Linda,
it is very difficult. And I think showing that care & concern for each one as an individual goes miles toward helping them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Linda,
it is very difficult. And I think showing that care & concern for each one as an individual goes miles toward helping them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
When they seem to just not be getting it... at every attempt of trying as an instructor to help. The motivation seems to leave quickly and discouraged they seem to get really fast. Trying to keep a goal for them and repeating to them the opportunities that will be available to them with completion of the course. Bringing the focus back to opportunities you had prior to taking the course versus the opportunities you will be able to take advantage of after the course. This has helped but keeping them motivated daily is a challenge.
Knowing what ways to help each particular student with disabilities. I had three in my last course and each one needed a different level of help. It is hard to make accommodations for all three at the same time.
I find that some students who have disabilities tend to over stress or even panic at challenging times or during tests. I emphasize the need to stay calm and focus. Once those nerves are settled my students tend to learn to have faith that I will help them through the rough patches. Most common class for this to occur will always be in math. I believe I have learned these 'focus skills' with my own son who struggles with learning disabilities throughout his young, formative years.
I say that the greatest challenge with working with learning disabled students is keeping them on task and having them ask for the help that they really need.
We really cannot require a student to disclose the nature of their learning disability which makes it difficult to accomodate. It is helpful when the student can identify strategies that are helpful to their learning.
sometimes they do not get the message and I have to slow down for them while the rest of the class is waiting for them to grasp the concept.
I have encountered this problem and it makes things some what difficult.
In my situation the challenge is how to help those who have learning issues and work with the ones who do not have a problem. It seems that I am seeing more and more students with possible learning issues. When I am faced with a student with needs I send to our counselors who follow up on what accomodations they may be able to use.
The biggest challenge is being able to identify the student with the disability if he or she does not let you know of his or her disability.
To me the greatest challenge is students are embarrassed or refrain from admitting they have a disability. If you admit you have a disability it you means you need help and people don't like admitting they need help even if it will help thme achieve their goals.
I have a student with different needs than all of the other students in the class. Is this student learning disabled? I am not sure, she has not been diagnosed. I find that her comprehension is very poor and she cannot relate the concepts from which she reads into practice. The instructors spend more time with her reviewing and reviewing. She has failed a few classes and has to repeat these classes shich also entitles her to an academic plan that I devise for students when they have to repeat a class. This seems to help with her because it is more of a one on one so more time can be spent teaching and reviewing the previous concepts.
The greatest challenge I have experienced working with students with learning disabilities in the online environment is getting them to communicate with me early to establish a plan.
The students I have encountered have produced high quality work and have adhered to time schedule accomodations. It has just been a struggle to get them to notify me ahead of time when they have an accommodation. Two of the schools I work for do not notify instructors when they have a student with an accommodation. So, it is up to the student to take that step and discuss their needs with the instructor.
Meagan,
I would agree that this fair & equitable grading is a significant challenge exactly for the reasons you stated here.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Tamara,
yes, often demonstrating the care & compassion goes miles toward encouraging these students to seek our help.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
The greatest challenge that I have faced from students with learning disabilities has been my ability to keep them engaged. Their engagement has to be a key focus for the instructor, because once these students are lost, the level of difficulty for the instructor to get them back on track may be unbearable. I strongly believe that by keeping students with learning disabilities engaged and focused, the additional challenges will be much more manageable.
As an English instructor, grading essays fairly is a challenge. They seem to have a lot more trouble, but I don't want to let them off easy either. The fact that essays are all ready so subjective is an added challenge.
One of the greater challenges I face is some students lack the psychomotor skills required to perform the skills discussed in class.
In a large classroom setting, the information is provided to students. The class is then divided into small lab groups where I demonstrate the topic under discussion. The students are then given the opportunity to perform the task with guidance. Recommendation is given to students to write down the necessary steps as they develop the skill set. The students are given 1 week to practice and develop these skills. I am available during this week as part of my office hours. The following week, students are tested in the lab setting. Some students with learning disabilities struggle and continually have a difficult time operating equipment and perfoming the required exercise. Most students with learning disabilites can overcome this, however, there are a few that just cannot bring the coordinated skill set to complete a simple procedure. One student, in particular, that I had worked with individually for 2 hours, was unable to operate the equipment that would be required in a clinical-setting. Sometimes I wonder if we are setting-up the student for failure in the real world in this program. This is an accelerated program that even the best students must really work continually to achieve.
When the students don't understand they have learning disabilities and are in denial is the greatest challenge.
