Learning Disabilities and Online Schooling

How to Facilitate Learning in this New Reality

Online learning is the “new normal” but it can put a strain on families already struggling to navigate these uncertain times. The novel coronavirus has driven us all online, making it difficult for students who need extra help to rise above the digital noise. But amidst the confusion, we may be able to illuminate some opportunities for kids with learning disabilities. 

Education is a lifelong endeavor. To borrow a popular turn of phrase, it is less of a sprint and more of a marathon. But life tends to put obstacles in our way, no matter where we plan on going. Learning disabilities can impede the way that students absorb certain educational materials. When behavioral patterns get disrupted, kids feel lost, having to find their place – be it in a book, a lecture, or even an online session.

COVID-19 has presented the greatest challenge to society that many of us have experienced in our respective lifetimes. All of our routines have been upended, which proves to be a daily frustration. Now consider the perspective of a student trying to overcome a learning disability. The struggle to focus on a lesson plan becomes increasingly difficult, especially when the plan itself keeps changing day by day.

About Learning Disabilities

The human mind is a collection of curiosities and individual flourishes. The way that a math tutorial “adds up” in your head may be vastly different than the way it plays out in another student’s brain. The common core curriculum of state and national learning standards attempts to engage these variations in our thought processes.^[1] But what if the student and teacher are on completely different wavelengths altogether? It is important to identify some of the most common learning disabilities to assess how to approach online learning without leaving anyone behind.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD can really detract from a day’s learning. Kids may express ADHD in a number of ways, including fidgeting, lack of impulse control, or simply the inability or unwillingness to focus. To diagnose where you are losing your child’s attention, consider a free consultation with NeuroZone. We can determine the best online learning tools to redirect a student’s wandering mind and make sure that your next day of learning is better than ever.   

Autism Spectrum Disorders

As the name suggests, Autism Spectrum Disorders encapsulate a wide array of conditions. Many symptoms of autism manifest themselves socially, which may not necessarily interfere with a child’s overall learning trajectory. In-person schooling, however, places a great amount of importance on social-emotional learning. Online classes may actually remove some of the obstacles from certain autistic children’s daily routines, but that can only be determined on a case-by-case basis. Even if a child on the autistic spectrum shows improvement during these days of online schooling, we should use this as an opportunity to help kids prepare for the return to social-emotional learning. 

Anxiety Disorders

When school presents an overwhelming challenge to students who dread situations like crowded classrooms or pop quiz pressure, those kids may struggle with anxiety. Certain stimuli can trigger physiological responses like a rapid heart rate, obsessive, inescapable thoughts, and impaired functioning at school. Online learning allows us the ability to strip away those external stimuli and concentrate on the lesson playing out on the screen. It is a process akin to neurofeedback training, a service that is central to the NeuroZone model of psychological improvement. By identifying the ways in which the brain responds to a series of sights and sounds, we empower our clients (and their kids) to study their own minds’ activities. 

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is one of the most common examples of a communication delay/disorder.^[2] The information from the written page is not properly making its way through the cognition process. Kids with dyslexia get frustrated when they fall behind the rest of their peers, so it is imperative that we help streamline the comprehension process and remove any blockades that stand in the way of success. 

Program Your Own Pace

As you can see in the descriptions for all of the learning disabilities described above, the common theme is a lack of control. While we all feel a bit discombobulated since the spread of COVID-19, we are learning to take back some semblance of control. The ways in which we find our way back to a “new normal” will offer a bevy of opportunities in the learning space.

One advantage that online learning has over group gatherings is its ability to modulate the pace of a given lesson. A common complaint about public education plans is their inability to bring every student forward at the same rate. One child may struggle while the rest of the class speeds ahead. That makes the ensuing days, weeks, and months a race to catch up rather than absorbing the materials on a meaningful level. 

Online learning changes the paradigm, offering video tutorials and interactive screens that play out at the pace designated for each individual student. 

Cyberspace: The Ultimate Controlled Environment

Let’s face it: modern life is noisy. Every time a car horn blares or a coworker chatters away, the residual audio distraction can prove to be too much to bear. Now multiply that sensation for people on the autism spectrum. Loud noises cause many autistic individuals undue stress. The anticipation of audible stimuli can cause an autistic student to shut down, eliminating the ability to carry on with that day’s curriculum.^[3] 

Even Temple Grandin, about whom HBO made an award-winning biopic, admits that loud, sudden noises still startle her.^[4] In the aforementioned TV movie, Ms. Grandin observes the anxiety on the faces of the livestock on her farm. She strives to ease their strife, pioneering a new chute device that cradles the cows as if hugging their anxiety away. In a key moment of the true-story narrative, Ms. Grandin allows her own chute device to quell her burgeoning panic attack.

Temple Grandin provides the ultimate illustration of how controlling one’s environment helps mitigate external stressors. Online learning offers several opportunities in that same vein. The popular video conferencing technology utilized by many online education providers organizes the learning experience onto one finite screen. When you control the interface with which you teach, you allow a feeling of control to pervade the entire demeanor of the learning process. Autistic students can focus on the familiarity of their device rather than unexpected noises or lights streaming in from the window. The only streaming going on now is online learning.

Filter Out the Distractions

Digital schooling not only lowers the volume on group learning, it harnesses the power of focus. Lesson plans can be laser-guided, assembling all of the essential materials on the screen without added distractions. Kids struggling with ADHD may actually benefit from the online experience. It is important that parents, teachers and administrators collaborate to make sure that the devices on which kids are interacting are optimized for their individual needs. That means no superfluous apps that can derail an otherwise productive virtual learning landscape. 

Get Social

Lest you think that online schooling removes all of the social-emotional benefits of the in-person models of education, think again! Zoom and other video networking software have allowed wondrous innovations in the field of socially distanced synchronous learning.^[5] Kids can still raise their hands (virtually), break out into designated study groups (virtually), and share each other’s work (virtually). Truly, the only limit on the future of education is our shared imagination. 

Benefits of Neurofeedback

One amazing way to prepare your little ones for the challenges of online learning is to dive right in. At NeuroZone, we offer students the opportunity to learn digitally and monitor their own progress as it occurs. Kids can react to the neurofeedback activities on their screen and study the brain waves they are generating as a result. It is the ultimate online learning tool!

Private Consultation at NeuroZone

Not only is neurofeedback an exciting educational opportunity in these uncertain times, but it also allows you to diagnose various learning disabilities before they become more pronounced. Brain training identifies chaotic or unwelcome thinking patterns and directs the human brain into more productive modes of operating. Call (310) 821-3640 to schedule a free consultation and check out our blog to familiarize yourself with our work before you arrive. 

FAQ

References 

1. Burns, M. (2013). Go Figure: Math and the Common Core. Educational Leadership, 70(4), 42-46. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1003272 
2. Peterson, R. L., & Pennington, B. F. (2012). Developmental dyslexia. The Lancet. 379 (9830) 1997-2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60198-6
3. Stiegler, L. N., & Davis, R. (2010). Understanding sound sensitivity in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. 25 (2) 67-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357610364530
4. Grandin, T. (1988). Teaching tips from a recovered autistic. Focus on Autistic Behavior. 3 (1) 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/108835768800300101
5. Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2020). Facilitating Synchronous Online Language Learning through Zoom. RELC Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220937235