Chapter i

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
“And report cards I was always afraid to show
Mama’d come to school
And as I’d sit there softly cryin’
Teacher’d say he’s just not tryin’
Got a good head if he’d apply it
But you know yourself
It’s always somewhere else”
-an excerpt Neil Diamonds’song
Neil Diamond’s “Brooklyn Roads” expresses the frustrations often felt by the learning
disabled child. Such children, as usually defined, have learning problems in school even though
they may be no less intelligence than their non-disabled classmates. It is really spiteful to find
out that in a regular setting, there were few pupils who are termed and labelled to be “slow”,
“bobo” or “doldog” in vernacular. Yet, it is harsh when we perceive them as liabilities in class.
However, the most painful to glean is that, they are without any persons attending their needs
and meeting their requisites.
In this digital society, most pupils have difficulties with learning and as well as behavior
from time to time. Nowadays, in a grade school classroom, there will always be one or two who
are having this kind of problem. It is surely common now and rampant as well. Actually,
children with learning disabilities in general do not have low IQ. Nevertheless they have
relatively average or even above average intelligence who are just experiencing severe learning
or academic problems in school.
Learning disabilities is by far the fastest growing, the most controversial and often the
most confusing area within special education. Some of the finest mathematics students at
Harvard University have learning disabilities. Yet many students who find it hard even to meet
high school graduation requirements of to hold onto the most menial job also have learning
disabilities.

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According to World Health Organization, the universal estimate of the prevalence of
children with special needs stands at 10 percent (10%) with disabilities and 2 percent (2%) with
giftedness and talent. Authorities’ estimates range from 0.5% to 30%. Various studies have put
the prevalence around 6-8% percent of the school-age population. Each year, the U.S.
Department of Education reports the number and percentage of school-age children receiving
special education for learning disabilities in public schools. For the school year 1998-1999, just
fewer than 4.5% of 6- to 21-year olds (2.8 million) in US schools had been identified as having
learning disabilities. In the Philippines, as stated by the Special Education Division report on
statistics for the school year 2004-2005 there are 40, 260 children with this learning disabilities.
And among 4,800,000 estimated children and youth with special needs, only three percent (3%)
are receiving special education services.
As much as possible, during the school years, parents and educators should be alert for
the consistent and persistent patterns of difficulty that children and adolescents may experience
over time as they may signal an underlying learning disability. There are variations however with
the development of a child which are expected, there should not be a behavior to be ignored.
Instances sometimes permit with the said disability and if not early detected and identified can
become a bigger trouble. We should not also neglect the fact that this learning disability may
also accompany another disorders or difficulties such as giftedness, attention deficit disorder,
depression, anxiety and even low self-esteem. Remember that, learning disability is not cured by
medication, therapy, or expert tutoring. It does not go away when you told to do so. It is
something to be threatened with guidance and patience.
According to Inciong (2007), there are number of students in regular class whose mental
ability is within the average range or may be above average but do not learn the skills in the
basic education curriculum that are suitable to their chronological ages and grade levels. He also
added that documents from the Department of Education indicate the poor performance of
elementary and high school students in the national achievement tests. According to the reports
as cited by him, Filipino students learn only half or even less of the skills and competencies in
the basic education curriculum that their teachers teach them. While there are many causative
factors in the field of learning disabilities, the poor performance of students in national
achievement tests is a significant indicator that learning difficulties do exist in the classrooms.

3
Individuals should also be aware of what this disability is because this is not as secret
nowadays but this is now rampant yet unseen disability. Sometimes we just blame the natural
development of a child and conclude that his failure to class is brought by his laziness alone and
some factors brought by the environment or distractions. Well, sometimes we should not always
believe in ifs and that’s but we should always be ready for things unexpected to happen. Having
knowledge to this disability brings us into a higher level of thinking and morality. As a helper of
the society, we can be part to the development and lives of pupils who are suffering or having
problems in school, friends, family and whatnot. This will serves as an eye opener to what
interventions to be used and management to be done with this kind of pupils in a regular setting.
Yes, this is not only true with the special education center for most of the teachers in regular
setting are experiencing this kind of challenge in their own class. This will be a good help not
only to those who are directly benefited such as the child who are learning disabled but also with
individuals who are into the social circle of the child.
So, early recognition of warning signs well-targeted screening and assessment, effective
intervention, and on-going monitoring of progress are critical to helping individuals with LD to
succeed in school, in the workplace and in life. (Horowitz, Sheldon H.) Awareness of learning
disability, its definition, types, characteristics, causes and of course the methods, strategies,
techniques used to handle children with this kind of disability is beneficial and must.
Statement of the Problem
This research titled “Cases of Learning Disability in Primary Grade Levels” generally
aims to answer the following questions.
1. What are the types of learning disability?
2. What are the characteristics of learners with learning disability?
3. What are methods, strategies and techniques used to handle children with learning
disability?

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Significance of the Study
The research titled “Cases of Learning Disability in Primary Grade Levels” targets to
broaden the knowledge, widen the awareness and extend the intervention of individuals.
For myself. This research will give enhancement and supplement to the existing knowledge the
researcher has. This may also be beneficial to her to make her adopt and modify the interventions
used in each kind of learning disability.
For teachers. This study will benefit the regular teachers and special education teachers for this
will give additional information to them. They will also gain awareness to this kind of disability
hence giving their pupils considerations and appropriate actions to those pupils who are failing in
class instructions.
For parents. This research is important to parents because they will gain awareness, right
informations and suitable involvement and intervention in handling their children if they have
child with this learning disability. This can also be a guide to them in parenting.
For pupils. This may help them in their schooling as their concern will be the focused of this
study. This can be the first step towards their full development.
For readers. This will give them additional information and knowledge that would help them in
identifying children, their needs and the correct intervention and management to be used.
Scope and Delimitations
The researcher conducted a research study titled “Cases of Learning Disability in Primary
Grade Levels”. This is conducted in Lagui-Sail Elementary School in Laoag City, Academic
Year 2014-2015, and first semester from August to October.
This study merely concentrate in defining learning disability; enumerating the
characteristics of a learning disabled learner; listing and describing the types of learning
disability; citing and explaining the methods, strategies and techniques used to handle children
with learning disability and; citing the case of learning disability.
For a better study, the researcher followed three methods of gathering data and
information. First of which is the library method or the research method wherein the researcher
gathered references and materials to be used from different libraries like I-hub Ilocos Norte
Provincial Library and MMSU-CTE Library; and from various websites using the internet or the
world wide web. The second is the observation method wherein the researcher went to Lagui-

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Sail Elementary School to observe personally the classes and learners in primary grade levels.
The third is the survey method or questionnaire method wherein the researcher distributed
checklist and questionnaires to teachers for more information and also for validity.
Definition of Terms
This section contains the definition of terms that the researcher used in this study. She
also provides the definition as it used in this paper for better and clearer understanding. These are
the following:
Dyscalculia. This is a term used to describe pupils who have significant difficulty in acquiring
mathematical skills.
Dysgraphia. It means difficulty in producing handwriting that is legible an which is produced at
an age-appropriate speed.
Dyslexia. Dyslexia refers to difficulty learning to read and to spell.
Dyspraxia. It is a term used to describe children or learners who have difficulty coordinating
their muscles and therefore both their gross and motor development is often affected.
Learning Disability. The term specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the
basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or
written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,
spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual
disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental
aphasia.
Primary Grade Levels. This refers to pupils from grade 1 to grade 3 in Lagui-Sail Elementary
School.

Chapter i

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Chapter i