Learning Problems?

Describe an experience that you have had with an individual with some sort of learning problem. Would you expect that person to learn in the same way and at the same rate as individuals without that particular problem? How would you find out what instructional techniques and curriculum works best for the individual with the problem? What would you do with this information if you were his or her teacher?

There is common wisdom which says that not everyone learns in the same fashion. Myself, if interested in a topic, I can learn on my own through personal study and reading. I am self taught in web design and other technical (read: geeky) conquests. Others, however, are not able to do this. Some people can read, read, and read again and still not grasp the concepts being presented. This does not mean that person is less intelligent. It just means that person doesn’t have the natural aptitude to learn via that same method. However, if a teacher sits down and shows that person how to do something (create a web page in a media immersion class, for example), that person, by seeing and doing the task, may be able to learn and fully comprehend though the hands on approach, just as the reader does by reading on his own. Other people may be auditory learners, and simply by having the subject matter explained to them verbally, they are able to learn.

Considering this, when faced with a student who is having learning difficulties, I would try different teaching methods (auditory, visual, hands on, etc.) to see if any sparked more interest and success than others. If one does, that is how I would focus on working with this child. For many children, this would be sufficient in improving their success at school. This is not the answer for all cases, of course, but for milder cases, this would seem a logical place to start.

As far as personal experience, I have very little to draw on. Even though I’ve worked with MR/DD populations (they seem to only learn through hands on and repetitive practice), I have not worked with many LD students in the school setting. However, many students have various learning problems in a mild sense, so I will go with one of those.

We had in our school a family of three students whose mother had killed the father a few years earlier and was serving a life sentence. The older of the three children was a young boy of 14 who, all his life, had been diagnosed as ADHD. His was a very extreme case, too, and he had tried all the stimulant drugs over the years. He was on Dexadrine and others when I worked with him. Even though he was clearly effected by his family’s trials, ADHD was his only diagnoses. I am sure he bordered on ODC, but the diagnosis was never made. It could be that no one knew everything he did when others were not looking. He lived with his grandparents and had seen a psychiatrist on and off for years, but considering his family history, that made perfect sense. This child was attending a public Jr. High school in Southern Ohio before joining my classroom. He had been expelled (for continual fighting with the other kids I believe) and his grandparents were looking for other options. His two younger sisters were already attending my school in other classrooms, and this boy had attended the school my church had run a few years earlier, so many of the kids we already knew this boy (let’s call him Ryan, as I’m tired of pronouns). There were many stories to be told.

In general, Ryan, though extremely hyper and active, was not typically aggressive or physically mean in my presence. He could have a sharp tongue, but I think developed that as he received the same and more from others in the public setting. He told of how everyone in the public Jr. High called him “fag” and picked on him. He seemed miserable there and I believe this was a large part of his acting out in that setting. I’m sure it was a cyclical pattern of his attitude and the students’ reactions and the students’ (and teachers’) attitudes and his reactions.

Ryan was extremely intelligent. Because he hadn’t been paying attention for a good while, he was behind, but he was intelligent none the less. But he had no off switch. This kid was always so full of energy it was amazing. He reminded me of the Tasmanian devil in his speed and energy.

(I could talk about Ryan’s many uniqueness forever, so I’ll move to the educational side of things)

Ryan eventually grew to be too much of a distraction to the class. There was a minor incident with one of the younger kids in another class and being a Christian school, much more was made of it than should have been. Parents expect perfection. Parents paid our salaries. It makes a difference in what can and can not happen. It was decided that Ryan would have to leave the school. It was a difficult decision, met with both joy and anger by various students. He couldn’t go back to public school that year, so Ryan, his grandparents and myself decided I’d work with him one on one after the normal school day for a couple of hours and Ryan would switch to being home-schooled. Ryan was happy with this, as he was hoping to “earn” his way back into the school full time. I remember how difficult everything was when we decided he had to leave. He even cried and begged me for another chance.

When Ryan began to come in after school, he was still hyper, there was no changing that, but in an empty room in the corner of a large empty church, there were far fewer distractions. Ryan had to fidget and pace, but with no one to seek attention or laughter from, with no one to impress, and with no one to laugh at or even look at, he was able to focus on the materials at hand – even if to him, they weren’t the subjects he more enjoyed. In the classroom, there was too much distraction and he simply could not focus long enough to pick up concepts (Math, specifically, as that is not an interactive subject, such as History). Alone, he could actually do example problems and learn the skills required.

I would not normally suggest complete isolation to teach a student, as I strongly believe that students need the social setting of a school. This was not possible for Ryan, however. I knew he had friends he hung out with (for good or for bad, mostly bad) but I also knew he as attending youth at the church on a semi-regular basis, so I knew he would be able to see the students whom he enjoyed at the school. Because of these safeguards, the teaching after school worked, so he was keeping up academically and he wasn’t losing out on those other important areas. We continued this way for the remainder of the school year and considering everything, I believe Ryan did well. The only time he joined the rest of the school was for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills towards the end of the year, and for those, he had a desk outside the room. His scores were okay, so even though he may not have gained as much as the other students, he did not fall behind either.

Another student's response:

David- I think that it is great that you were able to
do what you did for that child. If only more children
were able to receive such one-on-one assistance. It
sounds as though this boy really needed someone to trust
and offer positive guidance due to his unfortunate
situation. It sounds like you took that extra step and
put the extra effort into helping someone that really
needed it. I agree with what you said about the
individual setting not being appropriate for all
children in need of assistance, but being what is
necessary in order for others to be able to focus and
learn. Additionally, I think that what you said about
trying to tap into how a person best learns as an
initial step is very important. It might not be that
there is any disability at all, just a different way of
learning. I feel that this is useful to find out before
the notion of a disability is brought up, as there is
often so much stigma attached with having a learning
disability.

Another student's response:

David, I applaud your gesture of offering to teach Ryan
after school, and I am glad things worked out for him.
he seems to have gone through a lot.

Another student's response:

David, Good job David! I've had similar experiences
where the "tough guy" or "class-clown" etc. gets sent
out of class (or suspended or moved to another class,
etc.) and then breaks down in tears when alone in my
presence and you get to see the "real kid" that others
don't get to see. This is a little off track, but your
case brought it to mind, so I'll talk about it here.
When I was an inclusion teacher one of the benefits the
children had in having an "extra" teacher in the room,
was when I saw a child who was needing space or about
to loose control I could have the child step out of room
with me (in a non-threatening manner) and we would often
just sit on the hallway steps for a while or walk a lap
around the school sometimes talking and sometimes in
silence. Often, that was all that was needed to calm a
kid down and get them back on task. During these
instances I often got to see a "different" child than
was in the classroom and often found that they really
want to do everything they can to stay in the classroom.
I also had the policy that they could come to me and
intiate this, too. And, to some peoples surprise it was
very rarely abused. Regular classroom teachers don't
often have this option. The School Psychologist and the
Behavior Intervention Specialist were also very willing
resources to do the same kind of thing when it wasn't
feasible for me to leave the classroom either and both
were very discreet about it. I might also add here,
that block scheduling, while beneficial in many ways,
especially to children with learning problems, can be
difficult on some children. Keeping it together for 90
minutes can be very stressful on children with behavior
problems and children who are very frustrated in a
certain subject area or class. (I'll stop here since I'm
really getting away from David's case!) David, I bet
your afterschool experience with this student was very
rewarding!

My response:

You are so right about kids often wanting to stay in the
classroom. Many think that kids just act out for
attention or because they truly don't want to be there
(and in some cases, these ideas are true). However,
there are other kids who wish above all else they could
control their behaviour, because they see the end
results, and they don't want to leave. But for those
kids, controling behaviour isn't always as easy as we
would like it to be.

Filed under: EDC 541 Curriculum and Instruction for Diverse Learners
Copyright: June, 2003 - David Profitt