Dyslexia has been the most frequent but we have about 50% hands on also and they seem to shine there.
Kimberly,
I have encountered the same thing, but have always had a long-standing issue in giving extended time to my students. My problem is that come graduation, their national boards are timed and do not allow for any "x-tra" time. I have worked with my students to try to give them test taking techniques to help to speed up their process, because there is no seperation when it comes to becoming a certified or registered respiratory therapist and passing both of those boards. It is quite the delimma...
I have found both ADD and Dyslexia are the most common. At my previous employer we had a dedicated Disability Center in the campus library where students could test at as long as they were registered within the first 2 weeks of school. However, that often did not work well if they needed any clarification on test questions as often the "readers" at the testing center had no medical background or knowledge and were as clueless as the student.
I find the learning disabilities most common in my classes are dyslexia/reading comprehension. The students that show characteristics of the disablility answer questions fine verbally, however, tend to "blank" when tests are presented. I find that by boxing or underlining key words in the note packets that are handed out, the students with this disability can focus better on key words in the material when it comes to test time.
The most common form of learning disability that I have encountered in the classroom is reading. I was not aware of the problem when the student entered the classroom. What I noticed was that as long as I was talking or students were interacting verbally, the student was always engaged and attentive; seemingly to be enjoying the class. However, once I asked the class to read and explain or give quizzes or test, I noticed that the student would get extremely quite and shy. Always the last to be left in the room. When I asked the student about completing assignments or saw that there was not anything written on the paper, is when the student told be that she had a problem with reading. This should have been discovered during the entrance process because the student ended up being dropped altogether when I addressed the problem with the Academic Director.
ADD and dyslexia; students minds are everywhere today they are multitasking and with the computer and blackberries and texting you have to be on the top; you have to be 2 steps ahead of the student to keep the students attention
My classes are the same, more hands on. I have many visuals and demonstrations of what I want the students to do.
I do have some reading assignments and I find that if my students will take notes as they read and wrote down some of the important information, they do better on their tests than the students that just read or skim over the information.
That's a great tip, thanks for sharing.
Dyslexia is the most common disability I have encontered in my classes. By the time they have reached this level most of the students have developed strategies to help themselves and they only occasionally need other assistance
Persons with dyslexia often reverse letters as well as words. I know of one person who knows that she often does this and so will conseqentially read and reread her written work qnd then have someone else read and correct it for her.
My experience has been with auditory impaired students. With these students I have to make sure they can always see my face and my mouth moving. I also have had students that English is their second language.
Since my class is mostly hands on I have to really focus on visual. Just Lecturing does not work in my class, they have to see it.
I am actually really fortunate that I have not seen any learning disabilities in my classes as of yet. It has to be a very difficult situation to deal with.
I find dyslexia to be the most common form of learning disability in my classes. Some students have trouble with word comprehension, verbalization of the words presented and even displacement of letters or whole words in the sentence structure. Dyscalculia would probably be the second most common learning disability encountered. Our students must be able to read recipes and procedures, as well as make mathematical conversions. However, I do see successes when extra effort is given by both the student and the instructor.
Great Kimberly!
Allowing students extra time for test taking helps those students to feel successful. They are able to comprehend the questions, therefore, getting the correct answer.
I am curious have you ever had any problem with other students in the class about giving the extra time? I've never had an instructor to indicate that other students complained.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED106 Facilitator
For my classes I have students that Engish is their second language. Some characteristics i've noticed is that on written papers sentace structure is reversed and in the classrooms they tend to need a little extra help understanding. I use visuals tohelp with this.
What accommodations do students with dyslexia require?
I have had students who suffer from dyslexia in my classes. I have given tests that have taken the whole class period and then allowed them to continue during a free period. Not giving a cut-off time to these students allows them to read each question until they comprehend it and not rush through just to get finished in the given amount of time.
In the 7 years of being an instructor for a career college, the only learning disability that I have encountered is the students who dont speak English. They can understand me when Im lecturing but they cant understand the material in the textbook or homework assignments.
Not so much of disabuility but a language barrier. In my part of the country we have such a diverse cultures that even though the class is english based only a small percentage actually can read and write it.
I agree that dyslexia is the common learning disability. However, it should not be a barrier to success. The students with dyslexia can still be academically successful but they need special acoomodation. The instructor need to know what method or strategies the student have been used successfully in the past.
