I would say that the biggest challenge would be to find the exact style of learning that is best for the student, or one that the student responds well to.
I find that making time to work one on one with each student for at least some period of time, helps a lot. The student feels more comfortable to ask questions and I have chance to make sure that the student fully comprehends the lesson.
Understanding these strengths and weaknesses is essential to addressing the educational
needs of students with learning disabilities. I use different color markers to show them math problems and give them extra time.
College students are sometimes less than forthcoming about what they consider perceived deficiencies. Getting to the bottom line of the learning issues is something that may take time and the student must be at ease with the instructor to embrace assistance. The greatest challenge comes when a student has been unsuccessful in thier past and has developed a mindset that they cannot be successful. Once we overcome this issue we can move forward to help him develop his potential. 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.
Understanding how you can help the student, keep them motivated and focused on the tasks at hand.
Develop open and honest communication
Be willing to adapt basic classroom/lecture material
Be open for suggestions, ask student what works for them
Many times the greatest chanllenge is identifying the students that need help in a timely fashion.
I like your approach. As a person with dyslexia, I frequently needed somebody to just talk to about the material. Usually, the information was in my brain; I just needed a sounding board to help me digest it.
I think the real challenge would be to identify the challenge the students have. Once this is established, you can formulate a plan designed especially for that student. If it is not working to their advantage, reevaluate and adjust your teaching to best benefit their learning capabilities.
I observe and evaluate the students while I am giving lecture or explaining a technique to the class. With the small group we have, 10 to 15 students, it is easy to observe who who is taking notes or not. Ones not taking notes send up a red flag to me to pay more attention to their hands on work. Next step, observe their work. If they display to me any difficulties, I will work with them to get them on the right track. Without indicating I think they may have a disability, I will work with them to see which is the best learning technique for them to be successful with.
The greatest challenge for me will be remembering and accomodating a student that cannot learn as quickly. Some methods to assist can be audiotaping, boxes around test questions, bold lines between math questions.
The greatest challenge I have had is allowing them sufficient time to keep up with the class. Also I have learnt to always check with all students to make sure they are clear on all points before moving on.
I think the biggest challenge is knowing how they learn best and trying to convorm the class to help each student.
Hello Anne,
I want to thank You for your outstanding insights about the challenge of learning disabilities, I am not very experienced in the subject because I have yet to encounter this situation, but the way you deal with it in your classroom it has inspired me and I sure will try when the time comes.
Many Thanks
Time. I give them more time, either before of after class. This takes the stress of them and allow thems to relax and do well.
The greatest challenge would be time. Time to listen, make arrangements, and follow up. Not a big deal if it is one student but if you have several students it can become an issue.
Reading their written assessssments to/with them
These students need more time ad patience. This will pay off in personal satisfaction for the instructor as well as the student..
The greatest challenge I face is the time to give students with a learing disabilities.
Most my students are visual learners, so I try to do a lot of demonstations
The biggest problem for me would be finding the accomodations and supports to help the student excel. I have no experience with students claiming a disability so I am not sure what will work. I suspect some of my most challenging prior students may have had disabilities but I did not ask and they did not volunteer the information. Both of us were worse for the experience.
Hi Jennifer! Thanks for your observations! It is always a challenge for us to ensure that we address all of the required competencies, skills and learning outcomes from a class or course, often in a very short time frame. This, coupled with the need to vary teaching methods to reach adult learners with differrent learning styles and needs can be particularly difficult. As you reference, time is the crucial resource! I have found in working with students who have special learning needs (and are aware of them) that inquiring as to what methods may have worked for them before, in comprehending and assimilating a topic or application, can help.
We often talk about varying our teaching methodologies to adapt to different learning styles; sometimes with a student who has a learning challenge, we might try to tap and support more than one style at the same time - for example, provide a way to simultaneously hear, see and do when covering a topic and reinforcing a concept.
Jay Hollowell
ED106 Facilitator
I find some of the greatest challenges are:
1. more time that they need- because we are already on a tight time crunch as it is
- also there is only 1 of me, usually, and some times they need a lot of individulized attention
2. figuring out what it that they need to succeed. Even though i know that there is "something wrong"- it's hard to figure it out sometimes. Working with many different teaching styles, (demo, written homework/ recipe conversions, projects, audio/visual material, lecture) sometimes it takes a little work to figure out how to apply the "solution" to all the learning methods so it works for the students.
The greatest difficulties I find with LD (Learning Disabled) students is helping them overcome their fears and feel confident in their ability to complete the course. This confidence is needed for timely completetion within their ability. Often it is not until students actually fall behind that the information about their LD comes out.
Hello,
You have raised an excellent point - resources are extremely important in the student's success.
