One of the links that I found to be particularly interesting was titled "Understanding Section 504," by Eve Kessler, Esq. This would be a good resource to pass along to parents because it explains the laws in layman's terms so that the parent can understand what the laws are and how it applies to their child who has a learning disability.
This website also has a glossary in which it defines different types of learning disabilities, such as the following:
- abstract reasoning deficit - difficulty analyzing, organizing, and synthesizing information
- auditory perception deficit - difficulty interpreting auditory information
- central auditory processing disorder - difficulty with the interaction of hearing, neural transmission, and the brain's ability to make sense of sound
- discalculia - problems understanding basic math concepts due to difficulties such as memorization of math facts and understanding terms, processes, written symbols, and formal procedures (http://www.smartkidswithld.org/ld-basics/definitions)
As with most of the resources I have found, this website would be difficult for a person who does not speak English to navigate and understand. If I wanted to share specific information from this site with a parent, I would need to find some way to translate the information first into the family's native language.
On a side note... so far my search for information about ELL students with learning disabilities has not been as fruitful as I had hoped. It has been easy to find information about ELL students and about students with learning disabilities, but I have found very little information as to how I, as an educator, can support families of an ELL student that has a learning disability. I'm wondering if I should abandon the ELL part of it and narrow my search for answers down to families of students with learning disabilities...
Sarah, when reading you blog I couldn't help but wonder if its rare for a student to be an ELL student and have a learning disability. This could be why there's not much information on it. With this being said I believe more and more items are becoming bilingual meaning that you can change the setting or turn the information into another language but there are still items that aren't able to do this. The items that can be changed usually are only in Spanish. Without a translator present or having someone close that knows the language it would be very difficult to translate the information to the family. I believe in some cases educators would even rely on the child to translate information which could also cause some issues depending on what the child knows and what he/she has told the family.
ReplyDeleteThe language a child speaks and their likelihood of having a learning disability are entirely unrelated. I'm sure the numbers of children who speak other languages and have learning disabilities are comparable to the numbers of English-speaking students who have learning disabilities. My interest in this topic stems from wanting to know how to distinguish between whether an ELL student is having difficulty due to the language barrier or if it could be a sign of a learning disability, as well as how to support the families of ELL children who have learning disabilities. I think the lack of information about this particular topic is because the same information about learning disabilities applies to children who speak any language, just as the ELL information I have found is applicable in any situation. I think that when both factors are present, it is even more essential to establish and maintain contact with families and provide information about resources and supports that would benefit their child. In any event, it is the school's responsibility to provide translators to aid in this communication, but as you mentioned, there are some online resources that provide translations in other languages, which is also a helpful communication tool.
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