unit5learningdifferently

Unit5LearningDifferentlyTEACHER:Hello,everyone.Ithinkwecangetstartednow.Aswehavestudiedinthisclass,therearemanydifferentwaysoflearning,andtherearemanydifferentlearningproblems.Somepeoplehaveproblemswithreading,ormath,orwithexpressingtheirideasinwords.Somepeoplehavememoryproblemsforexample,theyhavedifficultyrememberingwhattheyhearorread.Otherpeoplehaveproblemsholdingapencilorpensothattheycannotwrite.Aseducators,thesearechallengesthatweneedtounderstand,becauseeveryonedeservesaneducation--andit’sourjobtopromotelearning.TodayI’dliketotalkaboutonecommoncauseoflearningproblems--dyslexia.Theterm“dyslexia,”that’sD-Y-S-L-E-X-I-A,isfromGreek.Itmeansdifficultywithwordsandlanguage.Inthefirstpartofmytalk,I’llbrieflyexplainwhatdyslexiaisandgiveyousomegeneralbackgroundaboutit.Then,inthesecondpart,Iwillpresentonedoctor’sexplanationofwhypeoplewithdyslexiahavelearningdifficulties.OK,whatisdyslexiaDyslexiameansadifficultywithreadingorwriting.Beforeabout1970,researchersthoughtdyslexiawasavisualproblem,aproblemseeinglettersandwordscorrectly.Butthistheorywasneverconfirmedtobetrue.Researchershavenowconcludedthatthemainproblemmaybethatdyslexicshavetroublematchingsoundswithlettersinwordsbecausetheirbrainsworkdifferentlyfromotherpeople’s.Letmeexplainthat.Everywordismadeupofsounds,rightThesoundunitsarecalled“phonemes.”Let’staketheword“cat.”Now,someonewhoisnotdyslexicwillreadtheword“cat”andbeabletobreakitintothesounds,thephonemesCa-A-Te.However,someonewhohasdyslexiahastroublebreakingdownthewordintosounds,andasaresulthastroublereadingtheword.Thereareotherproblemspeoplewithdyslexiamayhave,andnoteveryonewhoisdyslexichasthesameproblems.That’swhythereisnodefinitionofdyslexiathatisacceptedbyeveryone.Wedoknow,however,thatadyslexicperson’sbrainworksdifferentlyfromotherpeople’s.Hereareafewexamplesofstudentswithdyslexiaandtheirlearningproblems.Annaknowstheanswertoaquestion,butsaysthewrongwords.Thomasstudieshardforaspellingtest.Hecansayhoweachwordisspelled,buthecannotwritethewordscorrectlyonthetest.Kurttriestopayattentioninclass,buthehastroublesittingstillandlistening.Hecan’tconcentrate,andhisteachersthinkhedoesn’tcareaboutschool.Seijihastroublewiththeorderofthings,suchasthestepsinamathproblem,hishistorylessons,orevenhisowndailyschedule.Susanhastroublefollowingdirections.Shemayconfuseleftandright....Yes,doyouhaveaquestionSTUDENT1:Idon’tunderstandabouttheboywhocan’tsitstill.TEACHER:Theboywhocan’tconcentrateinclassSTUDENTl:Yes,ImeanhowisthatdyslexiaTEACHER:Well,typically,thechildhastroubleFollowingspokendirectionsorunderstandingthestepsinalesson,andsohebecomesverynervousorupsetandcan’tconcentrate.OKSTUDENT1:Oh,OK.SothedyslexiapreventshimfromconcentratingTEACHER:Right.Thesearesomeofthechallengesforpeoplewithdyslexia.AndasIsaidearlier,notwopeoplehaveidenticalproblems.Ofcourse,thereareotherreasonswhyastudentmightnotpayattentioninclass,orhavetroublereading.However,theseareproblemssome-onewithdyslexiamayhavebecauseadyslexicperson’sbrainworksdifferentlyfromotherpeopleSTUDENT2:Howcommonisdyslexia’s.AnotherquestionYes.TEACHER:It’sestimatedthat10percentofallschoolchildrenaredyslexic.STUDENT2:Wow,that’salot.Iheardthatitonlyaffectsboys.That’snottrue,isitTEACHER:No.Researchhasconfirmedthatbothgenderscanhavedyslexia.OK,sothatgivesyouanideaoftheproblem,butwhatcausesdyslexiaResearchersthinkthattheremaybeageneticbasisfordyslexia,thattheproblemisinheritedfromthemotherortheFather.Thisisbasedonthefactthatabout85percentofchildrenwithdyslexiahaveeitheramotherorfatherwhoisdyslexic.What’sinteresting--aswellaschallengingforuseducators-isthatthesekidsgenerallyscorehighonintelligencetests,buttheyusuallycan’tread,write,orspellatthesamelevelastheirclassmates.Thiscanbeaproblembecauseotherpeople,eventheirteachers,oftendon’tbelievethatthekidsareveryintelligent.Inaddition,dyslexicsoftenfeellikethere’ssomethingwrongwiththembecausetheycan’tlearnthesamewayotherkidsatschoolcan.Theyoftenfeelstressedandblamethem-selves,especiallywhenotherpeoplesaytheyarelazyandnottrying.Manyofthemtryveryhardtolearn,butstillhavetrouble.Inthispartofthelecture,I’llpresenttheworkofDr.HaroldLevinson,apsychologistwhohasstudieddyslexiaforovertwenty-fiveyears.Tohelpusunderstanddyslexia,hetellsustothinkofourbrainsasTVsets,andtothinkofthepartsinourbrainsthatreceiveinformationascomputerchips.Everyday,thesechips,thepartsinyourbrain,receiveinformation,rightNowthisinformationentersthebrainassignalsofwhatweseeorhearortouch,andsoon.Now,thejobofthesebrainpartsistotuneinthesignalstodifferentchannelsinourbrain.YourbrainreceivesthesignalsjustasyourTVsetathomedoes,likeittunesin,say,ChannelFiveorChannelSix.Now,ifthesecomputerchipsaren’tworkingright,theycan’treceivecorrectchannels.Sothesignalsthesignalscorrectly.Norcantheytuneinthedriftaroundandbecomeunclear,andasthesignalsdrift,thiscausesproblems.Forexample,ifachild’sbraincannotreceivethesignalsonapageasshereads,shehasdifficultyreading.Ifachildcannottuneinthesignalshehearsinclass,hehasdifficultyunderstandingwhattheteachertellshim.Ifasignaldrifts,thiscanalsocontrolenergylevels,ourabilitytoconcentrate,ourabilitytodistinguishwhatisimportantandunimportant.Thisiswhysomechildrenhavedifficultysittingstillinclass.Thegoodnewsisthataftermanyyearsofresearch,Dr.Levinsonandothershaveconcludedthatthebraincanlearntofixthedrifting.Childrenwhoreceivehelpoftenlearntodealwiththeirindividualproblems,anddobetterinschool.Naturally,it’sbestiftheschoolsinterveneandgivehelpwhenthechildrenareveryyoung.It’salsoimportantthatteachers,andyoufutureteachers,beflexibleabouthowyouteach,andconsiderthedifferentlearningneedsofstudentswithdyslexia....insomespecialschoolsfordyslexiclearners,theteachersreadtothestudents.Theydon’trequirethestudentstoreadorwritetolearn.Teacherspresentlessonsinavarietyofways.Studentscantaketestsorally,ratherthaninwriting.Andreadingandwritingaretaughtasseparateskills.Thisapproachrecognizesthatthesestudentsareverycapableoflearning,butneedtobetaughtinadifferentwaybecausetheylearndifferently.Thisisaverypositivestep.So,todayI’vegivenyousomegeneralideasaboutwhatdyslexiais,andwhateducatorsaredoingtohelpthesestudentslearn.OK,well,that’senoughfortoday.We’lltalkmoreaboutthisinthenextclass.