Education Psychology: Learning Disabilities
Jennifer Halleran
ABS200
Jennifer Weniger
12/08/2014

According to Bare, Risely, & Wolf. (1968), “Applied behavioral science is the study of human behavior and the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior (http://eden2.org/what-is-applied-behavior-analysis/, 2014).” I have chosen to focus on case study #4 involving educational psychology: learning disabilities. Educational psychology is the practice of two different fields. Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior of human beings. Education is the formal development of learning knowledge and skills. The discipline of educational psychology has opened the door for professionals to not only research the causes, but to introduce methods and services to help the individuals. I will focus on defining dyslexia and dyscalculia in educational psychology, the problem-analysis framework, integrated framework, positive psychology, and the strength-based approach in the understanding, assessing, and the interventions for both learning disabilities, as well as the ethical considerations of the professional.
Case #4 describes an 8 year old boy who is struggling to learn, especially in the targeted areas of reading and math. The parents and teachers worked together to understand and determine the problem. They were able to eliminate possible causes like disabilities of visual, hearing, and motor. They were also able to rule out an intellectual disability, emotional disorders, or environmental, cultural, or economic issues. After eliminating all other possibilities, the 8 year old was classified having dyslexia (reading disability) and dyscalculia (math disability), both learning disabilities.
Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by slow and inaccurate word recognition and spelling; such as interpreting ‘b’ as ‘d’ or the word ‘was’ as ‘saw’. Individuals receive adequate instruction and their sensory abilities are intact, and high or low intelligence is indifferent to the disorder. Dyslexia can be defined in neurobiology as a dysfunction in the normal left hemisphere of the brain, the language network. Developmental dyslexia has mounting evidence that it is found in every culture, drawing attention to the cross-linguistic similarities in neurobiological and neurocognitive bases (Pennington & Peterson, 2012).
Dyscalculia is a neurological and neuropsychological disorder in mathematical skill or abnormal delay of comprehension of one or more mathematical operations. A result of conducted studies in the field of dyscalculia has shown a consistency in findings that there is an association between the neuropsychological characteristics and mathematical problems. Another association is a malfunction with the left hemisphere that is typically seen alongside reading disorders (Faramarzi. & Sadri. 2014).
Educational psychology is a diverse scientific discipline within psychology that embraces both methods of study and a resulting knowledge base. Knowing and understanding the processes of learning and teaching within schools and other formal environments will help develop and improve the connection between teaching and learning. There is a wide-ranging topic interest in the field, such as teaching methods, learning theories, the development of emotional, moral, motivation, cognitive processes, as well as parent/child relationships (Huitt, 2011).
Educational psychology provides important background knowledge that pre-service and in-service educators to be used as the foundation for the professional practice. In combination with information on human growth and development, specific content knowledge, theories of learning and education provide the foundation for the methods and procedures used in