Learning Disorders in a Middle Adolescent

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Evidence of Concern
Factors Affecting Asher’s Development and Learning
Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies
Conclusion
References

Introduction

This case study analysis paper explores the case of Asher – a school student in his middle adolescence. The student displays some signs of learning disorders and probably suffers from peer rejection and insecure parent-child attachment. This essay aims to use the biopsychosocial model and look at the areas of concern in Asher’s case through the prism of major developmental and learning theories by Bronfenbrenner and Erikson to offer relevant evidence-based teaching strategies.

Evidence of Concern

Firstly, Asher’s classroom behaviors, including the inability to copy text without mistakes, difficulty engaging in classroom activities, and evident handwriting difficulties, can be understood as warning signs of learning disorders affecting reading and writing skills, such as dyslexia. Secondly, Asher displays worrying physical symptoms, such as tiredness for an unknown reason, which can be caused by sleep deprivation related to age-related hormonal changes, underlying medical conditions, and stress. Thirdly, interpersonal relationships play a critical role in healthy development, but Asher seems to suffer from peer rejection since his classmates usually shrink away from interacting with him. His attempts to run away from a home hint at the lack of secure and trust-based family relationships.

Factors Affecting Asher’s Development and Learning

Biological Factors

Asher’s learning issues may be linked to a variety of factors related to physical health and development. Human learning depends on the degree to which cognitive skills are developed (Makany et al., 2009). Dyslexia, the suspected learning disorder, stems from deficits in the orthographic-visual analysis stage, the exact physiological cause of which is yet to be studied, or it can be related to eyesight problems, difficulties when memorizing the sequences of letters, and even undetected traumatic brain injuries (Friedmann & Coltheart, 2018). During classes, Asher rubs his eyes, which can be indicative of vision impairments or severe discomfort when trying to perceive and memorize entire phrases and the correct spelling of each word. Considering the possibility of visual perception issues, Asher’s large handwriting could be an attempt to write something that he could read without extra visual effort.

The learning disorder that Asher probably has is linked with the peculiarities of brain development. The link between hand preference and dyslexia has not been proved yet, whereas reduced brain asymmetry is seen as a more valid contributing factor (Paracchini et al., 2016). In non-dyslexic children, the planum temporale, which is the cortical area involved in tasks requiring language use and speech comprehension, is clearly asymmetrical and larger on the left hemisphere, whereas in those with dyslexia, the right planum temporale is slightly enlarged, which reduces asymmetry (Paracchini et al., 2016). In healthy children, reading tasks lead to a common brain activation pattern involving the gradual activation of left-sided brain structures, whereas dyslexics demonstrate reduced activity in left-sided structures and increased activity in the homologous right-sides areas, so symmetry is increased (Paracchini et al., 2016). Based on longitudinal studies, reduced asymmetry of the planum temporale and brain activation patterns is a reliable predictor of dyslexia and reading struggles (Paracchini et al., 2016). Asher’s difficulties in copying written language are quite pronounced for his age, so the possible existence of undiagnosed brain development peculiarities should not be disregarded.

Multiple biological factors can be at play when it comes to Asher’s constant tiredness. Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are rather common in Australian teenagers and have a tremendous negative impact on emotional stability and engagement in intellectual activities, thus resulting in poor grades (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). Difficulty falling asleep is common even in healthy adolescents. It has to deal with changes in the production of melatonin (the hormone that participates in the regulation of circadian rhythms) (Crone, 2017; Xie et al., 2017). As a result of these changes, adolescents tend to become tired later in the evening compared to children.

The combination of a delayed desire to sleep with significant energy expenditures associated with pubertal physical development contributes to tiredness in adolescents, especially in the morning (Crone, 2017). Importantly, melatonin synthesis is inhibited by exposure to light during nighttime (Xie et al., 2017). Based on that, Asher’s tiredness and sleep issues can also be rooted in the habit to overuse electronic devices in the late evening or in excessive social media use, which has been shown to affect psychological well-being and self-esteem (Richards et al., 2015). Erratic sleep patterns and daytime tiredness in young teenagers increase the likelihood of substance use events later in life (Nguyen-Louie et al., 2018). For Asher, fatigue is not necessarily the consequence of substance abuse, but his tiredness and poor family relationships may indicate the need to monitor suspicious physical symptoms.

Psychological Factors

Adolescence serves as a critical period when it comes to personal identity formation. Parental values often set the context for an individual’s commitment to different domains of identity, but issues arise when adolescents are disinterested in looking for personally attractive and expressive values (Steensma et al., 2013). In adolescence, peers often become an individual’s new and main source of trust instead of parents, but Asher seems to lack trust-based relationships with both relatives and peers (Laghi et al., 2016). Asher’s attempts to run away from parents probably indicate insecure attachment – the issue that prevents adolescents from seeing family relationships as the source of support (Loeb et al., 2020). If not addressed, Asher’s insecure attachment can affect further development by exacerbating loneliness, trust issues, and communication in romantic relationships in young adulthood (Loeb et al., 2020).

Based on the stated evidence of concern, the boy’s family members probably have no success in positioning themselves as authority figures for Asher and teaching him some positive values, such as the importance of social contacts and teamwork, the ultimate role of learning in adult life, and so on. As per Erikson’s psychosocial theory, during each of the eight life stages, an individual is supposed to resolve a specific psychosocial crisis, and adolescence involves resolving the conflict between “identity and identity confusion” (Crocetti, 2017, p. 145). Asher currently faces the need to “combine and integrate relevant earlier identifications” in a truly unique way (Crocetti, 2017, p. 145). To resolve the conflict and avoid the diffusion of identity status, it is essential for Asher to develop trust-based relationships and attachment with peers. Modern cross-sectional studies demonstrate these components’ important role in ensuring identity formation success in adolescents and strong links between identity foreclosure and failures in relationships (Laghi et al., 2016). Aside from issues in the family, because of peer rejection, Asher faces barriers to experimenting with identity, which affects his psychological development and well-being.

To continue, Asher’s opportunities to engage in identity exploration are quite scarce at the moment since he is constantly ignored by classmates and probably feels underappreciated by peers. These negative feelings can probably reduce his motivation to find ways to approach others and demonstrate his positive qualities. Also, since stress is known to affect sleep in adolescents, Asher’s tiredness and suspected sleep problems can also be the outcomes of peer rejection and the resulting obsessive and unpleasant thoughts. A lack of positive beliefs about himself and his abilities can also prevent Asher from exploring his identity, practicing different activities, and communicating (Crocetti, 2017). For instance, his insufficient engagement in intellectually demanding activities might reflect his fear of being laughed at due to showing his poor abilities.

Interestingly, Asher’s communication issues might be linked to some of his physical symptoms. Experimental research on adolescents shows that peer rejection has implications for teenagers’ endocrine profile, and there is a strong positive link between being unpopular among peers and elevated cortisol levels (Crone, 2017). Those rejected by most of their classmates demonstrate better stress coping mechanisms if they have at least one friend in other academic and social environments, which is why Asher’s attempts to find friends outside of the classroom should be supported (Crone, 2017). Constant exposure to excessive cortisol and other stress hormones can contribute to worrying symptoms, among which are severe fatigue and concentration issues, and both seem to be present in Asher’s case (Crone, 2017).

Social Factors

Asher’s environment and social circumstances also have a tremendous impact on him. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development can be extremely helpful in understanding unwanted influences on Asher’s development and performance (Nand, 2017). According to Bronfenbrenner’s idea, human development is caused by complex interactions between “person, process, context, and time,” and each person’s environment consists of five interconnected systems (Nand, 2017, p. 52). The so-called microsystem deals with an individual’s daily activities and interactions with peers and family, and interactions at this level are bi-directional and extremely influential. Asher’s challenges at the microsystem level are pronounced since he seems to lack mutually supportive relationships with peers and family and a secure attachment, which can contribute to isolation, issues in identity formation, trust issues in adulthood, and even early school leaving (Crocetti, 2017; Laghi et al., 2016; Nand, 2017).

Asher’s development can also be affected by interactions at the next levels in Bronfenbrenner’s hierarchy. The mesosystem is about interactions between different parts of the microsystem, such as families, peer groups, school, and so on (Nand, 2017). Based on the case, it seems that interactions between Asher’s family and the school are insufficient since no attempts to report Asher’s problems with studies and peers to his family are mentioned. Also, the mesosystem should allow individuals to compensate for poor microsystem interactions; for instance, unsatisfactory relationships in the family can be partially balanced by positive interactions between the school and peer groups (Nand, 2017). In Asher’s case, almost all of his microsystem interactions are problematic, which finds reflection in peer rejection, issues at home, and unproductive collaboration with teachers.

Next, the exosystem refers to interactions between at least two large external settings or institutions, such as the school system and the workplace, whereas the macrosystem deals with individuals’ indirect interactions with political systems, national values, or the economy (Nand, 2017). Asher’s issues relating to the exosystem and the chronosystem (the role of time and space in development) are not evident, but collaboration between his community and the school in healthy lifestyle promotion would have a positive impact on him. Regarding the macrosystem, Asher’s inability to bring books and resources probably has to deal with his family’s economic situation, and increased family-school collaboration could improve his access to knowledge.

Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies

The first strategy that might support Asher’s identity development and learning involves the implementation of evidence-based teaching interventions for dyslexia after confirming the suspected diagnosis. The recommended interventions for dyslexics with writing difficulties include the use of spell-check applications, exercises involving the combination of handwriting and typing, printed and electronic graphic organizers, and keyword highlighting to improve reading comprehension (Hebert et al., 2018). The strategy will allow meeting the professional standard 1.5, referring to the teacher’s ability to understand “strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities” (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2011, p. 11). In adolescents, active classroom participation is positively associated with peer inclusion (Sette et al., 2020). Interventions for dyslexics can improve Asher’s understanding of course materials, thus making it easier for him to engage in group discussions and experiment with his identity by communicating his viewpoints to peers.

The second strategy involves using techniques to improve family engagement in learning. The need for it stems from the lack of family-school interactions at the mesosystem level and the signs of insecure attachment. Increasing parent/family engagement in education is among the priority areas for the education system in Australia (Smarter Schools National Partnerships National Key Reform Project, 2011). Such strategies are also aligned with the standard 3.7, according to which the teacher is anticipated to effectively “engage parents/carers in the educative process” (AITSL, 2011, p. 15). To create a productive partnership, it is possible to contact Asher’s aunt and instruct her on the use of praise to increase Asher’s motivation; praise about efforts from parents/caregivers improves children’s understanding of the connection between effort and success (New South Wales Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2015). NSWCESE (2015) reports that school connectedness reduces substance use and other risky behaviors in students, and effective ways to promote it also include home visitations and personal meetings with Asher’s aunt (Abulon & Brito, 2017). Regular communication will allow keeping Asher’s family updated on his performance issues and collect new information on his challenging behaviors.

The third strategy is to introduce group activities to increase Asher’s and other children’s willingness to engage in communication. Students with developmental and learning disorders show positive responses to interventions that allow them to engage in communication in varied settings (Durwin & Reese-Weber, 2018). Group activities, such as discussions, can be organized using the interest-based grouping framework, and such activities can foster interpersonal communication and support students’ self-exploration (Brulles & Brown, 2018). For instance, Asher loves music, and group discussions with classmates that share this interest can help him to show specific knowledge, learn more about himself, and improve microsystem interactions. The strategy is aligned with professional standard 3.5 or the effective use of communication strategies to “support student engagement” (AITSL, 2011, p. 15). New opportunities associated with the proposed teaching strategy will increase Asher’s chances to resolve the identity crisis by experimenting with self-presentation, understanding interests that make him unique, and improving his social image.

Conclusion

Finally, multiple biological, psychological, and social factors may contribute to Asher’s suspected learning disorder, tiredness, and the lack of trust-based relationships with relatives and peers. Three strategies, such as interventions for dyslexia, teacher-parent partnerships, and group activities, are expected to reduce the suspected issues’ impact on Asher’s development. The strategies are linked with specific problems identified with the help of the selected theories, such as identity development and improvement areas in Asher’s microsystem and mesosystem.

References

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