CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

           With respect to the stream of consciousness and changing panorama of scenes in the environment the learning is oxygen to life. We learn so many things in one way or another with out having awareness about the learning factors and conditions.

It occurs to different persons in different ways. As it is said that learning is a change but when the desired change is not occurring specifically, it is the state of problem can be said as “Learning Disability”. Ability is the quality of being able. As it applies to learning we are all able to learn something though perhaps not others why this is so! Remains central in educational research for regular school students.

             To deal with such a state of problem experts have designed. The notion of “disability which meant lack of component power, strength or physical or mental ability; incapacity. Learning problems which not specific to regular school students alone often have roots in childhood in unelaborated problematic experiences related to social circumstances, conditions etc. The school is a place where the essence of learning is to develop writing, reading and language. The students who have a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding concept or in using language, spoken or written language. These may be manifested in disorders of listening, thinking, talking, reading, writing, spell or arithmetic.

The include conditions which have been referred to as perceptual handicaps, brain conditions, injury minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, developmental aphasia called L.D. to deal with such dilemma it is rather necessary to assess the level of problem so that a suitable and strategy may be developed to get rid of L.D concerned and it is as well necessary for the development of institution so that we make a progress in the field of Education.

The term “learning disability” was first introduced in 1963.  Learning disability is a universal problem that occurs in all languages, cultures and nations in the world.  The problem is neither existing to the United States not to English speaking countries but all over the world.

            Learning disabilities is a young field and its history is largely one of the past very few years.  Fortunately, it is relatively easy to perceive how the field has developed, what the contributions of major professions have been, and what roles some of the pioneers have played.

            Essentially, all of the relevant history of learning disabilities took place within the twentieth century.

            In the late 1920s and 1930s some apparently independent events were producing ideas and data that were to provide important contributions to the nascent field of learning disabilities.  Following World War-I, clinical studies of the behaviour of soldiers who had suffered various types of head wounds led to the recording and categorization of behaviours peculiar to those with a history of brain lesions. At the same time a neurologist Orton was studying the problems of children with developmental language difficulties.  His work was also oriented in brain function as he explored the possible effect of cerebral dominance of the right or left lobes on certain learning-related behaviours.  A very few others were beginning to initiate some programs aimed at remediation of problems later to be labeled learning disabilities.

            According to Davison & Neale (2001), learning disabilities signify inadequate development in a specific area of academic, language, speech or motor skills that is not due to mental retardation, autism, a demonstrable physical disorder, or deficient educational opportunities.  Children with these disorders are usually of average or above average intelligence but have difficulty learning some specific skills.

            According to Holloway and John (2001), the number of students with learning disability educated in regular classrooms increased between 1986 and 1996.  Holloway states: when we consider that many students were first identified as being learning disabled precisely because of their lack of academic success in general educational classroom.  We must ask its educationally reasonable to place these students back in inclusive classroom.

       According to Woolfolk (1995), learning disability is a relatively new and controversial category of exceptional students.  The students with learning disabilities are not all a like.  The most common characteristics are specific difficulties in one or more academic areas; poor coordination; problem paying attention, problem organizing and interpreting visual and auditory information.

            “The national joint committee on learning disabilities” write the definition of learning disability which is used by “Northwestern University” was: learning disability is a general term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and the use of listening, spelling, reading, writing, reasoning or mathematical ability.  These disorders are intrinsic to individual presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction and may occur across the life span.

            In this study we will elaborate the learning disabilities in practical sense; what learning disabilities are, what are the background reasons, how they can be detected, what are the effects of these disabilities on student learning as well as student educational progress.

Statement of the Problem

            This study aimed at the assessment of learning disabilities among regular school students.

Significance of the Study

            In the ancient times men lived a natural life, free from civilization and society bondages.  Culture was based on simplicity rather than complexity.  Customs, traditions and occupations were almost inherited and transferred from generation to generation.  Curriculum was the life of family and knowledge about the surroundings.

            Teachers and parents do perform the leading role in the field of general and informal instruction of their children.  Life on earth has been a hard struggle for man in different ages.  Man has had to spend a healthy life.  The passage of time has seen more and division of labour different people have had to perform specific tasks.

            In today’s life learning disabilities is the most recent exceptionality to be considered a specific classification.  Since its recognition in the 1960s as a specific handicap, it has become the largest area of enrollment.  In 1984 almost half (43 percent) of the children enrolled in special education programs were classified learning disabled.

            One reason for the rapid expansion of programs for learning disabled children is the heterogeneous nature of these children.  The group includes those who do not fit neatly into traditional categories of exceptional children.  In any school system, a substantial number of children are slow in learning to talk or to acquire other communication skills or to develop visual or auditory perception.  Some have difficulty learning to read, to spell, to write, or to calculate.  There are children who are not receptive to language but are not deaf; who are not able to perceive visually but are not blind; and who cannot learn by ordinary methods of instruction but are not mentally retarded.  All of these children are learning disabled.

            Learning disabilities is a generic term and that the disorders are “intrinsic to the individual”.  That distinction – that an intrinsic psychological or neurological factor has inhibited or interfered with the normal development of the child in mental operations, language, or academic school programs – was implied or stated by every professional association.  And most also excluded children who are mentally retarded or sensory handicapped or who lack the opportunity to learn.

Objectives of the Study

               This study is an attempt to provide testing and assessment techniques and procedures of L.D. and recognition among regular school students regarding their academic problem especially,

Developmental Dyslexia

Developmental Dysgraphia

Developmental word Deafness

Developmental Expressive Aphasia

Developmental Dysprexia

 Following were the main objectives of the study:

 1.   To assess the level of learning disabilities among  regular school students.

            The population included the regular school students of English Medium Schools of Lahore city in this study.

            A sample of 34 students from randomly selected schools has been taken here for the assessment.