Ch.+1+Notes

CHAPTER 1 Learning Disabilities: Definitions, Characteristics, and Current Directions Learning Objectives 1. Identify some accomplished people who have had severe difficulty in learning as children. 2. Recognize the common characteristics of learning disabilities. 3. Specify four age groupings of individuals with learning disabilities and the characteristics of each age group. 4. Recognize the cross-cultural nature of learning disabilities and the implications for culturally and linguistically diverse children. 5. List the common elements in the definitions of learning disabilities and the problems involved in each of these elements. 6. Describe the prevalence rates of learning disabilities and explain the reasons for an increase in the number of students identified as having learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">7. Describe the increase of inclusion placements for children with learning disabilities and the importance of collaboration because of this trend. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Key Terms and Definitions <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Students should take note of the following terms as they appear in this chapter. Students who have difficulty should refer to the glossary in Appendix E of the text or to the text page on which the term is discussed. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">central nervous system dysfunction <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A disorder in learning caused by an impairment in brain function. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">current achievement level <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A student’s present stage of performance in an academic area. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">inclusion <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The placement of children with disabilities in the general education classroom for instruction. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)–1997 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A federal law to protect the rights of children and youth with disabilities. It was reauthorized in 1997. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A committee commissioned by the U.S. Congress and made up of representatives from 12 agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education to develop a federal definition of learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">learning differences <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The recognition that there are wide variations in abilities among people in the general population. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">learning disabilities <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematics calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental aphasia. The term does not apply to children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. Individuals with learning disabilities encounter difficulty in one or more of seven areas: (1) receptive language, (2) expressive language, (3) basic reading skills, (4) reading comprehension, (5) written expression, (6) mathematics calculations, or (7) mathematics reasoning. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">multiple intelligences <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Various kinds of intelligences: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, musical/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">An organization of representatives from several organizations and disciplines involved with learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">nonverbal learning disabilities <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Poor skills in nonacademic areas of learning, such as social skills. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">potential for learning <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A term that refers to intellectual ability, whether measured by an intelligence test, a test of cognitive abilities, clinical judgment, or other means. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Public Law 94–142 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, passed in 1975 and reauthorized in 1990. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Public Law 101–476 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">IDEA, passed by Congress in 1990. It updated PL 94–142. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Public Law 105–17 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act–1997. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">severe discrepancy<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"> A significant difference between a child’s current achievement and intellectual potential. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Major Points <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1. Name three accomplished people who had severe difficulty in learning as children. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">2. Identify four common characteristics of learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">3. Specify four age groupings of individuals with learning disabilities and a characteristic of each age group. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Answer: // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">4. Describe what occurred during three historical phases of the development of the field of learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">5. Name three laws that affect the field of learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">6. Identify three current directions in the field of learning disabilities. =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 32px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 32px; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">suggestion for presentation activities = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The following activities can extend a student’s experience with learning disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1. Interview a parent, a teacher, or an individual with a learning disability. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">2. Read an article on learning disabilities and present a review <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">4. Obtain definitions of learning disabilities used by various authors, school districts, state legislatures, and parent organizations. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">5. Obtain copies of your state’s laws on special education. How are children with learning disabilities identified? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">SUMMARIZE AND BRING OUT MAIN POINTS. __ ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">USE THE 5 E’S __ ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">BE CREATIVE, USE EXAMPLES __ ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: auto;">ONLY 30 FOR GROUP PRESENTATION. __ ** =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 32px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Special Section: History of Learning DisabilIties = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">This section of the instructor’s resource manual traces the roots of the field of learning disabilities. Theories, concepts, and research findings that advanced the thinking within the field were generated by many individuals and stem from several disciplines. Each contribution added to and redirected earlier theories and, in turn, inspired further research and investigation. It is convenient to divide the history of learning disabilities into three periods. (See Figure 1. Timeline.) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1. **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Foundation phase ** (about 1800–1930). Marked by basic scientific investigations of brain function and dysfunction. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">2. **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Transition phase **(about 1930–1960). Research findings about brain dysfunction were applied to the clinical study of children with problems in learning, and professionals began to develop assessment and treatment methods for those children. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">3. **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Integration phase **(about 1960–1980). Characterized by the rapid growth of school programs for students with learning disabilities; the eclectic use of a variety of theories, assessment techniques, and teaching strategies; and the enactment of legislation designed to protect the rights of children and youth with disabilities. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Figure 1. Time Line. Phases in the Development of the Learning Disabilities Field <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1800–1930 ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">2 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1930–1960 ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">3 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">1960–1980 || ==<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 24px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Foundation Phase: Early Brain Research == <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The foundation phase, 1800–1939, was a period of basic scientific research on the functions and disorders of the brain. Many of the early brain researchers were physicians involved in investigating the brain damage of adult patients who had suffered stroke, accidents, or disease. These scientists gathered information by first studying the behavior of patients who had lost some function, such as the ability to speak or read. In the autopsies of many of these patients, they were able to link the loss of function to specific damaged areas of the brain. Some of the highlights of this foundation period are reviewed in this section. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A widely held notion in the nineteenth century was the belief in //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">phrenology, // which held that abnormal behavior and brain function could be predicted by examining the shape of the skull. Bumps on the head were thought to reveal information about the brain. In the 1860s, Paul Broca refuted the phrenology notion with his discovery during autopsies of adult patients who had lost the ability to speak and had subsequently died; he found that certain areas of the brain (in the left frontal lobe) were damaged (Broca, 1879). The importance of his discovery is widely recognized, and the loss of the ability to speak is often called//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"> Broca’s aphasia. //John Hughlings Jackson (1874) added to this knowledge by showing that the areas of the human brain are intimately linked, so that damage to one part will reduce overall general functioning. Carl Wernicke (1908) described another portion of the brain (the temporal lobe) as the location for some of the functions of language. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Sir Henry Head (1926) produced major contributions about **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">aphasia, ** or the loss of speech, by developing a system for data collection and a test for diagnosing aphasia. Head showed that patients with aphasia did not suffer from generalized impairment of intellectual ability even though they had sustained brain damage and had lost language skills. James Hinshelwood (1917), an ophthalmologist, studied the condition of //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">word blindness, // which he defined as the inability to interpret written or printed language despite normal vision. Reporting on the case of an intelligent boy who was unable to learn to read, Hinshelwood speculated that the problem was due to a defect in the angular gyrus, a specific area of the brain. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Kurt Goldstein (1939), a physician who treated brain-injured soldiers during Word War I, showed that brain damage affects an individual’s behavior. Among the characteristics he noted in the brain-injured soldiers were //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">perceptual impairment, // characterized by foreground-background (or figure-ground) difficulties, //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">distractibility //to external stimuli, and //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">perseveration // (the behavior of being locked into continually repeated action). Heinz Werner and Alfred Strauss continued Goldstein’s work, expanding the study from brain-injured soldiers to brain-injured children. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">In the 1930s, the field of learning disabilities proceeded from the foundation phase—with its focus on the study of the brain—to the transition phase—the clinical study of learning problems in children. However, brain research did not end. In fact, interest in this area today is greater than ever. Advancements in scientific technology allow much more sophisticated ways to study the brain and learning. Some of the recent discoveries, particularly the use of functional, magnetic resonance imaging, about the brain that have implications of learning disabilities are discussed in the chapter on medical aspects of learning disabilities. ==<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 24px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Transition Phase: Clinical Study of Children == <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">During the transition phase (about 1930–1960), scientific studies of the brain were applied to the clinical study of children and translated into ways of teaching. Psychologists and educators developed instruments for assessment and teaching. During this period investigators also analyzed specific types of learning disorders. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">A number of scientists played important roles in developing this phase of the field. Foremost among them was Samuel T. Orton (1937), a neurolo­gist, whose theory of the lack of cerebral dominance as a cause of children’s language disorders led to the development of a teaching method known as the Orton-Gillingham method (see the chapter on reading). The Interna­tional Dyslexia Association (formerly The Orton Dyslexia Society) was cre­ated to honor Orton and to continue his work. It is an active force in the field of learning disabilities today. An educator in the 1940s, Grace Fernald (1988), also contributed to this period by establishing a remedial clinic at the University of California at Los Angeles, where she developed a reme­dial approach to teaching reading and spelling (see the chapters on oral lan­guage and written language). Maria Montessori (1964), a physician who worked with at-risk young children in Italy, demonstrated the value of us­ing carefully planned materials and a structured environment to encourage children to learn and to develop cognitively. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Among the other pioneers who helped develop the field of learning dis­abilities during this period are William Cruickshank, Ray Barsch, Marianne Frostig, Newell Kephart, Samuel Kirk, and Helmer Myklebust; their con­tributions are discussed in pertinent chapters of this book. During the tran­sition phase, terminology changed many times, and various phrases were used to describe the //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">problem-brain-injured children, Strauss syndrome, minimal brain dysfunction, //and finally, //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">learning disabilities. //The progres­sion of terms reflects the historical progress of the field. Each term filled a need in its time, but each had inherent shortcomings.
 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">preschool ||<  ||
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 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Foundation Phase ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Transition Phase ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Integration Phase ||
 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Brain Research ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Clinical Study of the Child ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Implementation in the Schools ||
 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Brain Research ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Clinical Study of the Child ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Implementation in the Schools ||

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The Brain-Injured Child
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Pioneering work conducted by Alfred Strauss and Laura Lehtinen (1947) was reported in their book //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Psychopathology and Education of the Brain­ Injured Child. //They identified a new category of exceptional youngsters, classifying them as brain-injured children. Many of these youngsters had previously been classified as mentally retarded, emotionally disturbed, autistic, aphasic, or behaviorally maladjusted. Most of them exhibited such severe behavior characteristics that they were excluded from the public schools. (It is important to remember that at that time public schools had the right to exclude children with disabilities.) Further, the medical histo­ries of these children indicated that they had suffered a brain injury at some time during their prenatal or postnatal lives. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Seeking a medical explanation for the behavioral characteristics, Strauss hypothesized that the behaviors and learning patterns of these children were manifestations of brain injury. This diagnosis was unique at the time because other professionals had explained the behavioral abnormalities of many such children as stemming from emotional origins. Strauss believed that other children who exhibited characteristics similar to those of the subjects in his studies had also suffered an injury to the brain. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Strauss thought that the injury to the brain had occurred during one of three periods in the child’s life: //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">before //birth (the prenatal stage), //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">during //the birth process, or at some point //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">after //birth. An example of an injury occur­ring before birth is an infection such as German measles (rubella) contracted by the mother early in pregnancy and affecting the fetus. An example of an injury during birth could be any condition that would seriously reduce the infant’s supply of oxygen during the birth process (anoxia). After birth, the brain could be injured by a fall on the head or an excessively high fever in infancy or early childhood. Although such events could produce other dis­abilities (such as mental retardation or physical impairments), Strauss be­lieved that they could also precipitate behavior and learning problems. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Behavioral Characteristics **Strauss identified the following behavioral characteristics of brain-injured children. It is of historical interest to note that Strauss stressed behavioral characteristics more than learning charac­teristics. As leaders in learning disabilities sought supportive legislation from Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, they shifted the emphasis to disor­ders in learning. Currently, many of the behavioral characteristics first identified by Strauss are recognized as key characteristics of children with attention deficit disorder. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Perceptual disorders. //The child with a **<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">perceptual disorder ** may either experience a figure-ground distortion that causes confusion between the background and foreground, or may see parts instead of wholes. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Figure-ground distortion is an inability to focus on an object without having its background or setting interfere with the perception. One teacher noted that when she wore a particular dress with polka dots, the children with perceptual disorders seemed compelled to touch it to verify what they thought they perceived. The ambiguity in perception that the normal ob­server senses in Figure 2 and Figure 3 can help one understand the unstable world of the child with a perceptual disorder. In Figure 2, one is to determine whether the picture is the face of an old woman or a young woman. In Figure 3, one is asked to look at the drawing and then to sketch it from memory. (Even copying this figure while viewing it may prove difficult.) These illustrations contain reversible figure-ground patterns that produce confusion, or a shifting of background and foreground much like that constantly experienced by a child with perceptual disorders.