Understanding students with learning disabilities

By Briana Nussbaum
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
October , 2010

In class today, we watched a video about learning disabled children. There was a lot of very useful information that I was able to take away from watching this video. Even though I am not planning on working directly with children with learning disabilities, I am sure I will have some learning disabled students in my class at some point.

One of the most interesting points brought up in the movie is that there is a big difference between distractibility and short attention spans. A student who is easily distracted pays attentions to everything, while a student with a short attention span has trouble paying attention to anything. They made it very clear in the video that students with these learning problems need time. This is because they have a harder time receiving and understanding information. Often, they feel as if the teacher is moving too quickly, because it takes them twice as long to process questions and information directed towards them. Also, students with learning disabilities have a hard time multitasking. It is important not to give them too much information at once, and to overall be patient with them. These students have it hard enough as it is, so it is only fair for teachers to treat these students with kindness.

When I become a teacher, if there are students with learning disabilities in my class I will do whatever it takes to make them feel comfortable. I would never want to intimidate or discourage any of my students. I learned a lot from this video, and the information I obtained will definitely stick with me throughout my teaching career.