Early Signs of a Learning Disability - What to Look For in the Early Grades
There is a common misconception that learning disabilities only start to appear and can be tested starting in 3rd grade at the earliest. Here is the problem with that: students with learning disabilities have differences in the structure and function of their brains. This doesn’t happen in 3rd grade. The sooner students can get help for their learning disability, the sooner the issues can be corrected allowing for students to need less specialized instruction in the upper grades.
When is it time to ask for help? Knowing the signs would help. If you notice that a student by end of 1st grade (at the latest) is having trouble with two of more of these skills, please ask/demand that the child be tested.
“Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”
Beginning Reading Issues:
Having trouble with following multi-step directions
Can’t remember which letters go with which sounds
Mispronouncing commonly used words
Having trouble finding the words for everyday items
Talks vaguely using words such as thing or stuff
Can't rhyme words
Having trouble remembering the order of letters in the alphabet
Can’t retell the beginning, middle, and end of a story in order
Getting similar looking letters confused (d, b, p, q)
Getting sounds mixed up ( d/t, b/p, f/v)
Having trouble recognizing common sight words
Can’t blend sounds together into words or breaking the sound apart in words
Beginning Math Issues:
Having trouble remembering how to count
Skipping numbers when counting
Having 1:1 correspondence trouble
Can’t find or duplicate simple patterns (ABAB) (AABB)
Having trouble getting the number symbol and word (5, Five)
Trouble grasping that the same number can be applied to different groups ( two oranges, two apples)
Trouble memorizing basic math facts (2+2=4)
Can only count using fingers
Trouble identifying math symbols ( +, -)
Trouble with greater than or less than math concepts
How to Teach More Effectively:
One of the best things that teachers can do to help all students, but especially those with learning disabilities, is to provide explicit instruction. We use the simple teaching mantra of: “I do it, we do it, you do it.” It looks like this:
Model - Use academic and consistent language as you model what you are teaching to students in the same way that you want them to practice it.
Talk it Out - Narrate what you are thinking as you are modeling how to do something.
Guided Practice - Have students try the skill out in partners or in small groups
Feedback - walk around and give in the moment feedback to help students learn
For more information about early signs of learning disabilities, check out this article.