When remediation is not enough

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When remediation is not enough

• Technology for Students withLearning
  Disabilities
• Presenters
• Mark Giddens, Adaptive Technology Technician
• Mike Walker, Learning Strategist
• Presented to Lorraine Frosts J/I SEP classes,
  September 2003

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Presentation Outcomes

• Create a context for this presentation
• Why need we accommodate students with LDs?
• Accommodation, Modification Remediation
• Describe living and learning with a LD
• Tales from the Trenches student snapshots
• Social, emotional and academic aspects of LDs
• Describe learning disabilities from IP
  perspective
• A new definition from the LDAO
• Impact on diagnosis and accommodation
• Describe how YOU can help your students succeed
• Conditions and strategies for success
• Briefly review technology for students w/LDS
• The Big Three
• Hands-on practice for textHELP Read Write

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Our Context the Premise

• Our Desire - we want all of our students to be
  able to master the Three Rs and to develop
  normally physically, mentally and emotionally.
• The Reality approximately 9.4 of our
  elementary and secondary students are
  exceptional (MET, 1997).
• The Result - many of our students will not read,
  write or perform other academic tasks
  efficiently, despite our best effort and intense
  remediation.

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Consequently

• In order for many of these exceptional students
  to be successful their
• skills must be remediated and/or
• learning either modified or accommodated
• Remediation may be needed for the student to
• overcome performance deficits (reading, writing,
  speech, motor)
• consolidate skills for future learning
• Modification may be needed for the student to
• experience academic success
• maintain motivation to learn
• Accommodation may be needed for the student to
• maintain grade level standards
• broaden future learning opportunities

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However

• Modifications are not an option at the
  post-secondary level.
• Nor are modifications eligible for high school
  credit.
• Therefore, accommodation for severe disabilities
  may become more challenging and solutions, by
  necessity, more sophisticated.
• Technology has provided many new tools which may
  be used to accommodate students with LDs.

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Some Stats . . .

• learning disabilities impact the lives of
  approximately 10 of the population
• approximately 4 of Ontarios school aged
  population is formally identified with LDs
• of Ontarios identified exceptional population
• approx. 48 of elementary students are LD
• approx. 54 of secondary students are LD
• 25 to 30 of those with LDs have AD/HD
• 75 to 80 of those with AD/HD have LDs

Sources Weber and Bennett, Special Education in
Ontario Schools, Fourth Edition and LDAC
National, Spring 2000
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A Tale from the Trenches

• Ruth (grade 4) not yet identified
• problems with math - seems bright, verbal
• goes to Kumon Math every night
• nightly math sheet (10 20 min) may take 2 hours
  with parents help
• is there a problem?
• probably non-verbal LD she has problems with
  drawing, visual/spatial awareness, awkward, late
  reader
• teacher warned not to rock the boat (not ID)

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What is a Learning Disability?

• A new definition
• from the LDAO

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In brief "Learning Disabilities"

• refers to a variety of disorders that affect the
  acquisition, retention, understanding,
  organization or use of verbal and/or non-verbal
  information.

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These disorders

• result from impairments in one or more
  psychological processes related to learning in
  combination with otherwise average abilities
  essential for thinking and reasoning.

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These psychological processes are

• phonological processing
• memory and attention
• processing speed
• language processing
• perceptual-motor processing
• visual-spatial processing
• executive functions (e.g., planning, monitoring
  and metacognitive abilities)

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Learning disabilities

• range in severity and invariably interfere with
  the acquisition and use of one or more of the
  following important skills

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These skills are

• oral language (e.g., listening, speaking,
  understanding)
• reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension)
• written language (e.g., spelling, written
  expression)
• mathematics (e.g., computation, problem solving)
• organizational skills
• social perception
• social interaction

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What a LD is Not!

• IT IS NOT
• low intelligence/an intellectual disability
• mental illness/emotional disturbance
• autism
• visual or auditory acuity problems
• laziness/lack of motivation
• a way to avoid other issues
• a physical handicap
• the result of a poor academic background

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So how might an LD affect a Learner?

• A Couple of Examples . . .

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Cant you read this?

• Myle arn in gdisa bi LI tyma kesit dif Ficu
  ltform eto re Adi tslo wsm edo wnwh eniha veto re
  AdmYte xtbo Ok sbu twhe nius Eboo kso Nta peo rco
  mpu Teri zedsc ree nrea Din gsof twa Reto lis
  tent Om yte xtbo ok sith elp sal Ot.
• Visual/Phonological LD

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Cant you see this?

• Cant you see the Dalmatian?

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Cant you see this?

• Cant you see the Dalmatian?
• Visual LD
• visual ground figure

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Cant you write this?

• Copy this Ill time you put your hand up when
  youre done
• Can you copy? Its not hard.Look Im finished
  already!
• Now copy again with your non-dominant hand Ill
  time you hands up.
• Grapho-motor LD

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A Tale from the Trenches

• Eve (grade 4) gifted with an LD
• seemed very bright but wasnt achieving
• no significant achievement difficulty, so no
  testing
• parents paid for an assessment
• works harder than all of her classmates
• remediation every night thru Oxford LC
• yet, performing just below grade level
• principal wont allow identification IEP
  monitoring
• recently caught cheating in spelling in French
• I wanted to get them right just once.
• should she be allowed to experience success?

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A Learning Disability is an Information
Processing Impairment

• It is like having too many bridges out as well as
  too many overlapping pathways along the
  information highways of the brain.
• Dale R. Jordan
• U. of Arkansas

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A Simple Model of Learning Information
Processing

• Attention
• Sensory Input
• Decoding
• Processing
• May include Storage
• and/or Retrieval processes
• Encoding
• Physical Output

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Diagnosis the Criteria

• identification is NOT diagnosis
• diagnosis must be made by a psychologist
• based on a discrepancy between ability (as
  measured by IQ) and academic achievement and/or
  information processing
• students at the post-secondary level MUST have a
  recent assessment with a valid diagnostic
  statement in order to get academic accommodation

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For you visual learners

What does an LD look like? LDs from an
Information Processing perspective.
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Average StudentAptitude vs. Achievement- normal
scatter (normal differences)
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Student with a LD (Reading)Aptitude vs.
Achievement significant differences
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Aptitude, Achievement Info Processing Visual
(Dyslexia)
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Aptitude, Achievement Info Processing Auditory
(CAPD)
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Non-verbal LDWAIS Profile
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A Tale from the Trenches

• Adam (grade 4) Assessed with reading disability
  (pre. board)
• reading at grade 1 level, highly frustrated
  resistant to learning
• resistant to resource, so teacher accommodated
  him in the classroom
• up two levels in reading, completed grade level
  work, independent research project, became a
  class leader
• end of the year comment to John
• now in Grade 5 back in resource, same phonics
  workbooks, etc. shut down

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Social Emotional Aspects of a Learning
Disability

• From Introducing Learning Disabilities to
  Postsecondary Educators
• The Meighen Centre for Learning Assistance and
  Research, Mount Allison University

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What does a Learning Disability feel like?

• Ask someone who has one!

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Possible Academic Problems

• silent reading/reading aloud
• writing/spelling
• learning languages/math
• expressing what is known and understood
• having to re-do school work at home
• having no time off since everything takes longer
• dropping out

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Possible Social/Emotional Problems

• feeling dumb, stupid, embarrassed, frustrated,
  anxious, lonely, isolated
• being called stupid, lazy being put down by
  teachers, friends, and even parents
• feeling nobody understands
• feeling need of help
• fearing rejection failure
• always having to cover up, act a role

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Possible Career/Vocational Problems

• lack of basic skills
• lack of social skills
• Its never cured, It never goes away
• having to cover up
• never feeling adequate
• low expectations
• jobs dont last

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Tough Facts from LDAC

• 35 of students identified with learning
  disabilities drop out of high school.
• 50 of adolescent suicides had previously been
  diagnosed as having learning problems.
• Volumes of research have shown that 30 to 70 of
  young offenders have experienced learning
  problems.

Statistics on Learning Disabilities. LDAC,
October 2001. Source Online http//www.ldac-taac
.ca/english/indepth/bkground/stats01.htm
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A Tail from the Trenches

• Josh (high school) gifted with an LD
• just surviving exhausted, anxious, low
  self-esteem
• parents paid for assessment (FSIQ 120)
• diagnosis of Disorder of Written Expression
  w/recommendations for technology
• qualifies for ISA 1 funding
• school opinion - other students with greater
  need than him
• school recommendation - learning skills class
  each semester

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What you can do . . .

• How can a classroom/ resource teacher support a
  student with a learning disability?

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Be a GREAT teacher

• Use multi-modal teaching techniques, offer valid
  performance and evaluation alternatives, and
• remember . . .

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We Learn... William Glasser

• 10 of what we read
• 20 of what we hear
• 30 of what we see
• 50 of what we both see and hear
• 70 of what is discussed with others
• 80 of what we experience personally
• 95 of what we teach someone else

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Or Simply

• Tell me and I will forget
• Show me and I may remember
• Involve me and I will understand
• Ancient Chinese proverb

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Teach Academic/Learning Skills Topics from
UNIV1011

• How We Learn
• Learning Styles
• Time Management
• Active Listening Notetaking
• Active Reading
• Writing Strategies
• Critical Creative Thinking

• Test Taking Evaluation
• Attitude Motivation
• Self-Determination Self-Advocacy
• Teamwork Rapport
• Energy Stress
• Health Wellness

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What you can do . . .

• Provide Access to Curriculum and Accommodation

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Follow the principles of UIDAccess to
Curriculum - - Heli Wynne

• Universal Instructional Design
• . . . curriculum is accessible to all students,
  regardless of their learning style or the
  presence of learning and/or other disabilities.
• or . . .

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Universal Design for Learning (CAST description)

• UDL shifts old assumptions about teaching and
  learning in four fundamental ways
• Source online Center for Applied Special
  Technology (CAST) www.cast.org/udl/

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UDL basic concepts (CAST)

• Students with disabilities fall along a continuum
  of learner differences rather than constituting a
  separate category
• Teacher adjustments for learner differences
  should occur for all students, not just those
  with disabilities

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UDL basic concepts (CAST)

• Curriculum materials should be varied and diverse
  including digital and online resources, rather
  than centering on a single textbook
• Instead of remediating students so that they can
  learn from a set curriculum, curriculum should be
  made flexible to accommodate learner differences

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For more about UDL see

• CASTs Universal Design for Learning site
• http//www.cast.org/udl/
• Online textbook
• Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age
  Universal Design for Learning. David H. Rose
  Anne Meyer ASCD, 2002
• www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/

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More about accommodating individual student
differences

• PBS documentary, Misunderstood Minds
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/intro.h
  tml
• Check out the work of Dr. Mel Levine
• His organizations website
• www.allkindsofminds.orq
• A Mind at a Time, Chapter 1
• http//www.allkindsofminds.org/bookExcerpts/aMinda
  tATime.aspx

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So in review, you can

• Raise self-esteem by staying positive -- you may
  be the adult who makes a difference
• Include the student in the process
• Allow the student both access to and control over
  his/her learning environment
• Focus on strengths accommodate for weaknesses
• Teach learning strategies
• Use technological aids/software
• Encourage/teach social skills
• Offer positive, realistic feedback
• Fight for funding, assessment technology

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More Info. . .

• On learning disabilities
• www.schwablearning.org
• www.ldonline.org
• www.ldpride.net
• www.ldao.on.ca
• www.ldrc.ca
• http//specialed.about.com/cs/learningdisabled
• Activities to help understand processing deficits
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/
• Mikes Learning Resources site
• www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/mikew/resource

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Access to Accommodation

• Another Tale from the Trenches

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Kristens Story

• Dyslexia dysgraphia
• Reading (decoding) writing (encoding
  spelling, grammar, etc.) sequencing
• Had to read everything 5 times
• 1 hour exam took 3 hours to write
• Always lost full spelling/grammar marks
• Today would not pass Grade 10 literacy test

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Kristen Today

• Has to do her readings once
• Writes exams in same time as other students
• Maintains an 85 average
• Uses technology
• Kurzweil 3000
• textHELP Read Write
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking
• Pocket PC, scanner, scanning pen, speaking spell
  checker

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Next Technology for Students with Learning
Disabilities

• Tools to help accommodate for information
  processing deficits

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Questions?

• . . . lets take a break!

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