Unit-5----Learning-Differently

Unit5LearningDifferentlyTEACHER:Hello,everyone.Ithinkwecangetstartednow.Aswehavestudiedinthisclass,therearemanydifferentwaysoflearning,andtherearemanydifferentlearningproblems.Somepeoplehaveproblemswithreading,ormath,orwithexpressingtheirideasinwords.Somepeoplehavememoryproblemsforexample,theyhavedifficultyrememberingwhattheyhearorread.Otherpeoplehaveproblemsholdingapencilorpensothattheycannotwrite.Aseducators,thesearechallengesthatweneedtounderstand,becauseeveryonedeservesaneducation--andit’sourjobtopromotelearning.TodayI’dliketotalkaboutonecommoncauseoflearningproblems--dyslexia.Theterm“dyslexia,”that’sD-Y-S-L-E-X-I-A,isfromGreek.Itmeansdifficultywithwordsandlanguage.Inthefirstpartofmytalk,I’llbrieflyexplainwhatdyslexiaisandgiveyousomegeneralbackgroundaboutit.Then,inthesecondpart,Iwillpresentonedoctor’sexplanationofwhypeoplewithdyslexiahavelearningdifficulties.OK,whatisdyslexia?Dyslexiameansadifficultywithreadingorwriting.Beforeabout1970,researchersthoughtdyslexiawasavisualproblem,aproblemseeinglettersandwordscorrectly.Butthistheorywasneverconfirmedtobetrue.Researchershavenowconcludedthatthemainproblemmaybethatdyslexicshavetroublematchingsoundswithlettersinwordsbecausetheirbrainsworkdifferentlyfromotherpeople’s.Letmeexplainthat.Everywordismadeupofsounds,right?Thesoundunitsarecalled“phonemes.”Let’staketheword“cat.”Now,someonewhoisnotdyslexicwillreadtheword“cat”andbeabletobreakitintothesounds,thephonemesCa-A-Te.However,someonewhohasdyslexiahastroublebreakingdownthewordintosounds,andasaresulthastroublereadingtheword.Thereareotherproblemspeoplewithdyslexiamayhave,andnoteveryonewhoisdyslexichasthesameproblems.That’swhythereisnodefinitionofdyslexiathatisacceptedbyeveryone.Wedoknow,however,thatadyslexicperson’sbrainworksdifferentlyfromotherpeople’s.Hereareafewexamplesofstudentswithdyslexiaandtheirlearningproblems.Annaknowstheanswertoaquestion,butsaysthewrongwords.Thomasstudieshardforaspellingtest.Hecansayhoweachwordisspelled,buthecannotwritethewordscorrectlyonthetest.Kurttriestopayattentioninclass,buthehastroublesittingstillandlistening.Hecan’tconcentrate,andhisteachersthinkhedoesn’tcareaboutschool.Seijihastroublewiththeorderofthings,suchasthestepsinamathproblem,hishistorylessons,orevenhisowndailyschedule.Susanhastroublefollowingdirections.Shemayconfuseleftandright....Yes,doyouhaveaquestion?STUDENT1:Idon’tunderstandabouttheboywhocan’tsitstill.TEACHER:Theboywhocan’tconcentrateinclass?STUDENTl:Yes,Imeanhowisthatdyslexia?TEACHER:Well,typically,thechildhastroubleFollowingspokendirectionsorunderstandingthestepsinalesson,andsohebecomesverynervousorupsetandcan’tconcentrate.OK?STUDENT1:Oh,OK.Sothedyslexiapreventshimfromconcentrating?TEACHER:Right.Thesearesomeofthechallengesforpeoplewithdyslexia.AndasIsaidearlier,notwopeoplehaveidenticalproblems.Ofcourse,thereareotherreasonswhyastudentmightnotpayattentioninclass,orhavetroublereading.However,theseareproblemssome-onewithdyslexiamayhavebecauseadyslexicperson’sbrainworksdifferentlyfromotherpeople’s.Anotherquestion?Yes.STUDENT2:Howcommonisdyslexia?TEACHER:It’sestimatedthat10percentofallschoolchildrenaredyslexic.STUDENT2:Wow,that’salot.Iheardthatitonlyaffectsboys.That’snottrue,isit?TEACHER:No.Researchhasconfirmedthatbothgenderscanhavedyslexia.OK,sothatgivesyouanideaoftheproblem,butwhatcausesdyslexia?Researchersthinkthattheremaybeageneticbasisfordyslexia,thattheproblemisinheritedfromthemotherortheFather.Thisisbasedonthefactthatabout85percentofchildrenwithdyslexiahaveeitheramotherorfatherwhoisdyslexic.What’sinteresting--aswellaschallengingforuseducators-isthatthesekidsgenerallyscorehighonintelligencetests,buttheyusuallycan’tread,write,orspellatthesamelevelastheirclassmates.Thiscanbeaproblembecauseotherpeople,eventheirteachers,oftendon’tbelievethatthekidsareveryintelligent.Inaddition,dyslexicsoftenfeellikethere’ssomethingwrongwiththembecausetheycan’tlearnthesamewayotherkidsatschoolcan.Theyoftenfeelstressedandblamethem-selves,especiallywhenotherpeoplesaytheyarelazyandnottrying.Manyofthemtryveryhardtolearn,butstillhavetrouble.Inthispartofthelecture,I’llpresenttheworkofDr.HaroldLevinson,apsychologistwhohasstudieddyslexiaforovertwenty-fiveyears.Tohelpusunderstanddyslexia,hetellsustothinkofourbrainsasTVsets,andtothinkofthepartsinourbrainsthatreceiveinformationascomputerchips.Everyday,thesechips,thepartsinyourbrain,receiveinformation,right?Nowthisinformationentersthebrainassignalsofwhatweseeorhearortouch,andsoon.Now,thejobofthesebrainpartsistotuneinthesignalstodifferentchannelsinourbrain.YourbrainreceivesthesignalsjustasyourTVsetathomedoes,likeittunesin,say,ChannelFiveorChannelSix.Now,ifthesecomputerchipsaren’tworkingright,theycan’treceivethesignalscorrectly.Norcantheytuneinthecorrectchannels.Sothesignalsdriftaroundandbecomeunclear,andasthesignalsdrift,thiscausesproblems.Forexample,ifachild’sbraincannotreceivethesignalsonapageasshereads,shehasdifficultyreading.Ifachildcannottuneinthesignalshehearsinclass,hehasdifficultyunderstandingwhattheteachertellshim.Ifasignaldrifts,thiscanalsocont