Influence of Learning Disability on the Process of Learning: Analytical Essay

Influence of Learning Disability on the Process of Learning: Analytical Essay

How learning is affected when having a Learning Disability

From starting a fire to writing a thesis learning has always been the bridge to any goal attainment. It generates new knowledge which in turn gives us the ability to make better choices in both daily and academic life. Almost every western society promotes the importance of learning because it can be a determinant of a good job and high wage. Because of this, governments and leaders created educational institutions to equip the individual with the knowledge needed to do jobs safely and efficiently. The educational system is constructed in a way that in order to keep on improving, students are required to read and write. This can be seen by some that it limits the individual’s ability and creativity by only giving them the chance to express themselves by using only two mediums. This is the point where it also limits people that have a learning disability. About five percent of the total public schools population have learning disabilities (Lyon, 1996). Having a learning disability means that one has a disorder of psychological process in both using and understanding language. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, it is the imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or doing math (Lyon, 1996). Throughout this paper, I am going to focus on three different challenges students face when having a learning disability and also how this leads to the person to be affected holistically.

Note-taking is quite crucial when it comes to learning. It is considered as important as attention and studying. When students start to learn complex things, taking notes could be quite helpful for doing well in exams. Many researchers have conducted studies related to this subject. In the last few decades’ research related to note-taking has been mainly related to three different aspects. The first one is how note-taking affects cognitive variables like attention, memory and comprehension. The second is a comparison between note-taking quality and how it affects learning efficiency. And the third is about using technology in note-taking. Taking notes does not only affect reading ability but also enhances comprehension and recall. It helps the individual to analyze the information presented and think critically about it. To write good notes the learner should find a way to make the notes as clear as possible while minimizing the writing so that he or she could focus on the next part. Good notes are considered as text that is different from the original learning source but still maintains the actual information and the student’s critical thinking. In order for a student to reach the maximum ability to learn, he or she should be given appropriate note-taking instructions (Chang & Ku, 2015). Note-taking is considered as a barrier that limits students with learning disabilities to learn in both academic and professional lives. As the number of students that have a learning disability is increasing by the years, researchers are getting more interested in this area. Hughes and Suritsky (Ruhl & Suritsky, 1995) argued that students having a learning disability find it difficult to take efficient notes from lectures. This is because students that have a learning disability find it frustrating to group information given by the lecturer and using it to elaborate mentally on it. Other difficulties related to note-taking Hughes and Suritsky mentioned are processing auditory information, writing, spelling, and maintaining selective attention. Other research (Boyle, 2012) found that people with learning disability write fewer notes, perform poorly on tests and find it difficult to recall, even right after taking notes when compared to other students without a learning disability. Different researchers have attempted to find a way that benefits and encourages students with learning disabilities to take notes more efficiently. Ruhl (Ruhl & Suritsky, 1995) studied a teaching method called the pause procedure, in which, the lecturer stops three times for two minutes during the lecture to give students time to discuss the lecture and adding on the notes. The results of this procedure managed to show some learning improvement for recall information. Note-taking should not be seen as is because it is a process that consists of understanding, writing, spelling, and reading.

Reading is another significant requirement for having an educational career. Reading enables students to access and understand information of what someone has written in the past. It is crucial for academia because it is almost impossible to teach students in a limited amount of time the knowledge books potentially provide. Reading can be used for revising past lectures but also gives the ability to learn new things. Many studies were carried out to prove the importance of reading especially from an early age (Gabrieli &am