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Summary 'How the special needs brain learns'
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A summary of all the chapters in David A. Sousa's book 'How the special needs brain learns'.
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Samenvatting How the Special Needs Brain Learns, Onderwijsleerproblemen
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IntroductionTeachers and students always hope to succeed, but that hope is not always realized
because many factors exist that affect the degree of success or failure in a teaching and
learning situation. Some of these factors are well beyond the control of the teacher and the
school staff. What teachers do control are the decisions they make about how to present the
lesson so that student learning is most likely to occur. In making these decisions, teachers
draw on their knowledge base and experience to design activities, ask questions, and
respond to the efforts of their students.
Educators are finding themselves searching for new strategies and techniques to meet the
needs of an ethnically, culturally, and socially diverse student population. Some strategies
do not seem to be as successful as they were in the past, and more students seem to be
having difficulty in acquiring just the basic skills of reading, writing, and computation. This
situation is generating frustration in different parts of the educational community. As a result,
educators are searching for new approaches, parents are seeking alternative schooling
formats, and state legislators are demanding accountability through higher standards and
standardized testing.
Meanwhile, more students diagnosed with learning disabilities are being included in general
educational classrooms, and teachers continue to search for new ways to help these
struggling students achieve. As more students with learning difficulties enter general
education classes, their teachers are finding that they need help adjusting to the added
responsibility of meeting the varied needs of these students. Consequently, special
education teachers will need to collaborate more than ever with their general education
colleagues on ways to differentiate instruction in the inclusive classrooms.
The term special needs refers to students who are
● diagnosed and classified as having specific learning problems, including speech,
reading, writing, mathematics, and emotional and behavioral disorders;
● enrolled in supplemental instruction programs for basic skills;
● not classified for special education, but still struggling with problems affecting their
learning.
The term, as used here, does not refer to students with learning problems resulting primarily
from hearing, visual, or physical handicaps.
The nature of the difficulties facing students with learning problems varies from maintaining
focus, acquiring language, learning to read and write, and solving mathematical problems to
remembering important information. Thanks to the development of imaging and other
technologies, neuroscientists can now look inside the live brain and gain new knowledge
about its structure and functions. Some of this research is already revealing clues to help
guide the decisions and practices of educators working with students who have special
needs. However, students with learning problems comprise such a heterogeneous group
that no one strategy, technique, or intervention can address all their needs. Therefore, more
than ever, neuroscientists, psychologists, computer experts, and educators are working
together in a common crusade to improve our understanding of the learning process.
Comparing the functions of brains without deficits to the functions of brains with deficits is
revealing some remarkable new insights about learning and behavioral disorders.
,Chapter 2 When learning difficulties arise
Neuron development starts in the embryo shortly after conception and proceeds at an
astonishing rate. Genetic instructions govern the rate of growth and direct the migration of
neurons to different levels, forming the six layers of the fetus’s cerebral cortex. In the first
four months of gestation, about 200 billion neurons are formed, but about half will die off
during the fetus’s fifth months because they fail to connect with any areas of the growing
embryo. This purposeful destruction of neurons, called apoptosis, is genetically programmed
to ensure that only those neurons that have made connections are preserved and to prevent
the brain from being overcrowded with unconnected cells. Sometimes, however, apoptosis
gets out of controls and connections that might otherwise have imparted certain intuitive
skills may be pruned as well.
Neurons in a child’s brain make many more connections than do those in an adult’s brain. A
newborn’s brain makes connections at an incredible pace as the child absorbs its
environment. The richer the environment, the greater the number of interconnections that
are made; consequently, learning can take place faster and with greater meaning. As the
child approaches puberty, the pace slackens, and two other processes begin: connections
the brain finds useful become permanent and those not useful are eliminated as the brain
selectively strengthens and prunes connections based on experience.
Possible causes of learning difficulties
Learning disabilities are characterized by a significant difference between a child’s
achievement and that individual’s overall intelligence. Neuroscientists once believed that all
learning difficulties were caused by a single neurological problem. By contrast, recent
research has shown that learning difficulties do not stem from a single cause but from
problems in bringing together information from different regions of the brain. These
difficulties can arise during the fetal development of the child.
Genetic links
There is considerable evidence that genes play a role in developmental learning disabilities,
especially since parents often display the same or similar learning difficulties as their
children. In some cases, scientists have been able to link a specific gene to a specific
common learning difficulty. However, the general consensus among researchers currently is
that most genes associated with common learning abilities are generalist genes, not specific
ones. The term generalist means three things: (1) genes that affect learning disabilities are
largely the same genes responsible for normal variations in learning abilities; (2) genes
affecting any one aspect of a learning disability affect other aspects of that disability; and (3)
genes affecting one learning disability are also likely to affect other learning disabilities. Also,
inheriting a genetic tendency for a learning problem does not necessarily mean that the trait
will appear as the influence of the environment is very powerful in determining whether
certain genetic traits arise and affect one’s behavior and learning.
Tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use
It has been known for some time that mothers who smoke during pregnancy often bear
children of lower than average birth weight, making these newborns susceptible to infection,
mental retardation, and cerebral palsy. Studies have also found that the nicotine in tobacco
smoke affects the development of the fetal brainstem, which can lead to the death of the
fetus before birth. Nicotine may also affect fetal kidney development and the development of
the fetal lungs and hearth. After birth, these babies are more at risk for sleep apnea, labored
breathing, and irregular heart rate.
,Most medical professionals agree that there are no known safe times and no safe amount of
alcohol to drink during pregnancy. Alcohol passes easily and quickly through the placenta to
the fetus, so when a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her unborn baby. In the
unborn baby’s immature body, alcohol is broken down much more slowly than in an adult’s
body. As a result, the alcohol level of the baby’s blood can be higher, and can remain
elevated longer, than in the mother’s blood. This sometimes causes the baby to suffer
lifelong damage. Mild forms of brain damage are called Fetal Alcohol Effects, and severe
damage is called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Fetal alcohol exposure can result in impairments
in behavior, verbal learning, visual-spatial skills, attention, reaction times, and executive
control functions, such as problem solving and abstract thinking.
Drug abuse during pregnancy can also lead to problems for the developing fetus. Studies
suggest that use of marijuana during pregnancy slows fetal growth and slightly decreases
the length of pregnancy. After delivery, some babies who were regularly exposed to
marijuana in the womb appear to undergo withdrawal-like symptoms, including excessive
crying and trembling. The use of cocaine during pregnancy can lead to a variety of physical
problems for the baby after birth. Cocaine-exposed babies tend to have smaller heads,
which generally reflect smaller brains. They may score lower than unexposed babies on
tests given at birth to assess the newborn’s physical condition and overall responsiveness.
As newborns, some are jittery and irritable, and they may startle and cry at the gentlest
touch or sound. Generally, these behavioral disturbances are temporary and resolve over
the first few months of life. Studies suggest that most children who are exposed to cocaine
before birth have normal intelligence, although their IQ levels may have been lowered
somewhat by the exposure. Furthermore, researchers have found that some of the attention
and learning difficulties that cocaine-exposed children demonstrate in early childhood can be
improved when these children are placed in a nurturing and enriched environment. However,
language problems may persist. Also, some adolescents may have subtle impairments in the
ability to control emotions, focus attention, and process language that could put them at risk
for behavioral and learning problems.
Problems during pregnancy or delivery
Problems during pregnancy can result in brain damage that affects learning as well.
Sometimes the mother’s immune system attacks the fetus, causing newly formed brain cells
to settle in the wrong part of the brain. This migration may disturb the formation of neural
networks needed for language and cognitive thought. Blows to the stomach area can
decrease the oxygen and blood supply to the fetus, causing the death of brain cells. During
delivery, the umbilical cord may become twisted and temporarily cut off oxygen to the brain,
which can damage or kill neurons and lead to learning disorders.
Being under continual stress during pregnancy can cause premature birth and low birth
weight. The child is at greater risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as long-
term effects on behavioral and emotional development. Babies born prematurely can also
exhibit abnormal brain growth and injury to the white matter. Strategic areas of the brain than
remain smaller than normal even years later. The brains of premature boys are often more
severely affected than the brains of premature girls.
Stress in the child’s environment
Stress causes the body to release cortisol and can have positive effects by encouraging
individuals to raise their level of performance, but persistent stress from living in poverty or
with abusive parents has negative consequences. Continued and undesired stress can
cause high amounts of cortisol to remain in the body for prolonged periods, thereby
damaging cells in multiple organs. In the child’s brain, persistent stress can impair the
, hippocampus, the structure responsible for permanent memory storage and recall.
Corticosteroids also damage neurons in other brain areas, thereby increasing the risk of
stroke, seizure, and infections. However, not all children exposed to constant stress develop
stress-related symptoms. Some children demonstrate resilience, the ability to thrive and
excel, even when exposed to severe stress.
What forms of instruction are most effective?
An analysis of more than 30 years of research indicates that the following interventions are
most effective with students who have learning difficulties:
● The most effective form of teaching was one that combined direct instruction with
teaching students the strategies of learning. Using technology can make these
practice sessions more interesting and interactive.
● The component that had the greatest effect on student achievement was control of
task difficulty, in which, for example, the teacher provided the necessary assistance
or sequenced the tasks from easy to difficult. Working in small groups and using
structured questioning were also highly effective. Students also made fewer errors
when teachers systematically modeled how to solve problems.
● When groups of students with learning difficulties were exposed to strategy
instruction (i.e., understanding how to learn), their achievement was greater than that
of groups exposed solely to direct instruction.
Misconceptions about learning difficulties
● ‘’Learning difficulties are common and therefore easy to diagnose’’ →
Learning difficulties are often hidden and thus difficult to diagnose.
Diagnosis needs to result from extensive observation and testing by a
clinical team.
● ‘’Children with learning difficulties are identified in kindergarten or first
grade’’ → Learning difficulties can be identified in kindergarten or first
grade but may go unrecognized in the early years, and some are not
identified until third grade. Furthermore, some kinds of learning difficulties
do not surface until middle school, high school, or later.
● ‘’Children outgrow their learning difficulties’’ → Most learning difficulties
last throughout life, but an increasing number can be remediated. Many
adults have devised strategies to cope successfully with their difficulties.
● ‘’Learning difficulties are caused by poor parenting’’ → No definitive
association exists between the child-rearing skills of parents and the
presence or absence of learning disabilities in children, as these generally
have biological causes. However, some negative factors in the home may
affect a child’s self-image and enthusiasm for success in school. Also,
physical abuse can cause permanent changes in the brain that lead to
learning difficulties.
● ‘’Accommodations provided to students with learning difficulties gives
them an unfair advantage over students without difficulties’’ →
Accommodations do not favor these students. Rather, accommodations
allow access to the information that gives students with a learning
difficulty the means to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities.
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