Special Ed students in college
When you have a student who was in special ed, and they are barely hitting the mark, yet this is their dream profession, should you keep encourage them to keep going and take their money, knowing they may never succeed in the business? I also feel I would be killing her dream. I could keep trying and tutoring her and encouraging her, but I don't think she can even pass state boards. Is this fair?
Rosa,
Good to hear that these strategies have worked for you. Sounds like you are offering many different opportunities for your students to be successful.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
i have experienced this situation. I offered tutoring after class hours, paired the student with a classmate, as well as simplified the content of class to make it more understandable to the student. These tactics seemed to help that particular student.
I mostly agree with this approach, especially if there are classes available to help them strengthen their areas of waekness.
Consuala,
I use pretesting in my courses to establish a baseline for my instructional planning. This way I can customize and target my content based upon the composition of the class.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I believe each prospective student should be given an entry level test, that is structured in such a way as to alleviate this problem.
Pamela,
This is a question that many of us have had to face with certain students. One thing I have done is to send the student out to shadow a person in that career field. I have the person explain what they had to do to get their certificate/license and how challenging it was to pass state boards. What I am trying to do is help the student to see the realities of what it takes to make it into the field. Other times I involve significant people in the life of the student in a way that informs them about the realities of entering the field so they can advise the student.
Another approach I take is to help the student explore other aspects of the field that they might be more successful in and that meet the ability levels of that student. The more information the student has the more opportunities he/she has to redirect their career path to where they can be successful.
All of this is very difficult for all those involved because we don't want to influence a student in a negative way but in turn we want to be ethical and fair to that individual in relation to potential.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
