Learning Disabilities And Challenging Behaviors

Summer Web Article, 2008
Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.
Copyright © 2008

This month, the second edition of my classroom teacher's text co-authored with Nancy Mather, Learning Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors: A Guide to Intervention and Classroom Management (Paul H. Brookes, Publishers, 2008), has been published. The second edition has been expanded by over 100 pages and contains over 400 pages of text. We believe our book is comprehensive, user friendly and science based. The majority of our book is devoted to educational and behavioral interventions. Additionally we provide reviews of a diverse collection of educational curricula, screening tools and a comprehensive model to address the needs of all students.
Our model is based upon a framework Dr. Nancy Mather and I developed over ten years ago. In this quarterly article, I have excerpted a section of Chapter One explaining and describing the Building Blocks of Learning model. This model forms the foundation of our text. A number of other articles about earlier versions of this model were written as part of my monthly articles over the past ten years. They are archived on my web page (www.samgoldstein.com [1]).
 
THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LEARNING
When a child struggles in school, teachers must first determine the underlying factors contributing to the learning or behavior problem. When a child acts out, the reason may not be readily apparent. Similarly, when a child fails to or refuses to complete work, it is rarely because of poor motivation. Lowered motivation in students is often a secondary symptom, resulting from chronic school difficulties. Over many years of working with students, school psychologists, special and general education teachers, and parents, we have developed and revised a simple framework for explaining why children experience learning and behavior problems in the classroom. Our original framework was called the Building Blocks of Learning.

Our efforts to develop a working model of classroom problems combined with our professional experiences led us to conclude that the classroom behavior and learning problems of children could be represented using a three-level, triangular framework reflecting foundational skills, memory and perceptual processing or symbolic abilities, and conceptual or thinking skills. Although similar in intent, this second revision contains a revised and updated model and questionnaire.

Although our model has not undergone a large, research-based evaluation, we believe it is consistent with current research and with the observations and reports of classroom problems from parents, teachers, and specialists. Our model offers a bridge between research and educational practice. The intent is to help educators increase their understanding of the various reasons children struggle in school and, more importantly, the ways in which professionals can help these students.

Our model contains 10 building blocks stacked into the shape of a pyramid. Underneath the pyramid is a rectangle representing the learning environment. This rectangle encompasses external variables including a child's home, school, and classroom environments.

The 10 blocks of the pyramid are divided into three distinct groups. At the base are the four foundational blocks: attention and self regulation, emotions, behavior, and self-esteem. The middle level contains a set of three symbolic blocks: phonological processing, orthographic processing, and motor processing. The top level contains the three conceptual blocks: thinking with language, thinking with images, and, thinking with strategies. Although all of the blocks are the same size, some of the blocks are more important than others for certain types of learning.

Many of the most common classroom learning and behavior problems can be represented clearly, described, and subsequently understood through the use of this model. We acknowledge that all abilities are not accounted for in this model; we also recognize that learning is an interactive process and that these blocks are not discrete units but rather encompass interrelated and interactive factors and abilities. Although learning does not consist of isolated skills, an understanding of the unique affective, behavioral, cognitive, and linguistic variables that influence development and school performance can help educators understand the various types of learning disabilities and behavior disorders and then design or select appropriate behavioral and academic interventions.

The Learning Environment
At the base of the triangle is the learning environment. This includes the supports provided for the student in the home and school, as well any special services, such as speech-language or occupational therapy that the student receives. Clearly, children's learning and behavior problems can be exacerbated by factors within the home setting. For example, the lack of parental support coupled with chaos at home was having a significant effect on Mark's self-image and his emotional availability to engage in academic tasks. Although we know the home environment exerts a powerful influence on school adjustment, our focus in this book is on the learning environment at school. Classroom teachers have the primary responsibility for creating a nurturing class environment where students feel respected, valued, and supported academically, emotionally, and socially.

Foundational Blocks
The foundational blocks provide the support system for all learning. Just as the foundation of a house must be strong enough to support the structure, these four blocks must be strong in order for efficient learning to occur. A brief description of the skills in the foundational blocks follows.

Attention and Self-Regulation This building block includes the abilities to pay attention, self regulate behavior, and control impulses, abilities critical to all learning. Mr. Chavez knew that the basis of many of Jeremy's attention and behavior difficulties stemmed from poor self-regulation and that his problems with impulse control prevented him from focusing on the relevant requirements of classroom learning tasks. Jeremy had trouble maintaining persistent effort and was easily distracted when attempting to pursue a goal. Jeremy had trouble sticking with a plan for completing his assignments and rarely turned in work. He would often disturb other children.

Emotions The building block of emotions includes the child's general temperament, as well as his or her moods. This block includes what are sometimes referred to as internalizing disorders. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, and motivation can significantly affect a child's availability for learning. Difficulties in school can also affect attitude and performance. Ben had always struggled with reading and spelling. These difficulties had affected his attitude and his willingness to persevere on tasks requiring reading and writing.

Behavior The building block of behavior includes the covert and overt actions of a student, including social skills and compliance. Conduct disorder, oppositional/defiant disorder, and anger control are all examples of externalizing issues that influence interactions with teachers and peers. Samuel's behavior caused negative reactions from his peers. He would often shove another student, or without provocation, knock a student's books onto the floor. Ms. Handler had tried to implement several interventions, including moving Samuel's desk away from other students or sending him to 'time out', but his disruptive behaviors continued.

Self-Esteem The building block of self-esteem relates how students perceive themselves and to what factors they attribute their successes and failures. These are learned attitudes, developed in part through feedback from parents, teachers, and peers. Poor academic self-esteem can affect a child's willingness to persist on difficult tasks.

To succeed in school, a child requires a supportive classroom environment, the ability to pay attention, healthy emotions, acceptable behavior, and a positive view of self and school. Strengths in the foundational blocks help a student compensate for other difficulties and learn to persevere even when faced with difficult tasks. Weaknesses in the foundational blocks affect school performance, and adverse factors, such as anxiety or depression, reduce a child's availability for learning. Strong foundational blocks do not, however, guarantee school success. Some children have support at home and school, pay attention, are happy and well adjusted, but struggle because of specific cognitive and linguistic weaknesses in the symbolic or conceptual blocks.

Symbolic Blocks
The second level of the building blocks model involves the processing of information through the senses. The abilities in these blocks help children to gain access to, produce, recall, and retrieve information about the symbolic aspects of language. Many terms have been applied to the deficient school achievement of this group, including specific learning disabilities (LD), underachievement, learning difficulty, dyslexia, and specific developmental disorders.

In general, the abilities of the symbolic blocks are conceptualized as secretarial in nature because difficulties primarily affect basic skill development or the mastery of the coding systems of language: decoding (i.e., word identification), encoding (i.e., spelling), and motor coding (i.e., handwriting). Researchers have distinguished between the roles of the secretary and the author in the writing process. The secretary manages the mechanical concerns of writing, such as spelling, punctuation, and handwriting (i.e., skills affected by strengths and weaknesses in the symbolic blocks), whereas the author formulates, organizes, and expresses ideas (i.e., skills affected by strengths and weaknesses in the conceptual blocks).

Some children have trouble with phonological tasks (e.g., rhyming words, identifying the discrete sounds in words) or with aspects of verbal memory (e.g., trying to recall the days of the week or the names of the months in correct order). Other children have trouble with the orthographic or more visual aspects of learning to read and spell, such as remembering which way to write the letter b or how to spell the irregular element in a word. Still others do poorly with the motor aspects of learning and, like Andy, have trouble cutting with scissors or forming letters. Children with marked weaknesses in these blocks are often diagnosed as having a learning disability. The skills in the symbolic blocks depend heavily on memory. Eventually, these abilities become increasingly more automatic (with little thinking involved) as performance becomes more effortless and efficient. A brief description of the skills represented in these blocks follows.

Phonological Processing The main abilities of this block are phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory. Phonological awareness is the oral language ability to understand the sound structure of speech. This awareness allows one to manipulate language sounds. As students learn an alphabetic language such as English, a critical first step is becoming aware that speech can be divided or sequenced into a series of discrete sounds, words, syllables, and phonemes, the smallest units of sound. In most instances, this awareness develops gradually during the preschool and early elementary years. Maria's difficulties with reading and spelling were caused by poor phonological awareness. She had trouble discriminating similar speech sounds and would often omit sounds when spelling a word or would confuse certain sounds, such as writing an f for the /v/ sound.

Verbal short-term memory refers to the ability to repeat back in sequence information that has just been heard. This type of skill is needed in order to follow directions in a classroom or write notes during a lecture. Difficulty with memory is also associated with remembering rote information, such as learning the letter names or memorizing multiplication tables. In some cases, a student's difficulties are primarily related to memory. In other cases, problems with short-term memory tasks can be more related to weaknesses in attention or language. Although Maria experienced trouble with the sounds of language, she did not have trouble listening to, repeating, or following directions.

Orthographic Processing In a general sense, orthography refers to the writing system of a language, including the punctuation marks, capitalization rules, and spelling patterns. In a narrower sense orthography refers to the perception and recall of letter strings and word forms. This ability, referred to as orthographic awareness, allows one to form a mental representation of the appearance of a letter or word. In addition, orthographic sensitivity helps one to become aware of the common spelling patterns and word parts, as well as the rules about legal letter strings or combinations that exist in a language. For example, most first-grade children quickly learn that the letters "ck" can be placed at the end of a word to spell the /k/ sound, but not at the start of a word.

Another aspect of this block involves automatic retrieval or the speed of recognition of letters and words. This ability is needed to recall quickly basic sight vocabulary for both reading and spelling. A child with initial weaknesses in this block is likely to have a slow reading rate and poor spelling in later years. In fact, Ben's major problems with reading and spelling were due to his poor orthographic awareness and slow speed of word perception.

Some abilities are more complex and include aspects of two or more blocks, such as working memory. Working memory refers to the ability to apprehend information and then rearrange it in a specified way. A simple example would be to ask someone to listen to a series of digits and then say the digits back in a reversed order. This type of ability requires verbal short-term memory, as well as the ability to visualize and rearrange the digits.

Motor Processing The motor block consists of two types of abilities: gross-motor skills, the skills involving large muscle movements such as used in jumping and running, and fine-motor skills, the skills involving small muscles such as used in writing or drawing. A child may have a strength or weakness in one or both of these areas. In other words, a child skilled in soccer may or may not possess the ability to produce neat handwriting in the classroom. In addition, fine-motor skills can be broken into two types: the skills involved in symbol production (i.e., writing letters and numbers) and the skills involved in artistic expression (i.e., drawing a picture). Some children can sketch or draw wonderful illustrations but are stymied by the production of symbols. This difficulty with producing the motor patterns needed for writing is referred to as dysgraphia. Andy possessed weaknesses in motor planning that made it difficult to perform most types of fine- and gross-motor tasks. In this book, we focus upon fine-motor skills because they are more relevant to classroom performance.

In general, strong processing abilities make early learning easier and enable children to perform secretarial tasks such as taking notes, memorizing math facts, or acquiring accurate and fluent word identification skills. Once a child has learned a task, which may require repeated practices, these skills become increasingly automatic or "automatized" and are performed with little thought and effort. For example, when a child has learned to read a word, the word is recognized instantly when it is encountered.

Skills in these blocks help children perform various tasks, but these skills alone do not guarantee school success. Some children have no difficulty learning to read, spell, and solve math computations. These children perform automatic, symbolic tasks with ease; however, when the curriculum begins to accelerate and children must read to learn, they may struggle because of weak conceptual and linguistic skills. They may be capable of mastering basic mathematical processes but then struggle with more complex mathematics because of difficulties with reasoning and concept formation. In our model, these types of difficulties relate to the abilities of the conceptual blocks.

Conceptual Blocks
The top of the pyramid includes the conceptual abilities: thinking with language, images, and strategies. The abilities in the conceptual blocks help children understand meanings, comprehend relationships, visualize complex designs, and apply previously acquired knowledge as they engage in academic tasks.

Thinking with Language Thinking with language involves tasks such as understanding what is heard, comprehending written text, expressing ideas through speaking and writing, and learning and using new vocabulary. Students with strengths in language tend to speak easily and possess an expansive vocabulary. Students with weaknesses in language often experience difficulty with tasks involving comprehension or production of text. Katy had weaknesses in language, and subsequently, her answers often missed the mark. One day, Ms. McGrew showed Katy a picture of four trees and then asked her, "Half of these trees would be how many?" Katy asked as she drew a horizontal line across the trees, "You mean if you cut them this way?"

Thinking with Images Thinking with images involves reproducing complex visual patterns and designs, as well as understanding and judging spatial relationships. Some children have more difficulty with tasks of a nonverbal nature, rather than those involving language. These children tend to have particular difficulty grasping and acquiring mathematical concepts. They may also have trouble with developing social competence and recognizing, evaluating, and interpreting gestures and facial expressions. Stephanie had a lot of trouble interpreting facial expressions and could not readily assess how others were feeling. Some problems associated with what are often referred to as "nonverbal" learning disabilities are represented by this block.

Thinking with Strategies Thinking with strategies involves thinking about thinking or what is referred to as metacognition. This block includes the executive functions used to direct all cognitive activities and includes the abilities to plan, organize, monitor, evaluate, and reflect upon one's own learning. This block is placed at the top of the model because of its importance to all learning and behavior. Strengths in this block help students to be purposeful and self-regulated and to engage in goal-directed behavior. Ultimately, if students can become strategic, goal-oriented learners, they are usually able to compensate and adjust for weaknesses in other areas.

In thinking about the learning and behavior of students, one can understand the role that specific weaknesses in one or more of the building blocks can play in creating school difficulties. Ryan had weaknesses in the symbolic blocks. These contributed to his reading difficulties and consequently affected his self-esteem. Katy had weaknesses in the conceptual blocks, and she struggled to comprehend tasks that involved using language and reasoning. Jeremy struggled with weaknesses in the foundational block of attention and self-regulation. Although Ben could produce intricate sketches of machines and rebuild a motorcycle engine, he had trouble spelling even common words. Ben had trouble getting a mental image of the appearance of words. His marked difficulty with spelling contributed to a negative attitude toward all types of writing tasks. Mark came from a disadvantaged environment in which little support was provided for learning in the home.

When the blocks are stacked together as a model, one can understand how a child's unique learning and behavior characteristics, as well as the child's support system and environment, can affect school success. When considering the unique characteristics of each student, the first goal is to identify specific strengths and how these abilities can be used to enhance performance; the second is to identify the weaker areas and abilities so that appropriate accommodations and instructional plans can be developed and implemented.

Children's difficulties result from qualitative differences and many different combinations of skills are possible. The slogan "one size fits all" does not apply to the learning abilities or disabilities of children. When designing academic and behavioral interventions for specific students, a more accurate adage is "one size fits one." We have, however, encountered a few frequently occurring general profiles. Five of the most common profiles are described briefly in the following sections.

COMMON PROFILES
Strengths in the Symbolic and Conceptual Blocks, Weaknesses in the Foundational Blocks and a Disadvantaged Environment
Some children have the language, reasoning, and processing abilities needed for school achievement but are hampered by emotional or behavioral issues. The difficulties that some children experience in school can be directly related to weaknesses in the foundational blocks. Students who experience trouble paying attention or have serious emotional or behavioral problems may be unavailable for learning. Other children may return home each evening to a chaotic or extremely stressful home environment. This constant disruption at home reduces the child's ability to profit from instruction. In most instances, once their attentional, emotional, or social issues have been addressed and resolved, these children are able to succeed in school.

Strengths in the Foundational and Conceptual Blocks, Weaknesses in the Symbolic Blocks, and a Supportive Environment
Some students possess above average language and reasoning abilities and the ability to pay attention. They live in supportive homes and learn in nurturing school environments. In spite of their many capabilities, their marked weaknesses in the symbolic blocks affect their ability to learn and memorize specific information. Although these children may be well adjusted and highly motivated, they struggle with school tasks that require rote learning and memory, such as reading words, spelling, or calculating. They are slow to develop automaticity with word reading and spelling and may be diagnosed as having dyslexia, dyscalculia, or dysgraphia, or a specific reading, writing, or math disability. With understanding and systematic, intensive interventions, as well as curricular adjustments and accommodations throughout their school careers, these students can be successful.

Strengths in the Foundational and Symbolic Blocks, Weaknesses in Conceptual Blocks
Students with weaknesses in the conceptual blocks experience difficulty with tasks involving reasoning and language. These students have particular difficulty with tasks involving comprehending and expressing ideas and problem solving. In contrast, because of strengths in the symbolic blocks, they can memorize spelling words and math facts easily but have trouble applying these skills to real-life problems. A modified and adapted curriculum coupled with direct therapy in the use of language and the application of strategies can help these students improve their chances for school success.

Strengths in the Conceptual Blocks, Weaknesses in the Symbolic and Foundational Blocks
Some children with strengths in thinking and reasoning have weaknesses in processing and attending to information. For example, some students with LD often receive the dual diagnosis of LD and ADHD. In other cases, students with LD often have low self-esteem or emotional or behavioral problems. These problems contribute further to reduced motivation and school failure. With appropriate, often intensive, long-term interventions, these children can succeed in school.

A Significant Strength or Weakness in One Block
Some students excel in one area. Although Ben was having trouble with reading and writing, he was an extremely talented athlete. His success in sports helped him maintain a positive view of himself. Maria had trouble with the sounds of language but not with tasks involving thinking with language. Her strong ability to reason using language enabled her to learn through listening and compensate somewhat for her problems with phonology.

Other students possess a significant weakness in only one area that often results in a specific diagnosis and eligibility for special services. For example, a student with a specific weakness in phonology may be diagnosed as having dyslexia. A student with severe problems in motor skills may be classified as having a sensory motor integration disorder, or dysgraphia. Similarly, a student with severe behavior problems may be classified as having a conduct disorder. A student with severe attention problems may be diagnosed as having ADHD. A student with a severe problem in language acquisition or use may be classified as having a language impairment. Students with severe weaknesses in one domain often require intensive and systematic interventions to succeed in school. Maria, Jeremy, and Andy are all examples of students with marked weaknesses in one area. To compensate, these children must learn how to rely on their strengths.