SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS
I think all instructors run across students who are simply incapable of learning the material being taught. How do we deal with a student who just cannot learn what we are teaching? How do we keep that student's outlook positive? How do we avoid the stress that is bound to occur?
During any enrollment year, we may see approximately a dozen students who self-identify; and we absolutely do encourage anyone who has the fortitude to pursue their passion and succeed at higher education!
John, sounds like a win/win. How many of these special needs do students do you serve in a year? Does your institution encourage their enrollment?
One easy way to help motivate a "special needs" student, in addition to your own one-on-one tutelage, is to partner them up with high achieving (and patient)students in their class to foster a sense of belonging. The high achieving student is also gaining a valuable life lesson in managing working relationships and varying talent levels.
My ADA-504 special needs students to date have been some of the most dedicated and truly passionate students I have had; and thankfully their enthusiasm has been a motivating factor for their fellow students. My method for reaching these students and guiding them on their path to success is to engage them with other high achieving students and provide them with a support system of their peers---it teaches the special needs student at ease because they know they can count on a "buddy", and it also provides a great life lesson for the high achieving student---patience and a beginner's peek at managing situations with others.
Thanks for sticking with this student, Brenda. I'm sure she appreciated your support and guidance. Hope she was able to successfully complete her training.
I am an instructor at a culinary school too and there are times when you encounter a student that simply cannot get to make the recipes right because they cannot comprehend all the details of whatever needs to be done regardless of how many times they watch a demo or you go over a recipes. I have noticed that this mostly happens when they simple don't have their heart in the kitchen, they don't care... so they don't get it and it reflects on the product.
However, I did have a student that was a bit slower than the other peers and the stress factor was a big influence. When she had to make the Hollandaise Sauce whick is one of the most challenging sauces for beginner she failed 3 times and was about to give up. I had to be firm with her to calm her down, make her come to her senses and start all over. Amazingly it came out perfect. Her insecurities stressed her out so she could not get over the fear of failing that recipe. This was an eye opener for her and after that she did much better.
Is the focus on academic support or help with outside pressures that are impacting performance? How do the students helping their peers deal with non-academic issues?
Loren Kroh
We have instigated a program called "Fast Lane" which essentially is an after class study program that is directed by both staff, and students who are dedicated to helping students who are finding it difficult to cope. This actually takes extra effort on the part of the student who is assisting the struggling student, and the staff member (who is a instructor assigned to this responsibility), but has been quite successful in helping students that otherwise would not be able to pass the courses. I also think that that success has helped to relieve the stress from many of the students who find it hard to learn the material.
I have run into this situation frequently.Being an instructor at a culinary school, it can be abit different for my special needs students. The problem is that a student has a passion for the food but their hands just cannot seem to master the movement. For what I am teaching it is more a matter of practice practice practice. I have to make myself available to these student to continue working on certain skill sets.
After reading many of the postings on these Forums, I believe the same observations could be made about those working at our colleges.
Thanks for your observations, Elisa.
Writing Skills Development
Many students enter college without being prepared for college. For instance, writing skills may be severely lacking and writing skills are essential in an online college since over 95% of work is submitted in writing. Universities often do not help the students improve their writing skills when the universities continuously work on offering “checkers†and other electronic “helpersâ€. No computer software is going to make a person with weak writing skills develop stronger writing skills. The only way to develop stronger writing skills is to practice writing in good form, which means to use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Practicing writing in good form requires that students who do not already know the proper grammar rules learn those rules and then give themselves time to apply and practice those rules. Let’s face it, university students are busy and many of them have to work very hard to find the time just to complete the homework much less devote hours each week to learning the grammar rules and then applying those grammar rules until they know those rules by heart. Not enough emphasis is put on developing the skills needed for college success before moving on. Too much emphasis is put on moving forward in college instead of building up the required skills so that one can move forward.
When students do not want to devote time to writing in good form or when they do not have the time to do so, they often use various power techniques to combat their own problems in other ways. The students might blame the professor, make up excuses, become verbally combative, or act out in the public forum—all of this is done out of frustration and desperation to move forward at all costs.
Students sometimes do not want to devote time to practicing writing in good form because they believe some people just have good writing skills and others do not. This is simply not true. People who have good writing skills have spent a lot of time writing. Generally, people who do not have good writing skills have not spent much time writing, especially not writing in good form. Pointing out very simple grammar exercises that focus on common problems might help students who want to help themselves. Students tend to like the grammar exercises that allow them to test themselves and then see how they did. The students need to be urged to closely pay attention to why they did not get some questions right—they need to copy those responses and review and learn the grammar rules associated with the items they did not get correct.
It may help students to realize that many students are in the same situation that they are in. Professors may explain that they have helped hundreds or thousands of students learn to develop better writing skills, for example. The time to learn the grammar rules and begin practicing writing in good form is at the very beginning of the college education—if this step is not emphasized enough in the first few terms of college then every professor along the way is likely to become a target for misguided frustration that students feel because they do not possess the required skills to move forward.
Perhaps - to the extent allowed by the law. For better or worse, colleges are expected to make accommodations to deal with special needs students.
Is there a point that a student simply is "too high maintenance" and has needs that exceeds reasonable expectations? Is it appropriate to relate this situation to the work environment to which they aspire?
Students with special needs need to be adressed in the beggining. Entry level exams, and or background checks are a must.
This is a tough one. I think that you are right that sometimes stress like this is hard to avoid. I think we, as Professors, need to be careful, however. We need to try very hard to avoid assuming that a student is not capable of learning a particular thing. Students are often very capable, if given all the support that they need and are taught material in a different way.
Can you give an example of a situation where you have seen that all efforts were made for a student and it just did not work? I don't know that I have seen too many instances of this. Usually, I see that the institution just does not give the student all of what they need. The student, perhaps, is too high-maintanance for the faculty to address.
Last year I had this same challenge where the student seemed like he was trying his hardest but was still receiving Fs. Of course, re-takes are challenging because of the added monetary resources used.
One way I was assisting the student was to get the instructors and Student Services members involved. If this didn't change anything, which it seemed like it didn't, I then had to use the Survey method to ask questions such as what he wanted to do after graduation, what he thought about the challenges of making products out of a box to making the product from scratch, finding out who was supportive of him at home--cousin, parent, extended relative? Found out he was closest to his older brother, had the student complete a Release Form with the brother's name and then involved the family member with his encouragement.
Unfortunately, this only worked for a short time and then the student realized that the this was more challenging than he thought and decided to withdraw. As I spoke with the student during this whole time as a student we did find out that the student enjoyed computers, writing, and designing, too.
Sometimes finding the motivation of why the student wanted to come to school and what the expected outcome from the student can help. It seems frustrating to all parties involved in this incident, but trying to keep the process on a positive note rather than a negative. Sometimes it seems challenging when you have open enrollment, but you can't discount someone's dream. As you work closely with students like my own student, you may find a different path that the student is good at and point that out rather than--"Oh my gosh, you seem to always ruin your product, what is the problem?" If you point the positives out, maybe they will realize before it is too costly that they are really better going a different route than where they are currently. It may open their eyes because they didn't realize they were good in something else.
An accommodation that has been effective is meeting with students on a minimal-weekly basis to get an update on how assignments/tests have been. Using Vertical probing to find out what the students feel is their biggest challenge and how they feel they can work on progressing. If a student is way off task, have students attend tutoring or skills enhancement classes which are based in 5-hour blocks so that the student can get some lab time working on products that have been challenged.
For students with ADD/ADHD or other Learning disability, we have a quiet testing area that they can use and offer extended times on testing.
Currently we have a hearing impaired student. It would be quite easy simply to get her a sign laguage interpreter and call it a day.
For her learning experience to be most effective we speak with her minimally once every three weeks to insure that the interpreter's style fits her learning style and the needs of the class. This type of follow up assists her in maximinzing her experience. She is currently an A student because of this diligence.
Dealing with disabilities has always been a challenge. Could you share some specific accommodations that have been effective?
