In need of a 250 word response/discussion to each of the following forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion.
Original forum discussion/topic post is as follows:
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Memory and Learning Disabilities
Describe the role of memory in four different learning disabilities. How would a researcher distinguish between memory impairment due to a learning disability and memory impairment due to test taking anxiety? Select one of the learning disabilities you have presented and discuss a strategy for learning and why this strategy in particular would be beneficial.
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Forum post #1
Memory is a big part of who we become. It hold our memories and our knowledge. Children and adults who suffer from learning disabilities also suffer from memory loss in certain ways. As w know, while learning something, it then gets filtered and is stored in our memory for later use. This is how we memorize and hold onto that information that came through. of course we sometimes loose it as we go through life and don’t practice what we’ve learned but the memory is there and is able to be added to for future. One learning disability is Dyslexia. I had the privilege of working with some Dyslexia students this past year. it is a learning disability that causes problems with reading and decoding text material. Often times they swap letters or sounds and often cannot comprehend what they have read. While reading we use our short term memory, where our information is help for processing. Our short term memory also includes our visual sequential memory therefore students with dyslexia often have trouble holding onto things they have learned in a sequence. As they read, they have trouble going from one word to another and holding onto it for a later date. Another learning disability is Language processing disorder. With this disability, a student has trouble interpreting language they hear. This is due to an interference between he sound and how it is heard in the brain (Learning disabilities association, 2018). For this reason, it is hard for them to recall anything they have heard because what they heard becomes distorted. The next learning disability is Dyscalculia. This disability is like dyslexia but instead involves math. Students have trouble decoding math problems or do not understand the numbers. When completing math problems, our minds sue our working memory. It has been shown that students with this disability have an underperforming working memory (Learning disabilities association, 20180. Finally there is visual perceptual deficit. This learning disability provides trouble with eye hand coordination and being able to distinguish differences between objects. This disability too uses the visual short term memory and it becomes affected by not properly getting in information.
To be able to distinguish if it is a learning disability rather than test taking anxiety is to see how the student does without testing. A lot of times people only mess up while testing but there are a number of other daily assessments that can be done through observation, questioning, or playing that can tell whether they remember what they have just read or were told. For instance, a dyslexia student would have trouble remembering what they just read so it would be caught onto quickly rather than if they waited to take a test.
Using dyslexia as an example, a teacher can most often use logic instead of memory. It is hard for them to comprehend what they have read or to understand the letters so instead of them memorizing the words, they would have to stargaze. This can include using their skills for decoding letters as they read. It may be going back to basics but will help them understand. In addition, they can pull out key words for comprehension rathe retain remember everything in the paragraph.
Forum post #2
Memory is essential for the process of learning. Learning is impacted greatly for individuals with learning disabilities because they often struggle with remembering tasks, understanding the order of words and numbers, or processing different types of instruction.
Individuals with Auditory Processing Disorder have difficulties processing and interpreting sound. People with this disorder often have trouble detecting the location of the sound, finding the specific order of sound, blocking out sound, as well as many other problems related to sound. Studies have shown that individuals with Auditory Processing Disorder have a pervasive issue with auditory short-term memory (Maerlender, 2010). Auditory short-term memory is the ability to process and interpret oral information and later recall the information. This can be tested simply by asking an individual to repeat numbers, words, or letters after the information has been transmitted orally. Language Processing Disorder is a sub-type of Auditory Processing Disorder. As described in its name, individuals with Language Processing Disorder have troubles with processing and interpreting language. A strategy to help individuals learn with Auditory or Language Processing Disorder could be to provide visuals as opposed to verbalizing instructions. By using visuals, these individuals would be able to see cues and direction rather than struggle to hear and process the oral instruction.
Dyslexia is a fairly common learning disorder that involves difficulties with reading, spelling, and/or writing out words. People with dyslexia may have trouble remembering general instructions or recalling exactly where they left off on a particular task.
Alexia is another learning disorder similar to dyslexia. This concept is also known as acquired dyslexia. Alexia occurs when an individual loses their ability to read. People with alexia can have the same issues with memory as people with dyslexia.
Researchers would distinguish between memory impairment due to a learning disability and memory impairment due to test taking anxiety by conducting tests and observing the individual with memory problems. The researcher could create tests in the form of games or activities geared towards challenges that one might face if they had a learning disability. By masking the intent of the game or task, the individual would be unaware that he or she was being tested. If the individual performed well on the test, then he or she probably would not have a learning disability. However, if the individual performed poorly on the test, he or she could have some type of learning disability.
Forum post #3
The three types of memory that play vital roles in learning by processing both verbal and non-verbal information are the working memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. While individuals with learning disabilities have deficits in one or more cognitive processes, research has found that children with learning disabilities show poor working memory performance, specifically in verbal and executive working memory (Malekpour, Aghababaei & Abedi, 2013). Some of the learning disabilities affected by poor working memory include Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Discalculia, and Visual Perceptual/Visual Motor Deficit.
In Dyslexia, a reading learning disability, impairments to the working memory is a defining characteristic, specifically, verbal working memory, phonological processing, and central executive functioning (Malekpour, Aghababaei & Abedi, 2013). The executive functioning component of the acts as a management system that carries out tasks such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention, remembering details, and managing time and space. Deficits in the executive working memory are also seen in Discalculia, a mathematics learning disability. Children with this disorder also have problems with their verbal and visuospatial working memory, where the verbal working memory is the ability to remember something and perform accordingly, and visuospatial working memory is responsible for physical simulation, calculation, and optical memory recall. An individual with a Visual Perceptual/Visual Motor deficit will have trouble understanding information that they see, and drawing or copying it. Finally, in Dysgraphia, individuals are affected by having trouble with fine motor skills. They may have trouble with handwriting, spacing, spelling, composing writing, and thinking and writing at the same time.
According to Malekpour, Aghababaei, and Abedi (2013), improving working memory can be very beneficial to individuals with learning disabilities with use of remedial strategies such as chunking, rehearsal, and meta-cognitive strategies. Additionally, for a student with dyslexia, I would try to incorporate more short-term activities to reduce the working memory processing. I would also try having them using a ruler or highlighter to help them keep track of their place in reading or math problems, and be sure to repeat instructions as necessary.
As discussed above, while learning disabilities are often associated with deficits in memory, test anxiety is not a learning disability, but rather a temporary freeze in our brain when faced with the anxiety that comes before or during a test. Once the test is over, a student will walk out of the classroom and most likely to be able to recall the answers that they could not due to the stress and anxiety associated with the test. This would not be true for someone with a learning disability.
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