Trisha,
this is definitely a challenge & unless the student walks in with the information & is willing to share, we really can't tell. One of the best courses is for us to be open & supportive & help however we can.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
James,
excellent point. We must take each student as an individual & even their success in each class on an individual basis.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
James,
excellent point. We must take each student as an individual & even their success in each class on an individual basis.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Knowing first they have a disability and then figuring out how to help
Getting a student to come forth with information on what has worked or what I can do to help them.
Deborah,
and I've found that showing I'm open & really want to help is a great way to get them to open up & share with me.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Brandon,
this is such a challenge, but if I can show them I truly want to help, often they will be more open with me.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
One of the greatest challenges is working with a student who has an undiagnosed learning disability. I had an older student (late-forties??) last term who believed that she had ADD/ADHD, but it had never been formally diagnosed. For this reason, I did give her more time to complete tests. As a veteran, she was told by the VA that perhaps she could benefit by having a free diagnosis. She was afraid that a diagnosis and record of disability would be a disadvantage to her in the future (e.g., getting a job). Although ADD/ADHD is a legally protected area of disability, I still wonder to what extent a formal record of a learning disability or ADD/ADHD might hinder a student in the job market.
At this point, I would say that just being able to know about the disability in the beginning of class not being told halfway through course when grades are affected.
Tracey,
definitely a significant challenge that hopefully we can demonstrate to our students that we care & want to help them & then they will seek our help when they need it & not wait so long.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
This is a challenge, but also very rewarding. When I notice a student is having difficultlyin my class. I approach the student in a couple of ways: first,that I am concern about their grade. Second, if their any way I can help them, improve their grades. The more you communicate with your student, the better your student will be able succeed in your class.
Yolanda,
exactly right as this helps open those lines of communication. And when the student sees that we want to help & are willing to help he/she is much more likely to seek our help as the course progresses.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
My biggest challenge is to not slow the other students down while helping the students whih have learning disabilities.
My daughter has dyslexia but with a tutor she made it successfully through high school and college and now functions as a sales manager for a large retail chain. I know what help can do - and I make sure that is available to all my students before class during class and after class
when finding a student that has a disabilitie. remembering not to cross that line of ADA. but also having the compasion to understand what they are going through. sometimes pushes us harder to ensure they get the most from the course. it is completly up to the student to let you know that they have a learning disabilitie.
Mario,
this is a good point & one of the reasons we need to make ourselves approachable to our students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
The greatest challenge for me has been for the individual to have a stigma created by themselves to inhibit learning. Its almost a self induced blockade and the challenge for me is to have them not think of the past as a handicap
One of the most challenging issues is not working with the disabled learner, but in educating the other students. When you are seen making allowances for one student because of a learning disability we are often questioned by other students about why that person is special and allowed privledges. It is a tightrope to explain you still retain the confidentiality of the student involved.
One thing I struggle with is keeping the rest of the class on task and focused while I work with the student who requires a little more time to comprehend the material. Understanding their disability is a big help in meeting their needs and presenting the information in a form that the slower learner can understand.
I have a student currently whom I suspect may have a serious learning disability but he has not disclosed it to me or asked for accommodations. I can't ask him about it either. So I am at a loss as to how to proceed in helping him. I try to provide some individual instruction in class when I can, but I can see he is struggling all the time and I am limited in the time I can spend with him in class. I referred him to tutoring to help catch up on material and it seems to help. I am not sure what else to do in this case.
