Common Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabiliites

Learning disabilities are manifested individually; some students with learning disabilities might experience many of the following characteristics, or some might exhibit only a few. Certainly most of these characteristics have been experienced by people without learning disabilities; however, having some or many of these characteristics becomes a “disability” when they “substantially limit one or more major life activities,” (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act - IDEA) and have been professionally diagnosed. Generally speaking, students with learning disabilities exhibit their disability through unexpected differences in academic performance - for example, articulate speaking skills but difficulty in reading efficiently may indicate a learning disability.

READING

  • Slow reading rate
  • Poor comprehension and retention
  • Difficulty identifying important ideas and themes
  • Poor mastery of phonics
  • Confusion involving similar words
  • Difficulty integrating new vocabulary
  • Resistance to reading
  • Confusion with written directions

 

WRITTEN LANGUAGE

  • Difficulty with sentence structure (incomplete sentences, run-ons, poor use of grammar, missing inflectional endings)
  • Frequent spelling errors (omissions, substitutions, transpositions)
  • Inability to copy correctly from a book or the chalkboard
  • Weak written expression, good oral expression
  • Slow writer
  • Poor penmanship (poorly formed letters, incorrect use of capitalization, trouble with spacing, overly large or small handwriting)

ORAL LANGUAGE SKILLS

  • Inability to concentrate on and comprehend oral language
  • Difficulty in orally expressing ideas which the student understands
  • Oral reversals of words or sentence parts
  • Oral expression is weaker than written expression
  • Difficulty speaking grammatically correct English
  • Problems telling a story in proper sequence
  • Confusion with oral directions

 

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS

  • Fragmented mastery of basic facts (i.e., multiplication tables)
  • Number reversals
  • Confusion of operational symbols (+ and x)
  • Copies problems incorrectly from one line to another or from a scratch page to a workbook
  • Unable to line up calculations correctly
  • Difficulty recalling the sequence of operation processes
  • Inability to understand and/or retain abstract concepts
  • Comfortable with verbal reasoning, problems with abstract reasoning
  • Difficulty understanding word problems
  • Reasoning deficits
  • Severe “math anxiety,” mental “blocking,” physical distress when working in math

 

ORGANIZATIONAL AND STUDY SKILLS

  • Time management difficulties (consistently late to class, late assignments, poor planning on exams, missing classes, etc.)
  • Slow to start and/or complete assignments (procrastination)
  • Repeated inability to recall what has been taught
  • Difficulty following oral and written directions
  • Lack of overall organization in written notes and composition
  • Short attention span during lectures
  • Inefficient use of campus resources (library, tutorials, etc.)

 

OTHER MANIFESTATIONS

  • Insightful classroom participation, but poor test performance
  • Lucid and hardworking, but makes many “careless” errors
  • Sharp and “with it” on Tuesday, but scattered and slow on Wednesday
  • Excellent with hands-on activities, but poor with academic tasks
  • Often misunderstands jokes

 

SOCIAL SKILLS

Some students may experience problems with social skills because of perceptual problems or the emotional stress caused by the learning disability itself and years of frustration in the learning environment. Just as a student might have difficulty determining the difference between a “d” and a “b,” he or she might confuse the meaning of a wink, shrug, or grimace, or even miss body language cues altogether. Students with auditory weaknesses may miss subtle oral language cues, or differences between sarcasm and sincerity. Many students with learning disabilities have low self-esteem, and some may have unrealistic expectations, emotional instability, and/or extreme anger and, therefore, have a very troublesome time in the educational environment. At times, some students with learning disabilities may be isolated socially or have a great deal of difficulty making friends. Just as the severity of learning disabilities is on a continuum, so are the social and emotional effects.

Students who have surmounted the emotional problems associated with learning disabilities and who have mostly compensated for them demonstrate a great deal of courage and can be extremely strong individuals psychologically.

This is not the definitive, complete list of characteristics which students with learning disabilities may exhibit, but they are the most often observed. And, once again, it must be emphasized that people who have some of these characteristics do not necessarily have learning disabilities. To be diagnosed, a student should complete a professionally acceptable assessment.

 

SELF-ADVOCACY

Another student responsibility is that of self-advocate. Students must become adept at realistically assessing and understanding their strengths, weaknesses, needs, and preferences. Also, they must become experts at communicating this information to other adults including instructors and service providers. Although services will be available to them through an office specializing in services for students with disabilities, often called the Disabled Students Program and Services (DSP&S) office and called the Accessibility Support Center (ASC) at Cabrillo, students will be responsible for seeking these services and support. Good communication skills and knowledge about oneself
become crucial to success in college.