The passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975 was the beginning of major changes to public school education. This law, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act, required states and school districts to provide access to free and appropriate education to all preschool and school-aged children with disabilities as defined by the law.
    Music educators have always encountered handicapped students in their classrooms, but with the passage of this law, students with all disabilities have been mainstreamed into music classrooms as a way to incorporate them into the least restrictive environment.
    One group of disabled students that music teachers regularly encounter are children with learning- disabilities. These are students who on the outside appear much like the nondisabled student. Unless the music teacher is aware that the student has been identified as learning disabled; the teacher might assume he or she is not in the special education program.
    Students who are identified as learning disabled have tested within normal ranges on an intelligence test but are functioning several grade levels below normal ranges in one or more academic subjects.
    Experts do not agree on uniform labels in which to classify specific learning disabilities. The Denver Public Schools categorizes children with learning disabilities/perceptual or communicative disabilities as having one or more of the following difficulties: visual processing, auditory processing, short term memory, long term retrieval, reasoning, and visual motor integration.
    Research by Johnson and Myklebust explain that all learning disabilities are brain dysfunctions that manifest themselves as problems with information input, processing or integration or in expression or output. (Atterbury, p. 41).
    The educator's task is in adapting instruction for these children or finding methods that bypass input, processing or output problems. Music is an area that particularly lends itself toward adaptation for learning disabled in the music classroom. An accommodation recommended for all learning disabilities is using a multisensory approach to learning. Many music activities involve two or three modes of learning, (visual, aural and haptic/kinesthetic). Using a computer and synthesizer, the learner can take advantage of all three modes of learning at the same time.
    The solution is not to simply place the learning disabled child at a music technology station and allow them free reign; adaptations must be employed in software and hardware in order for effective learning to occur.
    In this article I will review a group of popular software packages that I have used successfully with different types of learning disabled children. The programs are MusicShop by Opcode, Finale by Coda and Band-in-a-Box by PG Music. All software reviewed are Macintosh programs, however some are also available in IBM versions as well. The Macintosh computer is almost exclusively used in the Denver Public Schools where I teach, and continues to be popular in public school districts, particularly among music educators.
    Learning disabilities as identified by the Denver Public Schools Special Education Department, will be individually examined with suggested adaptations for each.
In addition to the multisensory approach, general accommodations appropriate to all learning disabled children include:

• "hands-on",
• simple to complex formats, small sequential steps,
• relevant material,
• frequent review and repetition, 
• use of clues and hints and, 
• use of webs and diagrams.

    "Hands-on" is particularly applicable to learning using music technology. Students who actively "do" rather than sitting back and watching as the teacher or another student manipulates the software and hardware will understand concepts introduced better.
    Designing learning going from simple to complex is important in order to keep the student from becoming confused or overwhelmed. Try first to limit the number of functions when introducing the student to the software. Keep things basic. Gradually add other functions only after repeating and practicing using basic functions. When it is clear the student has mastered basic concepts, only then introduce the student to the next level.
    Break learning up into small steps that the student can remember. It is a good idea to provide the student with a tutorial that includes screen shots along with verbal explanation. The tutorial should go no further than the level and steps the student is working on.
    Some programs have built-in help. Show the student how to access the help balloons and how to use them when they are confused. Your tutorial should be a source for help. along with students who understand the program who could be paired with or sit next to the learning disabled student.
    Assignments should allow students to explore and create the kind of music and sounds students are interested in. By making learning relevant to the student, you are increasing motivation to learn. Learning disabled children often have poor self-esteem and a high level of fear of failure. Allowing students to experiment using music and sounds attractive to them helps to keep them interested and focused.
    Students with visual perception problems experience difficulty in input, processing or output of visual information. You may find these students all but ignoring the computer as they play the synthesizer and listen. Helpful adaptations that may encourage them to look at the computer screen include:

• using MusicShop to display graphic notation that represents pitch and duration by showing different colors and lengths of bars instead of more confusing traditional notation;
• using Finale 3.5 or higher and using the function that allows the user to view layers in different colors;
• drawing attention to the pointer in MusicShop or the highlight function in Band-in-a Box that shows beat and where the student is in the music as it plays back;
• re-size the screen or select only the portion of the music the student is working on;
• use Finale to give feedback when too many counts are in a measure. It is also important to make sure students receive oral directions and follow and "do" as you demonstrate. Students may not be able to sequentially replicate what you do if they watch you demonstrate or try to read a tutorial.

    Students with auditory perception problems will require very different accommodations. Verbal directions should be brief and spoken by varying tone and pitch of voice. You should also speak slowly. The visual demonstration and tutorial should clearly demonstrate the sequence of steps so the student can easily refer to it. Students need to "do" as you show steps paying close attention to your demonstration on the overhead along with watching the computer screen. The tutorial should include many screen shots in order to help the students match steps to how their computer screen appears. Noise and extraneous sounds can be very distracting to learning disabled children with auditory perception problems, seat these children in the area of the room with the least amount of distractions.

Use software in these ways:

• use the MusicShop pointer to relate sound to what the music looks like;
• display all parts created in MusicShop so the student can see and associate music with everything they are hearing;
• use Band-in-a-Box similarly: draw attention to the highlighted section so the students associate hearing with seeing;
• print Finale parts out so students can follow along with the visual notation when playing back music;
• slow tempos down in all programs so students can keep up with the visual, increase tempo as students become more comfortable.

    Students with short term memory problems will need the tutorial along with "doing" as you demonstrate. You should seat them next to a student who can help them when they become confused or frustrated. Have these kids use the playback feature as often as they need in order to help them recall what they have created. Have students create music in segments, they should break music down into phrases and work with phrases instead of large sections.
    Students with long term retrieval problems will need a tutorial to refer to including all parts already covered. Use a peer helper and allow them extra time outside of class in order to practice using the software and hardware so it becomes more automatic.
I have not found the need to accommodate students with reasoning problems. The area that reasoning seems to impact most is in reading comprehension. The multisensory approach appears to be the adaptation for these students.
Visual motor integration manifests itself as poor eye-hand coordination. Slowing tempos down as these children play seems to help the most. Even so, these kids are going to have trouble coordinating their movements in order to play things in time. Use the software to accommodate this way;

• have them practice coordinating in MusicShop with the metronome first, trying to stay with the beat and eventually trying to coordinate eighth notes, rests and syncopation. They can record their efforts and see and listen to playback. Perhaps they can detect a tendency to play ahead or behind the beat by seeing notation of where their rhythms fall in respect to the program;
• use Finale as a way to compensate for the child's difficulty in playing music into the program with correct rhythms. Finale will allow students to enter notation in step-by-step eliminating the need to play music into the computer at all, then Finale will play back what is notated;
• use pre-recorded rhythm tracks in sequences (MusicShop) so that the student won't have to try to create accurate rhythm parts.

    These are just a few adaptations that I have been successful with. Many of these ideas could be transferred to the ensemble or general music classroom. By allowing learning disabled students an opportunity to explore music using music technology, music teachers are giving the students a chance to learn and participate in music in ways not available to them in traditional settings.

References
Atterbury, B. (1990.) Mainstreaming exceptional learners in music. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.