Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Learning Disabilities and the Writing Center
After reading this article, I feel that this is information that we as individuals should already know. A student with a learning disability needs more time to accomplish their goals, and we as tutors need to be patient with them. I feel that working with ESL students and students with learning disablities are very similar. If you can't quite understand what he/she is trying to say through their paper, then you need to ask them specific questions. It's not out of line to ask about his/her thesis statement and what their main point of their paper is. We should all know that students with learning disabilities are not stupid, they just need more time and practice to achieve their goal. When I read the part about Barb forgetting to take the plastic off the roast, I was a little upset. Just because she forgot to take off the plastic wrap, or didn't know to take it off doesn't mean her learning disability was a contribution. All students need step by step instructions. I don't think that Barb knew much about cooking and her mother leaving out the crucial detail to remove the plastic was not her fault. One time I actually cooked a frozen pizza with the cardboard under it because I didn't realize it was still attached. Several students (not just students with learning disabilities) find an interest in art, music, writing, etc. rather than math or science. That's just how kids are, and I think we need to embrace their enjoyment of any subject they choose, and support them. Just because you like a particular subject over another subject does not mean a student's learning disability has any contribution to their likes/dislikes. Again, when Barb drove the car for the first time and didn't understand all of the rules of the road, her mother should have explained it to her clearly before ever letting her get behind the wheel. I don't know if her mother just didn't explain it, or she had to experience making mistakes while driving before she could learn the correct way to do so, but I think Barb sounds like any other high school student who is nervous about driving and isn't really paying attention to what she's doing. Some students just need more instructions and I really feel that her family should have gone over the rules with her and given her more directions before letting her take over. Students who have trouble with their thesis statement and organizing their papers come into the writing center all the time. I think we need to take our time and be patient with all students. Sometimes you have to be more specific and ask the student more specific questions about their paper, so they understand how to construct their it. All students fall into this category whether their just regular students, ESL students, or students with learning disabilities. I think writing centers can support all students and use a similar method no matter what the case is with each individual student. Tutors can notice when a student is having a trouble grasping the concept, and they can be there to walk them through it step by step, so they correct their mistakes in the future.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have actually cooked frozen pizzas with the cardboard SEVERAL times...
ReplyDeleteThe point is, I think there's a difference between absentmindedness and not having the necessary brain functions to make proper connections. Say, instead of something like plastic wrap, you asked Barb to pick out prepositional phrases in a sentence. She may be able to identify everything, but when it came to subject/verb agreement problems, would she realize the prepositional phrase was throwing her off?
I love love LOVE the idea of supporting ALL students in ALL of their interests. I also agree that a disability may not impact what a student likes. However, I pretty much hate Art classes with a passion because of how frustrating they can be for me. I just can't draw! I can see why a student with an LD would find something like writing frustrating when it seems like an impossible task.
I think Patti brings up a really good point, one I wanted to make, too. We have such a stigma against learning disabilities in our society that I think a lot of us would like to say that students with learning disabilities really aren't all that different from the rest of us. It's not because we don't want to give them the help they need; it's because we don't want to contribute to the social and educational stigma many of these students already face. So we find ourselves offended when an author like Neff just goes for it and says, "This student has a learning disability."
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to blog about this. Go check me out.
I think that your observations about the people who dealt with Barb were right-on in the sense that they weren't clear enough in their directions. I think that we can apply that same occurance to our tutees in the writing center. How many times has a student come in with a confused look on their face and said "I have no idea what my professor wants us to do! She's so vauge!" ? And do we immediately assume that those students had Learning Disabilities? No; ususally we secretly agree that the professor should've phrased things better, and we try to explain what we think it means to the student as best as possible.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, though, not all students with LD have severe cases. Some can be mild, and you might not know that the student has any sort of disability, and this kinda sounds like Barb to me.
I can see why a student with a learning disability may find writing difficult because they have trouble picking out certain things in a sentence. Writing can be frustrating and even though I consider myself a pretty good writer, I am very insecure after writing my first draft and it takes me forever to write a paper I'm satisfied with. I usually write something, leave, come back to it, look at it the next day, and so on. I think good writing just takes a lot of practice and if you feel like your paper isn't as good as you'd like it to be, then keep working on it until it is. You have to be patient because writing a good paper takes time and it's definitely not simple. Many times I've gotten an assignment from a Professor that I just didn't understand. It's frustrating enough when you're insecure about your writing and then your teacher gives you an unclear assignment that makes everything more difficult. Ughh that's the worst!!! Not just students with Learning Disabilities have these issues! I'm sure all students have at some point during their college career had to deal with these situations and it's not enjoyable.
ReplyDelete