RE: An LD Student Who Needs a "Scribe"

["A.F. Herzog/H.C. Graham" <herzgrah@chesco.com>]

Chris,
	You mention that you are a specialist with writers who also have learning
disabilities.  Perhaps the list has dealt with this before--I hesitate to
ask for information already posted--but I would appreciate any references
to scholarly/educational material I might consult.  I work 1/4 time in our
Disabilities Office and am developing faculty trainings on pedagogical
issues and writing concerns in particular.
	Having trained every dept. on our campus on the legal questions
surrounding the ADA and classroom/advising responsibilities, I have been
struck by how many faculty still feel that students with disabilities are
somehow trying to get one over on everyone else.  This is particularly true
of the so called "boutique"/invisible disabilities like LD.  Every student
admitted at my university has met the same basic qualifications--there is
no separate category for students with disabilities--and yet, again and
again, faculty insist that these students are not as talented, shouldn't be
here, etc.  I can only speak from first hand knowledge of my own
institution and faculty, but I know that many act and speak from  attitudes
that reflect a serious lack of knowledge as to how particular disabilities
impact the thinking/writing/learning processes.  We have so very far to go
as a field on this issue.
	I thank you for both the wisdom and compassion of your post.  

Anne Herzog
Writing Center Director
West Chester University  
		



At 03:05 PM 10/4/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>
>i'm worried about the level of frustration i hear behind some of the 
>responses to this issue...  it's frustrating as someone who is a writing 
>specialist for students with ld to hear the sarcasm and hesitation that 
>greets a student's need for a scribe.  i'm not upset with any of the 
>respondees to this -- don't get me wrong, please.  i'm grateful for folks 
>like shannin who are honest about their feelings on this issue.  what 
>concerns me is that there is still _cause_ for these sorts of reactions...
>
>some students do indeed need scribes, and will need them all their lives. 
> somehow we all, as educators, need to come to some sort of peace with the 
>fact that a significant population of our writing students will never be 
>able to write "on their own".  this says nothing about these students' 
>abilities to function in the world, nor about their intelligences -- it is 
>all about how they learn.  i train writing tutors to work with students 
>with ld, and the one thing these tutors do not do is to make papers pretty 
>for students with ld.  if they take dictation, they do straight dictation. 
> period.  and if the student has a severe grammar/language mechanics 
>disability, all editing work is done interactively with the student.  but 
>some students will NEVER be able to see and/or correct their own 
>grammatical problems -- orally or otherwise.  i'm working right now with 
>one student who can recite grammar rules until the cows come home, but 
>can't, despite high motivation and a lot of work, fix her own work.
>
>i'm working hard right now to open dialogue between writing instructors and 
>writing centers and the writing tutors i have here.  there seems to be much 
>need for conversation on this issue, if the kinds of miscommunication 
>suzanne describes are still happening.
>
>what are writing centers if not places to meet writers where they are and 
>help them become better writers?  ld writers, esl writers, visual writers, 
>auditory writers, kinesthetic writers...  i'm not saying the burden should 
>be on any writing center to be _sole provider_ of accommodations for 
>students with special needs, but i'm not at all sure it's wrong for a 
>writing center to do some of those accommodations...
>
>paz -- chris
>
>
>"...Let me take you there and show you a living story..."
>		Genesis, "A Trick of the Tail"
>
>
>Chris Hamel, MA
>Writing Specialist, SALT Center
>University of Arizona
>(520) 621-6641
>chamel@u.arizona.edu
>
>
>
A.F. Herzog & H.C. Graham
441 Highland Avenue
Downingtown, PA  19335
(610) 518.1212
herzgrah@chesco.com