learning disabilities
"Research has shown that students with learning disabilities are of average or above intelligence. They are challenged in their learning as a result of their disability causing them problems with decoding and recoding learning materials."
i could not agree more i beleive we may have come accustomed to putting labels on people that may or may not fit their personal situation.
Very true and I found by working with students who have a disability it helps me with my other students also due to it makes me slow down and explain things better all around. it helped me focus on the key points and I found that my students pay close attention.
this is sometimes a hard subject. you deliver the content and the students dont give it enough time to process. i have one student that takes what i say and says the same thing that i just said. he does not take a moment to process what it is that i am saying.
Hi Franz! Thanks for your comment! The hands-on approach is crucial to adult learners who are kinesthetic or tactile in their learning styles. Backing up presentations and visuals with hands-on activites helps to reach multiple learning styles.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
Because I was very slow in school I had found that if I can tuch or hold what it was I was learning I could much easer retain the class.I try to make sure all my students can do the same in my class.
Hi Eva! This is a very interesting point. In the early 60's, my mom taught an elementary age class of students with learning disabilities and a class of mentally challenged students. She made great strides with them because she created a "plan" for each student; this was at a time when the overall teaching "strategy" was, sadly, keep them busy, keep them quiet and keep them out of site. We have certainly made significant advancements since that time, but, to your point, I agree that we must caution ourselves not to swing so far the other way that we are simply accomodating as opposed to really helping challenged students.
On a different note, I am amazed at the number of adult learners who have a learning disability that was never noted or addressed in their childhood educations. It seems as if we either over-compensate, or ignore. For adult educators, I suppose the starting point is to work closely with our students to see where their learning challenges are and where their motivation is, then vary our instructional delivery techniques to try to reach their particular learning styles. At the same time though, the workplace is not as forgiving, hence we should also take our students a little out of their learning comfort zones to help better prepare them for what our career education mission is: to help students earn an survive an employable position in their chosen fields.
Thanks so much for your comments!
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
Sometimes I think that the ADA has gone too far and schools are quick to have students diagnosed with learning disabilities. The goal should be to teach students, if the can, to work with their disabiity without having major adjustments made. It seems, to me, that many students with disabilities are so busy getting adjustments that they are not making them themselves. Please don't get me wrong, I want every student to have what they NEED. The real question is what does supplying the need do to help if the student will not be able to function in the work environment because he or she has not been taught to make his or her own adjustments?
Average or above intelligence does not surprise me. Everyone has intelligence in one or more areas. I think that when we say "intelligence" we usually refer to the traditional meaning, which is based on visua/spatial/numerical thinking.
Sidney, bravo for going the extra mile, there are so many ways to assess students and capture their know-how rather than the traditional text or exam answers.
When using a test though, the visual learner may need to write his response differently than the "key answer," the auditory learner may need to respond verbally in his own words, and the tactile learner may need to show you by demonstration or example.
Thanks for all of your input in the discussion forums.
Jay
ED106
yes the reading the tests part for them is the tuffest,even when you read the test to some of the students they still dont answer the question correctly on the test, but if you let them answer in their on words they do very well,so I have to grade not just on written test but on actual know how.
Using the few experiences that I have, I completely agree. The students just need a little aid in certain areas and this allows them to process on a realatively normal basis.
Thanks, Samuel, for your comments! You're on point; it's not about ability or aptitude; it's about process.
Jay Hollowell
ED106
