 |
RESOURCE |
Resource Program (LD)
Program Description:
Special education resource teachers offer direct instruction to students, consultative services to regular classroom teachers, and diagnostic evaluative services to identify a program for students with mild to moderate disabilities. Individualized student programs provide specific skill remediation, compensatory training, and the development of independent learning skills. To the fullest extent possible, teachers work with students within regular classes and include students with similar needs in group activities.
What is a Learning Disability?
A learning disability is a lifetime experience which causes individuals with average to above-average intellectual potential to receive, retain or express information in significantly different ways than their "non-learning disabled" peers. Learning disabilities can be either language based or perceptual problems.
Persons with a learning disability may lack skills in organization, time management or social interaction. For any one person, an area or areas of difficulty may contrast markedly with another area in which they excel.
Most students with a learning disability are identified* before post-secondary education and have received accommodations through resource services. Others have struggled through primary and secondary school on their own and discover that they must seek assistance when faced with the academic workload of university courses.
** Identified means having participated in an PPT process and have been given a comprehensive psychoeducational assessment which confirms the presence of a learning disability.
A few key points:
 | learning disabilities primarily relate to the way people deal with information |
| most result from a neurological dysfunction (way the person's brain works ) |
| people who have learning disabilities usually have at least average intelligence |
| people perform below average on those tasks which are affected by the learning disability |
| it is important to differentiate learning disabilities from other disabling conditions, such as visual and hearing impairments, and developmental disabilities |
| People with learning disabilities can learn if they are taught in a way that works for them. |
| It is not the person’s fault that they have a learning disability, nor should they be expected to compensate for the effects without any help. |
| There are many types of learning disabilities, with their impact ranging from mild to moderate to severe. |
| Most people have several different learning disabilities. |
| Usually the barriers faced by the LD person change as that person's circumstances change. |
| The condition is lifelong and will not disappear. |