Hi Gil, thanks for your comments! Step-by-step in a hands-on application is likely the most effective way to acquire a skill, particularly when there is a specific procedure involved.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
Depending on the disability, each student is unique in their own way. Allowing more time for students with a disability is the best way in my opinion to give them a fair chance at accomplishing goals and feeling like they have performed on the same level as those without a disability.
Hello,
Making sure they understand the effort will be rewarded with the necessary job skills.
There's a lot of hand work in what I teach. Model for them the proper hand position to protect themselves. Some times I break it down to 2-3 smaller steps. Then monitor the movements when they practice.
I BELIEVE THE GREATEST CHALLENGE IN WORKING WITH STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES IS LEARNING WHAT WHAT HAS WORKED FOR THEM IN THE PAST AND APPLYING THESE METHODS TO THEM.
My greatest challenge has been in working with students who don't admit (or don't know) they have a disability. It's really hard to help a person who is trying to cover up the fact that he can't read or write. I got a lot of excuses, acting out behaviors, and refusals to do work. It's better to get the disability out in the open.
Students with Learning disabilities must self identify with our office of ability services. Unless they have done so, major accomadations cannot be made for them.
That being said, this doen't mean students don't struggle with learning disabilities that have not been documented. I try to be flexible with time within reason. Those who are struggling, I try to give extra time outside the classroom.
We are very fortunate to have an Office of Ability services for our students, so the help needed for each learning disability is identified quickly and students don't fall behind.
The greatest challenge is getting the students to admit they have a learning disability early on in the course. To find out mid-term or late into the term, is difficult for both student and instructor.
I typically request the student to meet with me one-on-one, if they are comfortable with it.(after the self-advocacy) This way I can tutor them in a way which meets their specific learning needs and career objectives. Of course this is conducted confidentially. The students taking advantage of this opportunity end up becoming some of my stronger students without feeling needy or unusually different.
The greatest challenge is incorporating students with disabilities into the classrom. It is very difficult to lecture to such a wide variety of students. I offer my students with disabilities
more time on multiple tasks. I give them the opportunity to come into my kitchens early, so that they can work at a more comfortable pace.
Time is the biggest challenge. I find working with the student as an independent study class is often most effective as it allows you to work one on one with the student.
The greatest challenge is knowing IF they have a leanring disability. In our short and fast program we teach in, it is tough to know who has what and what level they are at. Of course, at the begining of each class term we tell the students if they have a disability to let us know privetly but someones as instructors, we are still in the dark.
The greatest challenge can be that they are often very frustrated by the time that they approach you.
Hi McKinley! I like your observations - sometimes a good "kick in the pants" is exactly what's needed.
Repetition has always been an effective learning strategy because it relates to so many of the learning styles - whether we see it, hear it or do it, repetitively.
Should it get boring for some students, I have often changed the repetition a bit - presenting it a little differently each time; presenting an error that needs to be addressed; having students add something relevant to the repeated concept or activity, etc.
Thanks so much for your comments!
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
Understanding how someone with a disability thinks is for me my greatest challenge. Once I have connected with their thinking process, then I can communicate and instruct them. This takes time and patience and most of all understanding. My method for doing this is to remind myself that someone was understanding with me when I didn't understand. The patience and understanding from my instructional past lives on in me and I am more willing to help others because I too have been helped.
Instructing methods I have used with my students are repetition and humor. My classes are mostly lab and I find students are more willing to get by rather than perfect. So when they are asked to repeat something over and over and over again...they complain and moan. I counter this with teasing. "Oh, your life is so hard. How are you ever going to survive? Imagine you are learning how to perfect your dream. A dream you are paying all this money to learn. Oh what a horrible life. How will you ever make it? I'm glad I'm not living such a hard dream." They are taken aback. Laugh and say, "you are crazy" and I agree with them. I am crazy and this life is hard and if they don't start becoming the best now their future is in trouble. I have yet to find a student who is not thankful for that swift kick in the pants.
When I teach a lab class I often have to give 2 demos, refer to the textbook and many students still don't get it! This can be frustrating for the instructor when class time is limited! However I then explain the technique one-on-one. I sit by the student and walk them through the excersize as they do it and this usually helps.
A big challenge can be knowing that a student has a disability. About 3 years ago I taught a complex lesson on strategy to senior leaders. On a 20 question quiz all but one student did well. Turned out the student (about 40 years old) could not read--or could read very little. I did not know it. My approach was to sit down with him and go over the test asking the questions and assessing his responses--which were quite OK.
The greatest challenge for me has been working with the students with undiagnosed learning disabilities.
Those who have been diagnosed at some point in their primary education, as addressed in the online course materials, have developed coping strategies; they know their own issues and how to work with/around them. They come to you with accommodation plans (as our school has an office of ability services), they keep you apprised of their progress and need...They accommodations themselves take very little time and effort on the instructors' parts, just ongoing awareness.
The challenge is those students who are floundering, and who you suspect do have a learning disability; we, as instructors, cannot diagnose a learning disability ourselves, nor can we implement accommodation plans if no learning disability has been diagnosed (not just because it isn't fair to the rest of the class, but for legal reasons, or so I have been told).
While our institution does have a team of diagnosticians, used primarily to assess incoming students and identify potential learning disabilities at that time, if one "slips through the cracks", we are put in a difficult position. We can't force the student to go to the diagnostician; for that matter, we can't even suggest to the student that they may have a learning disability.
Basically, we can only help those who know they need help and who want that help. It can be frustrating to teachers who, by their very nature, want to facilitate students in learning, growing and prospering, to be unable to do more.
Hi Mehmooda! Good point about the colored markers - they not only add a visual, but can be helpful to categorizing and even sequencing information. Thanks for your input,
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
case specific examples and diagrams
Jay,
I am really enjoying the threaded discussions and thank you for you kind remarks.
James Stewart
Hi James, thanks so much for your comments. Sometimes I just like to reemphasize a well written point from an instructor that captures the essence of the topic in the hopes that our ED106 participants will review. With your permission...
"College students are sometimes less than forthcoming about what they consider perceived deficiencies...The greatest challenge comes when a student has been unsuccessful in their past and has developed a mindset that they cannot be successful...Talking with the student one on one, modeling good skills and discussing in a kind and compassionate way how changes could be employed in small building block increments to enhance learning for a lifetime."
-James Stewart
