Learning is the process of acquiring, gaining, and retaining knowledge which may be applied to situations in real life. Learning is not a passive process wherein students can take in information and then remember this information throughout the student's life rather learning involves a complex process of interaction between the learner and the material being learned and for the student to be ale to recall and apply new information. Most students, at an early age, already know and have been taught how to process information and to develop their own plan or strategy in solving different problems. However, not all students are capable of this processing ability and may find it difficult to process cognitive ideas. The students that find it difficult to process cognitive ideas are often diagnosed to have learning difficulties. Students with these learning difficulties often find learning and processing of new information a difficult and painful process. The learning difficulties that these students have make it challenging for them to learn how to read, write and do math. These students with learning difficulties however can still be taught effectively through the use of different learning theories and strategies that would help these students approach learning tasks more effectively. This paper aims to give an overview of the different types of learning difficulties that students are faced with today. This paper will also aim to enumerate the different learning theories and approaches that are being used in teaching students with learning difficulties.
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[...] Learning Theories Applicable to Students with Learning Disabilities When a student has been diagnosed as having a learning difficulty, it is important to find out what the exact nature of that difficulty is. Specific questions, such as whether the student can retain information or not, must be asked first, as well as, whether the student requires a longer time in processing information or not in order to know the exact nature of the disability. There are several reasons why a student can have difficulty in coping up with academic tasks in the school environment. [...]
[...] Students with learning disabilities have normal or better intelligence than normal students however they may have severe deficits in processing information that make them perform significantly worse than the normal in one or more academic areas such as reading, writing, and math than might be expected. Although there are different types of learning disabilities students with learning disabilities are characterized by having the same common problems, including slow and inefficient reading; slow essay-writing, with problems in organization and the mechanics of writing; and frequent errors in math calculation (Caroline Summer. [...]
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[...] In the constructivist approach, students with learning disabilities would also be given the chance to develop their own meaning for the information that the students have organized themselves. Constructivist approach would also ensure that learning would not continue unless students have already organized and reflected prior knowledge and are already able to incorporate new knowledge. The Classical Condition Approach: The Instructivist or Direct Instruction The constructivist approach has been tried and tested by a significant number of educators in the teaching of students with learning disabilities. [...]
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