Resources for Educators

As teachers, we want nothing more than to have successful students. Our joy comes from watching our students grow to achieve to their greatest potential. However, when we have a group of students that we just can’t seem to reach, it is easy to classify them as lazy or behavior problems.

Negative classroom behaviors and attitudes are often masks for a variety of issues, including learning disabilities. A child who refuses to read in class or does not complete his work may, in fact, be struggling with the mechanics of learning. Fortunately, if these issues are identified and addressed early, the child will likely overcome his learning challenges.

At Learning Strategies, we appreciate your partnership and take pride in being a resource for teachers and parents.

We encourage you to refer students exhibiting the following symptoms to your school’s learning disability coordinator and Learning Strategies:

Auditory Processing

Students with auditory processing challenges can manifest behaviors similar to children with ADHD since these deficiencies make it difficult for a student to understand what is being taught in class.

Imagine that someone is speaking to you, but you are missing every third or fourth word. For example:

The teacher says: “Let's open our math books to page 64 and review problems 10 through 20.”

A student with auditory processing problems may hear: “Let's open book to page review problems through 20.”

As a result of this breakdown in communication, the child will watch and wait to observe how his classmates react to the instructions or simply open the wrong book. In either instance, you may perceive the child as being lazy and/or not paying attention.

In addition to your aggravation, the student can become frustrated and express himself the only way he can - with adverse behavior.

Visual Impairments

Some children have vision issues that can only be diagnosed by a developmental optician. These students may pass the traditional vision screenings, but find it difficult to read because they lose their place on a page and skip lines. They also have difficulty writing on a straight line and bunch letters together due to spatial orientation issues.

Learning Strategies offers teachers and parents checklists highlighting the signs and symptoms of these learning disabilities. For more information about Learning Strategies’ teacher resources, contact us today.

Below are two documents available for download that may be helpful for your students. If you suspect a child in your class has vision problems, you can use our "Educator’s Checklist of Observable Clues to Classroom Vision Problems" to see if the signs are there. If you’d like to analyze someone’s sensory history in more depth, you can use our "Sensory History Questionnaire”. Each of these tools are widely used to gain additional insights into the potential causes of a student’s difficulty with learning. Each tool should be only considered an indicator and for further analysis you should consult the professional resources that are available to you.