How Do Learning Disabilities Affect Literacy Acquisition?

In order to make sense of written language the brain uses three main decoding strategies:

• One: it immediately recognizes a word and can make sense of it.
• Two: if it is unfamiliar with the word it breaks it down into sounds and on “hearing” the word recognizes it and makes sense of it.
• Three: sometimes the brain needs more information than the look or sound of a word. It then ‘reasons out’ the word, given the information gathered from other sources (pictures, context, root words set, etc).

If an individual has a learning disability that interferes with any one of these three areas they are significantly disadvantaged. Sometimes this disadvantage is intensified by the use of a reading curriculum that puts more emphasis on one decoding skill than the other two. Unfortunately, the public education system has a history of switching between the three main reading methods - sight, phonics and whole language - rather than using a combination of methods or the best method for a particular learner. Fortunately when working with adults, we are able to select the method best suited to the learner, rather than trying to make the learner fit the method.

Sometimes practitioners say, “My learner has equal problems in each area. What should I do?” If this is the case, one should learn more about the learner. However, when all areas of learning are weak, there is a good chance the learner may have an intellectual disability, not a learning disability. If that is the case, you will need to change the focus of your teaching. All learners – whether learning disabled, intellectually disabled or gifted - deserve the program that is best suited to their needs and strengths.