Working with students and their perceptions of their own learning disabilities.
Anybody who teaches for any period of time will encounter students who have documented, undocumented, and perceived learning disabilities. This module dealt well with students who have documented learning disorders, but the other two groups can be challenging. I have often heard instructors talking about students who they feel may have a learning disorder, or who have claimed to have a disability in some way.
It is never a good idea assume a student has a disability or to try and accommodate an undocumented learning issue, especially in career tracked programs. In most cases we are not trained to correctly identify the specifics of a disability or correctly gage the level of accommodation that needs to be met. Also in some cases we may enable a student to fall back on what they have been led to believe.
One student in particular that I had a number of meetings with was told by her mother that she was dyslexic because her father had been. I offered to have her meet with our office of ability services, but the student was reluctant to because when she was in High school they were unable to document the condition. As we discussed her situation and as she progressed through school, she was a gifted student, but whenever she became frustrated, or received a lower grade than she anticipated her mother’s reaction was that she had a learning disability that we needed to accommodate. Throughout her academic career the student developed her own way of adapting, and chose not to utilize any diagnostics or supports. She was exceptional in this; many parents will push for accommodation in spite of previous experience.
As our institution has an office of ability services to determine the best accommodations for students with challenges; we have a great way of setting a baseline for individual students and helping instructors adapt for different situations. This when carried into the classroom protects both the student and the learning experience as a whole and prepares them for life long learning.
Hi Cleve, thanks for sharing this realistic example. Unfortunately, there are some adult learners that we will not reach, despite the many suggested techniques, tools and resources that are available to educators.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I currently have an online student who is using her disability as an excuse. Instead of answering questions posed to her in the assignments, she just complains that how she hates the class, how it's just a lot of psychobabble, how much of a waste it is, etc.... It is a required course, but she thinks she should be exempt because of her disability; however, the school has checked with the ADA, and she has no basis to be exempt. A team of people from the school has tried working with her in addition to my efforts as her instructor, but there has been no progress that have seen with her making the changes necessary for her success. She is going to school to get a "piece of paper" as she puts it, which leads me to believe that her perception is that higher learning institutions are selling degrees rather than providing education.
Students will come to school with a disablity they have tried to work with and after some time with them I have found there disabilty was no one took the time to show them different ways to approach a project with a little help and guidence there dissabilty was a lot eaiser to deal with or there was no real dissabilty.
Ron,
I have experienced this situation, but I have also found myself encountering something completely opposite. I have students who have been diagnosed with a disability and are allowed to receive special accommodation, but for some reason they refuse to self-advocate! I see them struggle, and I desperately want to help. Because college requires students to be self-advocates, I can suggest they do certain things, but ultimately it is up to them. I see these students teeter on the brink of failure far too often because their pride seems to get in the way.
Absolutely,
One of the things that we as instructors should always do is try to help students develop individual learning styles and to identify thier strengths and weaknesses. It is always best to help them determine the best course of action and to work with them to grow.
Hi Ron! Your comments and examples nudge me to say that I have even witnessed situations where a "perceived" learning disability was used as an excuse by a student, or by a student's circle of influence.
You are so fortunate to have the resources of an Office of Ability Services. For those students though, as you reference, that have undiagnosed challeneges, we then, as stated often by participants in the forum, have to tap into their roadblocks, spend a little more time finding a learning strategy that works, but at the same time knowing that they must be prepared for the less accomodating workplace.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
