Non-Verbal Learning Disability and 3-D tools

After been in multiple grades extending from kindergarten to Adult Education, I have noticed that Nonverbal Learning Disabilities or NLD have interested me. Although I have witnessed how they have crippled learners ability to be successful, I did not know that this disability was so influential. “By definition, students with learning disabilities have neurological deficits that keep them from grasping certain content areas at grade level. Students with...nonverbal learning disability, (NVLD, or sometimes NLD) have a unique set of academic strengths and weaknesses.”(Connell, 2012) This is “a neurological syndrome that impairs a person’s natural ability to learn how to communicate with others non-verbally and also cope with their surroundings and responsibilities.”(Silas, 2012)

Some of the areas affected by Nonverbal Learning Disabilities are:

Physical Motor Skills - Poor co-ordination, gross motor skills development, graph-motor skills, possibly problems with balance.

Visual-Spatial Motor Skills - Resulting in problems understanding graphs, maps, geometry, and how to make mobiles, and with seeing.

Visual and Spatial Difficulties - People often fail to grasp the big picture, physical navigation. 

Reading Comprehension -  Deeper meanings, abstractions, and implications of literature; they can no longer survive by rote memorization and focusing on the details.

Sensory - They can have heightened senses of touch, taste, hearing, smell and vision.

In this post I will specifically talk about a new tool I believe can help learners with NLD. The sooner the teachers are aware of the signs of NLD, the sooner they can intervene and help those dealing with with this disability. The older the learners when the intervention occurs, the more difficult it becomes to help the learner. Even if a learner is not diagnosis until middle school, the educators help is extremely important. “Johnson and Myklebust (1967) were the first to talk about the Nonverbal Learning Disabilities (NLD). Nevertheless, it is only during the 90's that the disability was well known thanks to Byron Rourke's book entitled ‘Non Verbal Learning Disability’, which suggests that NLD is characterized by a significant gap between verbal and non-verbal IQ due to the right hemisphere brain malfunction.”(Errichiello, A; Angelillo, N; Di Costanzo, B; Barillari, U. Acta Phoniatrica Latina34. 1-2 (2012): 73-82.) “The difficulties for learners with NLD are often picked up late because decoding and spelling may be quite strong. On the other hand, inferential reading comprehension is weak relative to decoding and spelling skills. The first academic subject to be viewed as problematic is math, because spatial and conceptual aspects of this subject are problematic. Also, because of spatial and fine motor problems their handwriting is usually poor.”(Dinklage, 2012) Maggie Mamen, a clinical psychologist, “describes...that there is an underlying neurological disorder linked to pattern recognition. This then affects not only motor and spatial skills, but also those aspects of language and social skills that require inferring rules. Four subtypes are described: Perceptual NLD, Social NLD, Written Expressive NLD and Attentional NLD.”(Hooper, 2008) It is difficult to find a technology that can help with all aspects of a learning disability, or NLD’s, and I believe that this technology can do a good job at addressing each of these aspects of NLD

The technology that would support a learner who suffers from Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities are 3-D printers and tools. For NLD there are 2 different classes of 3-D tools that I believe could help learners, and these 3-D tools can print items that have been designed, print items that have been drawn, and draw freehand in 3-D. Two are 3-D printers and the other is a 3-D tool. So far, with 3-D printing there are two individual printers that can be used. The first 3-D printer is the Cube 3D Printer and the second is the Doodle3D. The main difference between this two printers is that the Cube 3D prints objects that have been created in a computer, and the Doodle3D prints 3-D objects created from the learners drawings. Since arriving to the availability of the public people have found a myriad of uses for 3D printers, know it’s new use is in the classroom. The Cube 3-D Printer and the Doodle3D can aid students in areas like reading comprehension and visual-spatial difficulties. The printer can help provide deeper meanings into stories by helping create a model of the story, it can provide more insight into abstract concepts, and implications of literature. With this tool the learners can develop  better visual and spatial acuity and the ability to grasp and understand the big picture and hopefully master the material covered. Also, NLD affects physical motor skills and visual-spatial motor skills. The next 3-D tool is the 3Doodler and it sketcher with extruded plastic rather than ink. Some learners can trace stencils on paper and assembled a complete 3D object or just draw structures in the air. The learner can work on physical motor skills and create writing samples that they can inspect, they can take part on coordination exercises to improve graph-motor skills, and gross motor skills development. The learner can also work on visual-spatial motor skills and make 3D representations of mathematical objects, graphs, maps, geometrical figures, and they can improve their physical navigation by creating 3D maps of their surrounding area. 

Some may say that the cost of these 3-D tools may be to much, but now days the price for these tools has gone down dramatically. 3-D printers have been around for 30 years and they have began to make an entrance into the market, and depending on the type of work you would like it to do more or less money can be spent. It is my belief that these 3-D tools can be used in the classroom right now, and with more time spent on the development of other technologies 3-D printers and tools will become a staple of classrooms and schools. These printers and tools can benefit the educational experience of all students. 

Work Cited

Connell, D. (2012, May 27). The Invisible Disability. [website]. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/invisible-disability

Dinklage, D. (2012, May 27). Aspergers Disorder and Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities:
How Are These Two Disorders Related to Each Other? [website] Retrieved from http://www.aane.org/asperger_resources/articles/miscellaneous/asperger_nonverbal_learning.html

Errichiello, A., Angelillo, N., Di Costanzo, B., & Barillari, U. (2012). The non-verbal learning disability. Acta Phoniatrica Latina, 34(1-2), 73-82. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1347808012?accountid=12598

Hooper, J. (2008), Understanding Non Verbal Learning Disabilities: A Common Sense Guide for Parents and Professionals. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 13: 211. doi: 10.1111/ j.1475-3588.2008.00513_4.x. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1475-3588.2008.00513_4.x/full

Silas, D. (2013, May 27). Special Educaitonal Needs/Non Verbal Learning Difficulties. [website] Retreved from http://www.specialeducationalneeds.co.uk/UsefulInformation/TypesofSEN-Disability/Nonverballearningdifficulties.html

Limitations that Prevent Solving Big, Complex Problems Smartly.

As humans, we impose the limitations that prevent us from solving big, complex problems smartly. According to Gee, we possess the ability to be smart, but for the most part we are not. Our limitations begin with what Gee calls “The Circuit of Reflective Action” (Gee 14). Gee lists five conditions that lead to smart actions. Initial mentorship, prior experience, clear goals, something at stake, and acts that elicits meaning from the world. Regarding meaning, Gee also states that “humans move and grow toward meaning. Meaning is what nourishes their minds and soul.” (Gee 133) One of the issues with meaning is that we tend to find meaning in comfort, and our memory tends to seek truth in comfort, thus “meaning without truth is a positive stimulus for humans.” (Gee 133)

Next, the memories we collect in life guide our actions, and without proper memories we cannot take proper action. Our memories are often updated and changed, we need to be sure that they are salient and relevant to the given purpose. By being in “the context we are in; what has happened to us recently; how we feel at the time; what we value; what we have been taught to pay attention to; what fits well with our goals; what is connected to other experiences we have had; and our interest and desires.” (Gee 22) As humans we need to be careful because memory can become “mental comfort stories” (G 33). This is, where we start modifying events and start believing that our memories are real and true when they are actually evolving collections of information that are mutually associated. In order to develop better memory, we need to provide more meaning to our memories in order to never lose focus on the truth.

Interestingly enough, living organisms usually progress towards stimuli that is positive and away from those that are negative. It’s interesting because, in the long run, humans will typically act towards immediate gratification even if it is not a positive stimuli. Therefore, humans tend to avoid complex things and complexities in our everyday lives, and when we encounter them we don’t think of them as the benefit in experience we obtained, but as events we can modify for immediate comfort. Gee talks about humans, meaning, and purpose in the world. He mentions that when meaning and purpose are not found, humans become sick of the mind and body. The truth that life displays for humans is complex. Humans, for the most part, are not cut out to face complexities with the frequency to which we confront the truth in life. The capacity, for humans, to believe in “mental comfort stories” (Gee 33) in the absence of evidence or knowledge of reality that support them is proof that humans tend to avoid complexities and choose immediate gratification in our everyday lives. We as humans suffer through this because as Gee mentioned, “Sometimes it is not institutions that freeze thought, but minds themselves”. (Gee 93) Meaning that as humans we are scared of the mental process of thought, and how it can lead us on roads we do not like. 

Lastly, we humans are social creatures and as such we put ourselves in positions where we desire, want, and fight for belonging, and immediate gratification. Big complex problems require time, commitment, and altruism, and possibly the assistance of other individuals that share the same principles. As social creatures, humans seek similar people because it is comfortable but we seldom look for individuals better than us for the fear of not belonging. These senses of belonging, comfort, and immediate gratification are other reasons why the truth takes a backseat for humans, and we limit ourselves. This can be averted only if the feeling of delayed gratification moves us deeply as to provide the proper time, commitment, and altruistic behavior to solve a big complex problem.

The solving of a big complex problem can be achieved by anyone. The limitations that keep us from being able to solve big, complex problems smartly are the following: the circuit of reflective action, not recalling memories for the truth they offer, not embracing the complexity of life experiences. Not seeing the big picture, not having the commitment to take action, and being selfish to the ramifications of said actions. Gee mentions that humans can be very intelligent or very stupid. So, solving a big complex problem depends on what we know, what we learn, what we risk, and what we want.

It is my believe that a behavior or a belief can not be fixed or changed if the person is not aware of the problem. An awareness of these limitations, should change all the actions that have prevented us from behaving intelligently regardless of the level of complexity. I must say, it is not just being aware of said limitations that will bring about action. The individuals must want to change their current level of comfort in order to take any type of action. If for some reason they do not see or agree with the limitations mentioned, the changes will not take place fully. 

Problem solving is the process of working through details of a problem to reach a solution. What Gee offers is the ability to brake down the individual aspects that contribute to the  “smarter” aspect of problem solving. Knowing the results that are desired is imperative to knowing what solution to use for a problem. Thanks to Gee we are smarter in the way in which we work, act, and think,  and we can recognize the type of result we would like, thus problem solving becomes easier.

Ill-Sturctured/Complex Problem Screencast CEP 812

Hello everyone, this is the beginning of my CEP 812 Class. For this assignment I have to identify what problems may come up while preparing the lesson without the use of technology. Then, how will I use technology to solve the problem I encountered. This is a relevant question to all teachers that don't and do use technology in the classroom. Essentially, can you do without technology in the classroom?…Yes. But, technology allows for a myriad of possibilities that can benefit the student. So, it can be done without technology….but why would you?

Here is my Screecast explaining my thoughts on this topic.

Well-Structured Problem Geometry: Lines and Angles