Get Your Students Hired
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities --> Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
I do notice that many of our students with learning disabilities, TBI, etc make a point of telling me as soon as they get to my class. I was surprised at the % of students mentioned here who do not ever tell the instructor or employer. I am wondering if it is part of our onboarding process and they have been made aware that they can tell the instructor.
Accommodation vs modification. The percentage of people with learning disabilities 20%. Offer constant support to your students.
I saw the statistic that only 19% of people with disabilities report them to their employer. I think this says a lot about our cultural norms around this topic in the workplace. People do not want to have assumed issues as a result of asking for accommodations or making others aware. We need to work harder to make safer spaces for sharing about disabilities in the workplace.
The amount of programs drastically reduces at the post secondary level for people with learning disabilities. Learning disabilities can affect you outside of the class room.
It was surprising to learn that approximately 20% of people have some type of learning disability. That is 1 in 5 which means that in my family of 5 one of us has some type of learning disability! The biggest takeaway for me is the advocacy part. I didn't realize that post secondary education is considered optional therefore any accommodation or modification plans are not required. Preparing my students to be able to advocate for themselves will be something that I will have to make sure that I teach my students how to do so that they know the proper way to make sure that they have the support that they need when they arrive to college.
The integrity of task and standards does not need to be compromised. Consider accomodations as a key to their future. As adults and postsecondary learners they will have to advocate for themselves.
People are afraid to talk about their learning disabilities. Accommodations are meant to help make the students successful without altering the integrity of the assignment.
It is important to know when mentoring students with disabilities that the workplace still needs to maintain a level of "production or service". They can provide accommodations but students need to understand real limitations when choosing a career path.
Students with learning disabilities may be very intelligent. However, they must learn to advocate for themselves and how to work through the challenges of their disabilities. Once they enter the career field, most employers will be unaware of their learning disability and most likely will not provide accommodations for them.
As university professors, we are not obliged to make the adaptations required to facilitate classroom learning for people with learning disabilities. However, considering making some adaptations can allow us to polish diamonds in the rough, enhancing other skills that they have overdeveloped, in particular. In the case of creative professions, we only need to make adaptations in teaching teaching that allow us to better understand the necessary information that in many cases can be enlightening for average students.
I wish more adults in the workforce would disclose their diverse abilities....it would help normalize it.
In this section, I realized that people with learning disabilities don't just graduate from school and the disability goes away. They live with it every day and go to jobs which affect their performance.
Understanding their learning disability helps individuals navigate work challenges, while advocating for accommodations can improve their professional success. Awareness of strengths and limitations enables effective interaction with colleagues and contribution to the workplace. Raising awareness about accommodations can address the low percentage of young adults receiving support.
Secondary schools are required to make accommodations/modifications for disabilities. Accommodations do not change the grade level of content or task. Modifications do alter the grade level of content/task. However, since post-secondary education is elective and universities do not receive federal funding, they do not have to provide such. A student has to be a good self-advocate to let the instructor know how he learns the best.
The Value of accomodation is that enables the student to use class content while completing assignments or assessments in a way that best meets their learning needs.
I myself have a learning disabilty , I don't allow it to discourage me in any way.