Pedagogy

Part I Addressing Learning Problems
    For most students, learning is a fun experience. It gives them the chance to discover new things about the world and themselves, and at the same time, enjoy this experience with their friends. Not all students, however, are the same. The same cannot be said when it comes to students with disabilities, as they  often struggle in school and experience failure and frustration  (p.1). This is because students with disabilities may have different types of deficits including memory, attention, higher-order thinking, and cognitive processing deficits that can make learning difficult for them. As such, they often feel discouraged, and would have low self esteem and lack the necessary motivation to learn and participate in class. Because students with disabilities have a hard time understanding what is happening around them in a way that other students can, they also experience difficulties in socializing.

    It is essential that teachers know how to address such problems involving students with disabilities, as well as how to accommodate them in such a way that they would still be able to enjoy their learning experience and become motivated to learn and share with others.

    Concept formation is one of the things that all students have to learn in order to understand the things that are being taught to them better. It is important for them to determine the defining and non-defining characteristics of the concept being taught. This allows them to discriminate and differentiate what belongs to the concept and what does not. However, students with disabilities may not be able to accomplish this because of language deficits, which can  become barriers for learning both concrete and abstract concepts  (p.2). Teachers can assist students with disabilities by using explicit instructions when teaching new concepts teaching new concepts using the concrete, semi-concrete, and abstract teaching sequence relating new concepts to relevant experiences providing graphic organizers that visually illustrate new concepts using concept books to teach new concepts providing visual experiences to explain new English vocabulary teaching vocabulary words necessary for understanding concepts teaching students to use the visual content of textbooks to understand concepts using picture based software programs to facilitate conceptual understanding providing textbooks in the students native language and incorporate instructional conversations in instruction.

    Memory is also one of the areas that students with disabilities encounter difficulty in. Students with disabilities who experience short term memory problems will have a hard time remembering information while it is being processed. On the other hand, students with disabilities who have long term memory problems tend to forget names, dates, ideas and concepts over a period of time. Learning for students with disabilities, especially in terms of memory functioning, can be a struggle. As much as they want to remember things and be able to participate in class more, they are hindered by their deficits and are not able to learn as much.

    For teachers, it is essential that they understand this problem so that they do not mistake the child as someone who is lazy or inattentive. To better assist these children, they should teach mnemonic strategies review previously taught information use massed practice during the acquisition stage of learning use distributed practice in the maintenance and generalization phases of learning and provide authentic experiences.