Re: tutoring LD students

["Deany M. Cheramie" <ENGL-DMC@nich-nsunet.nich.edu>]

On  Thu, 8 Feb 1996 Jacqueline writes:
>Deany,
>
>You advise Wendy to try ESL techniques when tutoring LD 
>students.
>What techniques do you mean? 

Jacqueline,

You've caught me in an "open mouth, insert foot" situation. I guess 
I wrote before I really thought. 

However, in really thinking about what I wrote, I guess 
subconsciously I was remembering what Judith Powers wrote in 
her article "Rethinking Writing Center Conferencing Strategies 
for the ESL Writer" in the _St. Martin's Sourcebook_ which I 
recently read. Comments Powers made point to the idea that 
writing center tutors need to take a more direct approach in 
tutoring ESL students. She recommends looking at assignments 
from the ESL student's cultural viewpoint and learning to ask 
questions "that will allow ESL writers to understand more about 
idea generation and presentation of evidence" (102).  Power also 
comments that because ESL writers know a different grammar 
and (sometimes) rhetoric, tutors need to take a more direct 
response to the student's concerns.

My thinking is that this may be the response Wendy is looking for. 
An LD writer may need a tutor who can look at an assignment 
from an LD writer's viewpoint. And sometimes an LD student 
needs that extra bit of help that wouldn't normally be given to a 
"regular" student. Of course, it often depends on just what the 
disability is. That's why testing is so important. First, there is a 
legal precedent for giving this student extraordinary help, and, 
second, once the disability is known, that help can be tailored to 
the disability. 

An example of this is a student I had last year who couldn't 
remember. Literally, couldn't remember. He is hydrocephalic and 
parts of his memory centers have been destroyed or stressed. He 
has some functional short term memory, and some long term 
memory, but he can't remember what he reads or where he needs 
to be next or what his assignment is. So his organizational skills 
were quite problematical. But he had more than adequate 
grammar skills. And he would come up with the most wonderful 
proofs and examples in tutoring sessions, but wouldn't remember 
30 seconds later to write them down. And there was no unified 
structure in his work. So I would let tutors help him organize 
papers, and write down his examples for him. And he could take 
these notes into class for inclass essays (archaic system; but 
it's where I work 8-] ).  Sadly, he'd sometimes forget how to type. 
I'd watch him hunting for letters somedays, and others he'd 
remember the home keys and would type away.  It hurt to watch 
him struggle.  8-(

Any way, that is what I really meant. Sorry to be so surface and 
flippant earlier. I guess I wanted to reply but didn't really have 
time to formulate my thoughts.

deany


DEANY M. CHERAMIE   
engl-dmc@nich-nsunet.nich.edu
504-448-4207 
Dept. of English 
Nicholls State University
PO Box 2023            
Thibodaux, LA 70310   

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It's gonna be a long, hard drag, but we'll make it."  
                          -Janis Joplin