Re: Guidlines on working with LD students

[mgander@sover.net (MacLean Gander)]

Sara-

The questions you raise interest me greatly--I wish I could speak to them
more directly, but since all the students we work with at Landmark College
have been diagnosed with some form of learning or attention disorder, the
question of guidelines per se is fairly moot for us. One useful approach I
might suggest is to distinguish between the federal laws regarding
education and learning disabilities, and effective pedagogical practices
for students who have difficulty with academic success in mainstream
contexts because of significant differences in how they learn and
communicate. The two are not necessarily connected--and in fact may be
opposed in some cases--but they both probably should play a role in your
considerations.

In terms of the law, my understanding is that the accommodations a student
with a learning disability receives generally have to be clearly defined
and articulated, and that the onus is on the student to make a case for
receiving particular accommodations based on her specific learning
problems. In other words, unless a particular accommodation--such as extra
time on tests, or using books on tape--is part of a specific agreement
governing the student's academic program, the student has no particular
power, beyond that of persuasion, to ask for and receive special help. A
tutor who feels that she is being asked to go beyond the bounds of
legitimate support is operating well within the law if she refuses (as long
as she is not refusing to provide an accommodation specifically required
under the institution's agreement with the student.) Obviously, this is
tricky terrain given how litigious higher ed. has become--although the
trend when it comes to LD is all backlash right now.

In terms of the law, I would suggest guidelines that place the onus on the
student to articulate and document what accommodations she expects, and on
what basis. I only make this point in relation to requests for help that go
beyond what seems like sound pedagogical practice, and I don't mean to
imply an adversarial relationship. There are students with dyslexia who
reach adulthood without the ability to spell or to punctuate sentences, but
who can otherwise write fairly effectively in terms of syntax, discourse
structure, and content. It may be appropriate, under the law, for such a
student to receive direct help proofreading drafts in a way that goes
beyond normal tutoring practices. But the burden should not be on the tutor
to make such a decision, if at all possible.

In terms of guidelines related to teaching, Anne has already noted most of
the approaches I would. In general, I have come more and more to believe
that the core of the teaching-learning process for students with LD and
their teachers is a close, continuous link between an understanding of the
underlying problems a student has in the process of writing, and the
composing strategies she uses to circumvent them. The latter may take two
forms: either a direct attack on a problem area, such as over-generating
ideas and language through exhaustive brainstorming and free-writing
strategies for a student with expressive-language difficulties, or using a
painstaking organizational strategy such as the boxes etc. Anne described
for a student with attentional problems; or the deployment of an area of
strength in service of a weakness, such as using drawing in the generating
process for students with weak language and strong visual-motor skills, or
talking through an organizational plan before writing it down for a student
whose strengths are mainly in oral language. The more self-aware the
student is, the more she can contribute actively to this collaborative
process, particularly in her self-descriptions of problems and of
strengths. Likewise, the more aware the tutor is of the whole range of
possible generating and organizing strategies--and of the implications for
writing of specific types of problems (and strengths)--the more she can
lead a purposeful collaboration and avoid both false starts and doing for
the student what she should do for herself.

None of these points really sound like guidelines--as I said, I'm not sure
I would be qualified to suggest guidelines in any case. I would be very
interested to hear what you come up with, though.

Mac Gander
Landmark College
Putney, Vermont