Learning Disability - Treatment and Intervention

Treatment and Intervention

Interventions include:

• Mastery model:
  • Learners work at their own level of mastery.
  • Practice
  • Gain fundamental skills before moving onto the next level
    • Note: this approach is most likely to be used with adult learners or outside the mainstream school system.
• Direct Instruction:
  • Highly structured, intensive instruction
  • Emphasizes carefully planned lessons for small learning increments
  • Scripted lesson plans
  • Rapid-paced interaction between teacher and students
  • Correcting mistakes immediately
  • Achievement-based grouping
  • Frequent progress assessments
• Classroom adjustments:
  • Special seating assignments
  • Alternative or modified assignments
  • Modified testing procedures
  • Quiet environment
• Special equipment:
  • Word processors with spell checkers and dictionaries
  • Text-to-speech and speech-to-text programs
  • Talking calculators
  • Books on tape
  • Computer-based activities
• Classroom assistants:
  • Note-takers
  • Readers
  • Proofreaders
  • Scribes
• Special Education:
  • Prescribed hours in a resource room
  • Placement in a resource room
  • Enrollment in a special school for learning disabled students
  • Individual Education Plan (IEP)
  • Educational therapy

Sternberg has argued that early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities. He has also suggested that the focus on learning disabilities and the provision of accommodations in school fails to acknowledge that people have a range of strengths and weaknesses, and places undue emphasis on academic success by insisting that people should receive additional support in this arena but not in music or sports. Other research has pinpointed the use of resource rooms as an important—yet often politicized component of educating students with learning disabilities.