Children with Learning Disabilities free essay sample

Now I understand what it feels like to have a learning disability by experiencing firsthand some of the tasks in the Web site sections â€Å"Attention†,† Reading†, †Writing†, and â€Å"Mathematics†. As a caregiver, big sister, and auntie, I have firsthand dealt with children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or Hyperactive. Attention deficit is one of the most widely used phrases when it comes to learning problems, but it may also be one of the most common misdiagnoses† (WGBH Educational Foundation (2002). Misunderstood minds. ) As a babysitter at 14 years old I looked after a child with (ADHD); he was extremely busy, yet when he was able to draw or be creative with paints and/or collages, he was OK. I had no problem with him, yet his mother said two other babysitters did not want to be bothered. I just really hated when his mother had him on Medication (Ritalin), it made him indifferent. We will write a custom essay sample on Children with Learning Disabilities or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Anyway I believe now and a little bit back then that he was misdiagnosed. As preschool teacher I taught 4 ? -5 year olds. I had a student that was diagnosed with (ADHD), this 3year old kid was on medication, he had gotten removed from two different schools for his horrific behavior, and two classes at my school. I was his last resort. In my classroom he excelled, because through research by his parents and myself and help with medication. We found out that he was not only bored with our curriculum his intellect was astonishing. It funny that my parent use to tell my sister who was very hyperactive â€Å"one day you are going to have a child that is going to drive you crazy too† Needless to say she did and like my parents they refused any kind of medications. They worked on their behavior by keeping them active in sports. Everything else was irrelevant, because if you want to play, sports you have to make good grades. Personally I believe depending on the seriousness a child with ADHD and hyperactive can be help without medication, and helped by m Drugs (either illegal or prescription), alcohol, bad nutrition, and the consumption of other chemical substances could affect a baby’s development while in the womb. Environmental factors can cause mental retardation as well. These include things like toxins, bacteria, infections, premature births or difficult births, head trauma, poor postnatal nutrition, and postnatal neglect. onitoring and restructuring his or her behavior. I found the â€Å"Attention† visual activity to be very challenging; surprisingly I passed it the first time. I believe if I was not as focus on the passage about Tom I would not have gotten anything incorrect. â€Å"Paying attention refers to the brains ability to take all of the stimuli around us, immediately categorize and organize information as relevant or irrelevant, and focus the mind on one thing. (WGBH Educational Foundation (2002) â€Å"Misunderstood minds, â€Å"Attetion†) It was most interesting experience, which fulfilled me and made me understand how distractions can hinder you in concentrating. I now can see and feel how a child who is visually distracted or has ADHD cannot focus on the tasks’ at hand. In preforming the â€Å"Reading† dec oding difficulty, was extremely difficult. I only figured out 2 out of 8 of phonemes. â€Å"Helping a student who is struggling with reading begins with understanding the difficulties. In general, a reading difficulty represents a breakdown somewhere in the process of learning to read. † (WGBH Educational Foundation (2002) â€Å"Misunderstood minds, â€Å"Reading†) When my nephew was 4 years old he had problems learning how to read. So I encourage my sister to purchase â€Å"Hooked on Phonics†. So for almost the entire summer of 94’ my nephew and I worked and had fun learning phonemes. Needless to say he finally not only learned how to read but he enjoys reading more. I also took the liberty to do the â€Å"Reading† retention difficulty, was very intense and motivating. I had to try it a three times before I retain anything. I guess my comprehension is not so good, though the activity was geared to be difficult for anyone. â€Å"Comprehension ultimately depends on the ability to decode and master sight words. When that word recognition becomes automatic young readers are better able to concentrate on the meaning of whole sentences and paragraphs while they read†. (WGBH Educational Foundation (2002) Misunderstood minds, â€Å"Reading†) Comprehension is a major factor in reading, I believe â€Å"if one cannot comprehend what he or she reads they cannot retain it. Hence, retention is a major factor in reading. â€Å"Wow! † I said to myself about how frustrating and tiring it must be for children with reading difficulties. I have always had the gift to gab even on paper. So when I took the â€Å"Writing† essay assignment, (Putting Ideas in sequence. ) I was flabbergasted, yet felt an overwhelmingly sense of how difficult writing must be for a child with this type of learning disabilities. The passage I wrote was entirely different than the one they viewed. Writing is an essential part of being a student in any kind of school K-12 and beyond. I tried the tracing activity and could not really trace anything, but it reminded me of something. It’s funny that my nephew knew how to write his name and some words before he could read well, because we always had writing material’s (pencils, markers, crayons, scrabble paper, and yeah coloring books). Tracing words or lines, circles, squares, scribble scrabble, and coloring can help most children learn how to write using these fun activities. Nonetheless a child with attention problems must go through â€Å"Hell and back† learning how to write, for you must be able to concentrate when writing. I was already irritated from the start when I saw the word I love to hate MATH. Math is one of the subjects that most people young and old either love doing, or does it because they have to, or despise it as I do. Thereupon, when I was taking the â€Å"Math† multi-step problem task I was a bit perturb from the beginning, however I did it and did fair. I have no excuse for not liking math but after reading difficulties in the Math section, I may have a problem with (difficulty comprehending the visual and spatial aspects and perceptual difficulties. In which is said to be â€Å"A far less common problem and probably the most severe is the inability to effectively visualize math concepts. Students who have this problem may be unable to judge the relative size among three dissimilar objects. (WGBH Educational Foundation (2002) Misunderstood minds, â€Å"Math†) When I tried the Making 3-D interferences – I failed it. Hence, if not anything I would say I may have a problem in math and that is why I hate so much. Nevertheless, children I feel utterly sorry or children with disabilities in math, for I may have one myself. I must say I am absolutely grateful for the learning experience I had with â€Å"Misunderstood Minds†. I love learning new things so I made up this quote, â€Å"Life is a learning process and one can always appreciate learning something new even if you are 100 years old. † Learning about how it feels personally to have a learning disabilities was most heartening and appreciating. Pammy Reference WGBH Educational Foundation (2002). Misunderstood minds. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Web site. Retrieved from http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/