Learning Disabilities

The emergence of concepts like child-centered education, developments in the fields of science and technology, particularly in information and communication technology, has resulted in a change /shift in emphasis from group teaching or learning to individualised teaching and learning. Consequently, states and societies today hold that each and every individual has the right and must be provided with opportunities to grow at best his or her all capabilities and capacities so as to be able to contribute significantly in the progress and development of the society and the country.

Learning is a step by step, complex, interwoven and multilevel process. It comprises of the processes of input, processing and output. Each of these has several essential

Because, the needs of

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these children vary, special education demands flexibility and innovations in teaching practice.

The field of learning disabilities is the newest challenging subarea of the broader field of special education. It has been the fastest growing, the most controversial, and often the most confusing area. People with learning disabilities have uneven development of skills. What they learn, how they learn, the type of people they are and the way the learning disability affects non-academic areas of life such as friendships and job success are very different. A variety of motor, social, memory, organisational and attentional problems may also negatively impact academic achievement, metacognition, motivation, self-esteem, self-image, social interactions, peer and family relationships and the overall psyche (Tomblin et al.,2000).

In developed countries, learning disability researches have gone through a long way. In USA, till 1981, people with learning disabilities came under the protection of laws. More recent Federal laws specifically guarantee

The educational point of reference of this definition directs us to measure achievement and intellectual potential but it does not focus on the neurological contributors of the problem. According to the Federal definition, the retarded, emotionally disturbed, physically handicapped and economically disadvantaged also can be considered learning disabled if these conditions are not directly responsible for their severe discrepancy from expected achievement.

Learning disabled students with reasoning problems often have difficulty in verbalising what has been learnt, relating the concepts with symbolic language and understanding the instructor’s explanation. Reading is one such area where this deficit hampers learning. Of the students with specific learning disabilities receiving special education services, 70-80% have deficits in reading. Researches show that “reading is the most frequent cause of school failure”. Failure in the primary grades is almost wholly due to deficiencies in reading. There are numerous reading skills to be mastered at different grade levels. When the lower level techniques have been inadequately or imperfectly mastered, the acquisition of