durrell
3) Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability (ITPA)
Authors:
J. McCarthy & S. Kirk
4) Tests for Auditory Comprehension of Language
Author:
,,
E. Carrow
47
5) Brown-Carlson Listening Comprehension Test
Authors:
J. I. Brown & R. Carlson
DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIATION
OF READING PROBLEMS
Brueckner and Lewis (1947) have put together the
following list of symptoms which students with reading
problems display:
1) Slow rate of oral and silent reading
2) Inability to answer questions about what is read
3) Inability to state the main topic of a story
4) Inability to remember what is said
5) Faulty study habits
6) Lack of skills in using tools to locate information
7) Inability to follow simple instructions
8) Reading word by word rather than in groups
9) Lack of expression in oral reading
10) Excessive lip movement in silent reading
11) Vocalization in silent reading
12) Lack of interest in reading
13) Excessive physical activity while reading
14) Mispronunciation of words
15) Omission of words
16) Insertion of words and letters
17) Substitution of words in oral reading
18) Reversal of whole words or pairs of words
19) Repetition of words or pairs of words
20) Character of eye movements
48
Kaluger and Kolson (1978) report that the following
list of reading skills shows those most often encountered
in reading clinics:
1) basic word attack skills
A) structural analysis
B) phonetic analysis
1. blendings
2. sound-symbol relationships
C) contextual clues
D) prefixes and suffixes
E) syllabication
2) level of comprehension and recall
3) level of vocabulary development
4) rate of reading
5) directional habit
6) study skills
7) location and reference skills
8) reading interests
9) needs of content fields
10) rate of learning
Kirk, Kliebhan, and Lerner (1978) view diagnosis as
a five-step process:
diagnosis, planning of the teaching
task, implementation of the teaching plan, evaluation of
student performance, and notification of the diagnosis
for new planning, implementation, and evaluation.
After assessing a student's needs through miscue
analysis, and criterion and norm referenced testing, it
~-
49
is time to begin an instructional approach which would
capitalize on the student's strengths and consider his
weaknesses.
A student with a visual deficit and auditory strength
might benefit from a phonetic, linguistic, and/or sight
word approach to remediate.
According to Johnson and Myklebust (1967), the
phonetic approach has proven most effective with visual
dyslexics who have auditory strengths.
emphasizes the teaching of letter sounds
The approach
and letter
sound groups, and the blending of these sounds into meaningful words.
In a linguistic approach, students are
asked to learn word patterns.
They can use their auditory
strengths to help them master the auditory/vocal attributes of words.
The sight word approach is not recommended for
students who experience difficulty processing visual
information.
words.
It would be used mainly to teach nonphonetic
With students having auditory strengths, drills
stressing the beginning sounds of words and context clues
should be used.
For students who have auditory deficits and visual
strengths Johnson and Myklebust (1967) suggest using a
sight-word and phrasing approach to remediation.
The sight-word approach permits students who lack
the auditory processing skills
a vocabulary.
the ability to develop
50
Phrase reading gives the students the ability to
produce sounds, words, and phrases which become a
response at the automatic level through repetition and
overlearning under pressure.
Students who experience auditory and visual channel
deficits almost always have some learning problems.
For
these students, the following types of multisensory and
single-sensory approaches should be considered:
(Faas,
1980)
1) multisensory; tactual - kinesthetic, visual and
auditory vocal
2) primarily auditory vocal inputs
3) primarily visual inputs
4) equal emphasis on auditory and visual inputs
In teaching problem readers there seem to be two
main methods which correspond to the visual and auditory
channels of reception.
The visual/sight word method is
designed for visual strengths.
The auditory phonetic
method is best for auditory strengths.
Under the guise of visual and tactual/kinesthetic
methods there are some approaches which have gained
popularity.
The following is a list of some of the
approaches:
1) The Fernald Approach - Developed at the University of Southern California Clinic School by
Grace Fernald (1943).
It uses the tactual
kinesthetic sensations involved in tracing to
'
'
51
help students learn and remember the visual and
auditory attributes of words.
2) The Language Expression Approach brings together
reading, listening, writing, and spelling into a
single instructional program.
The skills are
taught as they are needed to write stories based
on student's oral descriptions of their own
experiences.
3) The Cloze Procedure is based on the psychological
theory of closure.
It involves having the reader
fill in words that have been left out of a passage.
4) The Neurological Impress Method was developed by
Heckelman (1969) as an instructional procedure
that utilizes a whole-word approach to the development of reading fluency, phrasing, and visualauditory channel integration.
The auditory phonetic method of teaching reading
emphasizes word recognition as a sound-blending process.
The synthetic phonetic approach emphasizes learning the
sounds of letters in isolation and blending these sounds
into words.
The analytic approach emphasizes breaking
down or analyzing the phonetic context of words the student
has learned as sight words.
The Orton-Gillingham method is a synthetic phonetic
approach that begins with teaching the names and sounds
of the alphabet and advances to include blending of sounds
into words.
tJ
~-
52
The Hegge, Kirk and Kirk Remedial Reading Drills
emphasizes learning the sounds of letters and blending
those letters together.
The DISTAR reading series is a highly structural,
phonetic instructional approach to teaching which is
based upon carefully sequenced behavioral objectives.
-Chapter 3
IMPORTANT REFERENCES
The following is an annotated list of important references which emphasize techniques for diagnosis and
remediation of learning problems:
Children with Learning Problems - A Handbook for Teachers
Author:
Larry Faas
Publisher:
Year Published:
1980
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Supplies readers with a wide range of diagnostic and
remedial suggestions for use in providing education for
children who are having trouble learning.
Learning Disabilities; Educational Principles and Procedures
Authors:
Doris J. Johnson & Helmer R. Myklebust
Year Published:
Publisher:
1967
Gruine & Stratton
Presents the frame of reference, principles and
practices evolved from the authors' work with students
having difficulties in learning to read, spell, and
acquire language.
This book emphasizes a psychoneuro-
logical approach.
~
53
54
Programming Learning
Author:
Disabi~Lties
Robert E. Valett
Publisher:
Year Published:
1969
Fearon Publishers
Attempts to bridge the gap between existing theory
and practice by presenting a framework for the actual programming of learning disabilities.
Children with Learning Disabilities
Author:
Janet W. Lerner
Publisher:
Year Published:
1971
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Integrates theory, diagnosis, and teaching strategies
into a comprehensive guide for teachers, administrators,
psychologists, and instructors of college courses in
learning disabilities.
Teaching Children with Learning and Behavior Problems
Authors:
Donald D. Hammill & Nettie R. Bartel
Year Published:
Publisher:
1975
Allyn & Bacon
A review of the roles of teachers, school psychologists, and administrators in the management of children
with learning and behavior problems.
~
55
Educating Exceptional Children
Author:
Samuel A. Kirk & J. J. Gallagher
Year Published:
Publisher:
1979
Houghton Mifflin Co.
A textbook that deals heavily on the concept of
intraindividual differences, or discrepancies in growth
within the exceptional child.
Psycholinguistic Learning Disabilities:
Diagnosis and
Remediation
Author:
Samuel A. Kirk and W. D. Kirk
Year Published:
Publisher:
1971
University of Illinois Press
A concise book dealing with problems in acquiring
and using language.
It includes recommendations for as-
sessment, diagnosis, and remediation.
Remedial Techniques in Basic School Subjects
Author:
Grace Fernald
Publisher:
Year.Published:
1943
McGraw-Hill
Offers remedial techniques utilizing the kinesthetic
method for teaching students having difficulties in
learning.
56
Frostig Program for Development of Visual Perception
Author:
Marianne Frostig
Year Published:
Publisher:
1964
Follet Co.
Describes techniques for diagnosing and remediating
visual perceptual difficulties designed to prevent future
school failure.
Diagnosing Learning Disabilities
Authors:
William J. Bush & K. W. Waugh
Year Published:
Publisher:
1977
E. Merrill Publishing Co.
A complete review of theory and practice in the
diagnosis and remediation of learning problems.
57
Chapter 4
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
School psychology, as a profession, is in a critical
period of growth.
During the past decade there has been
considerable criticism, both internally and externally,
concerning the kinds of services offered and the accountability of the services provided.
Our primary responsibility has always been to work
with teachers to facilitate student learning.
This has
not changed, though what is changing is the role that we
are asked to portray.
Classroom teachers have become increasingly vocal
regarding what they perceive as limitations in the kinds
and quality of services provided by school psychologists.
They are asking psychologists for specific direction
in what to do with, and for children, both academically
and behaviorally.
They want clear, psychoeducational
pictures of children and precise statements regarding
specific skills which youngsters have and have not.
This creates an interesting set of challenges.
need to address these challenges head on.
We
We witness
today a tremendous gap between the kinds of services which
we are required to perform and the nature of training
which we have had.
We must communicate effectively with
University training programs, addressing weaknesses in
• d
58
our own training, and encouraging the programs to change
in accord with current needs.
Other factors, in addition to the need for training,
also exist.
It is essential that school psychologists
communicate with classroom teachers in an effort to plan
programs for children.
is gone.
The day of the psychometric robot
School psychologists must now more than ever,
know and be able to communicate the instructional implications of the data they gather on children.
This re-
quires both an understanding of ability and treatment
interactions.
This graduate project has been designed to provide
some important information and understanding which the
profession of school psychology is demanding.
By keeping
abreast of the needs as they arise and the changes as
they occur, we, as school psychologists can insure our
continual development as competent professionals in the
interest of children.
~
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Ballard, J. and Zettel, J.
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No. 5, 333-337.
1977.
"Fiscal Arrangements
Exceptional Children, !!,
Bartel, N. P., and Hammill, D. P. 1975.
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Boston, Mass.:
Bateman, B. 1965.
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Blanco, R. F. 1972. Prescriptions for Children with
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Bruckner, L. J., and Lewis, W. D.
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1974.
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60
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A Hand-
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~
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