I like the quote from Ralph Marston “There are plenty of Obstacles in your Path Don’t allow yourself to become one of themâ€. It is on my desk for both me and students to read.
For me it would be allowing enough time for that student to grasp the concepts that everyone else in the class already has.
The problems I have seen is the time and the willingness of the student to devote the necessary time. It sometimes causes some level of frustration as the instructor. Students who are really motivated seem to make the hard times worth the effort.
Stella,
yes, the earlier we can identify & then help the better.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I find that getting them to talk to me initially is the most difficult part. Some of the students I have had in the past that talked to me and disclosed their learning disability made it easy for me to accommodate their needs. I also find the class as a whole benefits as well. I did not think of it that way until I read it in this course so I am pleased to learn something new.
I identifying the early enough before they get they fail their first quiz or exam, I feel that having the knowledge prior of what has helped them in the past will help to avoid an initial low grade. The greatest challenge is having the student come forth with the information. Implementing counselling for very low grades on the first test will help identify the disability. A good example is when you have score ranges of 52-96% in a course where class attendance was 100%. This makes me think that there is an underlying issue which could be a learning disability.
Seth ,
so true, especially on the two-way conversation part. We must be trying to engage our students in dialogue so we can best help them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Jessica,
this is so true & a great reminder of the impact we have on all our students, but especially those who have difficulties with the learning.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
It is probably most difficult understanding the pace of each individuals learning needs. It has to be a two way conversation for the instructor to fully understand.
As a special education teacher, the biggest challenge to working with students with learning disabilities is loss of motivation. After facing challenges and struggling with school work in the past, some students get so frustrated and lack confidence that they can do well that they just give up. They stop caring how they do in school and therefore stop succeeding in the classroom. With the right support and confidence boosts from the right teacher, it is not impossible to get the student to be motivated again. It can be prove to be very hard though.
Do you have any advice here? Do you pair up students to aid with this or assign group work? It is often much to easy to focus on the top students and the students who need the most help and neglect the bulk of the class.
Richard,
actually your hands are tied unless they disclose on their own. The best suggestion is to be as open & receptive as possible & hopefully if they are struggling they will come & disclose so you can help them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Richard,
actually your hands are tied unless they disclose on their own. The best suggestion is to be as open & receptive as possible & hopefully if they are struggling they will come & disclose so you can help them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Students with disabilities are slow to let me know that they have a disability. How can I figure out which students have disabilities? Call each student in and ask point blank?
Karen,
very true & those active listening skills are so vital in these situations.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Making sure you are listening and clearly understand the problem. Once you can grasp the student need, you should be able to adapt.
Antonette,
you are right it really does take that extra level of dedication & willingness on the part of the instructor. I like your idea of the early morning tutoring before class as that helps them be fresh & the material is fresh going into class.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Antonette,
you are right it really does take that extra level of dedication & willingness on the part of the instructor. I like your idea of the early morning tutoring before class as that helps them be fresh & the material is fresh going into class.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
From my prospective, the greatest challenging is identifying that the student has a learning disability. Seldom are students forthcoming with this information, in fact, they often go out of their way to hide it. This tells me that those students that I encounter have not had good support systems from instructors in their past learning experiences.
Having said that, once the problem is identified, then I believe the greatest challenge is one of time. It takes time to re-design instructional methods that adequately facilitate the learning process and it takes time to examine and re-design the delivery of new techniques. An instructor can look at this as a hindrance, or a challenge. I believe it is a challenge because it will enable the instructor to develop into a better instructor.
I also think another challenge that is just as critical is one of compassionate implementation of the new teaching/learning techniques. The change-up in the delivery and teaching techniques needs to be seamless and transparent to the students so that no one feels singled out as "different". This too, will take time, but it is just as critical to the student's success. Students with learning disabilities need to be respected and encouraged to be successive just like every other student that we teach.
It is really a challenge for an instructor, you have to have time, actually, extra time for them. What I do is conduct a tutoring session every two days, early in the morning before the class starts. Their minds are fresh and I give them time to ask questions, clarify the topic that they didn't understand or got confused, and give examples in the way they could understand.
