Americans Define 'Learning Disabilities'

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6872?ref=twitter

I read the above article about how American’s define learning disabilities and was very surprised by the results. This study was conducted by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and surveyed 1,000 adults, 700 teachers, and 700 parents about their views on learning disabilities. According to this article about 40% of students who are helped under the Individuals with Disabilities Act have a learning disability. It is so important to understand the definition of what a learning disability is because so many students are affected by it. The federal definition of a learning disability is a “neurological disorder that impairs a person’s ability to read, write, spell, or do math, but is not tied to overall cognitive ability.” According to this study 80% of people surveyed linked learning disabilities with mental retardation and 69% classified ADHD as a learning disability, which is untrue because ADHD is an emotional or behavioral disorder. These statistics are alarming to me especially since teachers were surveyed. It is important that teachers, parents, and adults understand that students with learning disabilities just need extra help and are in no way mentally retarded. This mindset needs to change in order to correctly help these children. Some positive outcomes of this study were that 79% of people surveyed agreed that students learn in different ways. I think the most promising statistic found in this survey was that 80% of people said that, “People with learning disabilities are just as smart as you and me.” This survey has opened my eyes to some negative and positive views that American’s have about students who have a learning disability. I think it is important educate as many people as possible, especially parents and teachers, about how to work with students who have learning disabilities because it is likely they will encounter students who have one.