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Warm-up activities to get students to relax and know each other.

For example, all students write their hobbies, and short self-introduction on anonymous cards. The teacher collects the cards and shares the cards again randomly. Ask students to read their card on hand and guess who wrote this card (L, Zhang, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

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·         Observe student’s attendance, performance, and behavior.

·         Talk with students during lunch, break, and bus-waiting times to learn more about their personalities and learning status (L, Zhang, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

·        Keep daily or weekly records of observation and behavior charts to distinguish the learning differences.

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Observe classroom behavior, social and emotional behavior. For example, frequency of disruptive behaviors, interaction with peers and teachers, signs of anxiety, depression, or other emotional issues.

Collect data on academic performance, pre-test scores, and attendance. For example, the following data can well show students' status: portfolios of student work, completed assignments, projects, participation in class discussions and activities, engagement during lessons, and tests (S, Luo, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

Use surveys and questionnaires to check student self-assessments. Parents meeting is a good chance to examine your students closely.

Use diagnostic assessments, formative and summative assessments, and standardized tests as your assessment tools.

Native language academic assessment: Assessment of student academic performance in their native language can help distinguish language needs with learning disability.

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Language vs. disability: Why are students struggling?

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·         The results of the assessment showed that the students had difficulties mainly in language, and normal performance in other cognitive and academic areas.

·         By providing language support (such as English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, vocabulary teaching, practice, etc.), the student's academic performance normally can improve significantly.

·         Academic performance: Students have normal or near-normal academic performance in their native language.

·         Class observation: Students may show difficulty in understanding and using language, but perform normally on non-verbal tasks such as mathematical calculation, figure recognition, etc (L, Zhang, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

·         Student behavior: Errors could be related to the structure of language, vocabulary is limited, or grammatical errors.

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The assessment results showed that students had difficulties in multiple academic and cognitive areas, consistent with the characteristics of learning disabilities.

Students with learning disabilities show significant academic difficulties even when adequate language support is provided.

Academic performance: Students also showed similar academic difficulties in their native language, indicating that problems were not caused by language barriers alone (L, Zhang, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

Learning disabilities Class observation: Students may exhibit persistent difficulties in a wide range of academic and functional areas, including reading, writing, mathematics, and more.

Learning disabilities Student behavior: errors may be systematic and persistent, not only confined to the field of language, it may also include memory, attention, and information processing (S, Luo, personal communication, July 10, 2024).

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Develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) outlining specific goals, accommodations, and services for students. Ensure the IEP is tailored to the student's unique needs.

Conduct a comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary team. Talking with other subject teachers can help you understand students' strengths and weaknesses. Bring the student’s successful learning experiences in other subjects to the weak subject.

Consult a special education teacher or psychologist for professional evaluation and advice.

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Provide language support. For example, improve their reading fluency, offer writing samples as models, and enhance their vocabulary and spelling proficiency.

Design differentiation lesson plans, class activities.

Implement targeted teaching interventions and observe student responses.

Monitor progress.

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Help with efforts from parents, school, all subject teachers to help student get the assistance and make progress.

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Help with efforts from parents, school, all subject teachers to help student get the assistance and make progress.

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IRIS | Page 2: Distinguishing Between Disability and Language Difference. (n.d.-a). https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/dll/cresource/q1/p02/

Lbreiseth. (2021, January 6). Language vs. disability: Why are students struggling? Colorín Colorado. https://www.colorincolorado.org/video/language-vs-disability-why-are-students-struggling

Logan, B. (2015). Reviewing the Value of Self-Assessments: Do They Matter in the Classroom?. Research in Higher Education Journal, 29.

Mather, N., & Abu-Hamour, B. (2013). Individual assessment of academic achievement.