Return-Path: <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j2CEj3C15218; Sat, 12 Mar 2005 09:45:03 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 09:45:03 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5A2F7D61.3210F237.0A349A3F@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: AWilder106@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-ld@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-LD:4638] Re: Dyslexia Research X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Atlas Mailer 2.0 Status: O Content-Length: 1716 Lines: 15 This is a very difficult problem. I think one must start with the student, how the student learns. If there is some question in the teacher's mind, then a diagnostic test might be useful. However, not all student problems can be analyzed through curent tests. Would a test for a "learning disability" still be useful? Yes, I think so. I think that most "learning disabilities" would be caught by a test for a phonological deficit. Of course, an experienced teacher may already know the indicators for a phonological problem without a test. is a disability a disability if it can be remediated? That is really where we run up against a legal problem, the definition of disability and the accommodations offered if a disability is found. It is a black and white, go/no go problem. But a skillful teacher may be able to remediate the problem; the brain's plasticity in many cases enables the learner to construct alternate pathways to the goal of being able to read and write better. The language here trips us all up. When I think "disability" I think of a problem that arises in fetal development: ectopias, when the neurons don't hook up properly to their targets. Albert Galaburda, a neuroscientist at Boston's Beth istrael Hospital, described what he found when doing post mortem studies on "dyslexics"--ectopias. And even neuroimaging isn't fool proof, as the brain may "light up" the same way for a person with ectopias as that of a person who had poor teaching in school. So I think it all goes back to the teacher's "tool kit," experience, as much knowledge as possible of neuroscience, and understanding, also, of the legal consequences of saying a person is "learning disabled." Andrea
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