3 Things Every Teacher Should Know About Learning Differences

Teachers often graduate from their preparation programs without a firm grounding in common learning differences like dyslexia, which affects the ability to read.

This is the case even though teachers will, over the course of their careers, educate many students with learning differences—putting them, and their future students, at a disadvantage, experts point out.

Dyslexia, for example, affects 3 to 7 percent of people, with some estimates putting that number at 20 percent. Similar percentages of people have dyscalculia, which can hurt the ability to do math. Estimates for how many people have dysgraphia, which affects the ability to write, range from 5 to 20 percent.

There is much to know about these learning differences and how they affect students’ ability to function in the classroom. But what are the most essential concepts every educator should know?

We asked an expert in educational psychology, an elementary special education teacher, and a student with dyslexia and dyscalculia to answer the following question during a recent EdWeek K-12 Essentials Forum: What do you wish all teachers knew about students with learning differences? Here’s what they had to say.

1. Don’t mistake poor performance for lack of motivation

Over time, society has come to expect children to master more and more complex material, said Edward Hubbard, an associate professor in educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison who studies dyscalculia. That perspective is important to understanding the challenges students with learning differences or other neurodivergent conditions face, Hubbard said.

“I remind my college students, 350 years ago, there were only two people on the planet that knew calculus,” he said. “Now all of them are supposed to learn calculus if they want to get into a university.”

And that leads to Hubbard’s next point: Even knowing that a student has a learning difference, it’s easy to mistake their struggles for a lack of motivation.

“I think that that’s perhaps one of the most important things to understand: that these are kids who are trying, they’re working hard, they’re doing everything they can to learn, and that they really can be super successful with the appropriate supports, with the appropriate interventions,” he said.

2. Teachers don’t have to be experts in learning disabilities, but they should get to know each student well

Just getting to know a student really well—their interests, fears, what motivates them, and what causes them to shut down—can make a big difference in finding the right approach to teaching a student with a learning difference, said Danielle Kovach, a 3rd grade special education teacher in New Jersey and a mother of three—two of whom have special needs. When asked what she wishes teachers knew about students with learning differences, she said the question was personal for her.

“I’m going put my mom hat on for a sec and I’m going say, ‘I wish you knew my kid. I wish that you knew his struggles,’” she said. “‘I wish that you knew what motivated him, what gets him to learn. I wish you knew where he came from and where he’s going to.’”

Kovach is also an adjunct professor of special education at Centenary University and the past president of the Council for Exceptional Children, a nonprofit that works on improving education for students with disabilities. She said teachers should form their own opinions about their students with learning disabilities and not rely on what they have heard from their colleagues.

For students with learning differences, strong relationships with their teachers are key, Kovac said. That relationship makes the classroom a safe place for students with learning differences to try, fail, and eventually learn.

3. Undiagnosed neurodiverse students are sending distress signals. Watch for them

Teachers can play an important role in identifying neurodiverse students early if they know the signs, said Jacquelyn Taylor, a student at the University of Rhode Island who became an advocate for people with learning disabilities while she was in high school. She has both dyslexia and dyscalculia, the latter which went undiagnosed throughout elementary and middle school.

“If a student is consistently inconsistent in a certain aspect of a subject matter, pay attention to that please. Because you could really help a student get an official diagnosis,” she said.

There are other subtle signs to look for, Taylor said, such as when a student turns in incomplete assignments, makes an excuse to leave class during certain subjects, asks a lot of clarifying questions, or looks “really confused in the classroom.”

“I feel like body language says a lot, so pay attention to that in your students,” she said.