educational info

Educational Information

Teaching Adults with Learning Disabilities
ERIC Digest No. 99
Lowry, Cheryl Meredith, 1990

ASSESSMENT

When thinking about the assessment of adults with LD, Ross-Gordon (1989) suggests, adult educators should be aware of the scarcity of diagnostic tools appropriate for adults, the importance of enlisting the adults' assistance in the assessment process, and the fact that assessment is useful only to the extent that it helps adults live more fully. She recommends that testing be used only as part (and perhaps not the most important part) of a comprehensive assessment process. The assessment process is more beneficial when the adult contributes information about personal goals and learning strengths and weaknesses. Not only is the information itself important, but shifting the process from testing to discovery and problem solving increases the adult's involvement and can decrease the negative aspects of testing (Ross-Gordon 1989).
Using assessment instruments to find out whether an adult student has LD has limited value if the information gleaned cannot be acted upon by, for instance, arranging instruction to help the student learn or making him or her eligible for resources or services. That is, the advantages of having identified an LD student must be weighed against the negative effects of testing and labeling. Ross (1987) encourages adult educators to ask themselves how they can use more sophisticated educational practice to meet the needs of learners without assigning labels.

INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

Ross-Gordon (1989) categorizes intervention strategies for adults with LD according to their goals:

1. Basic skills remediation, the model often used in adult basic education
2. Subject-area tutoring, such as preparation for the General Educational Development Test
3. Compensatory modification that involves changing the environment or the conditions under which learning takes place or helping the adult develop alternative means of accomplishing a goal
4. Cognitive or learning strategies training (learning to learn)
5. Instruction in survival skills
6. Vocational exploration and training

Because no single approach has been demonstrated as ideal, designers of programs often combine two or more approaches (Ross 1987). Teachers can make the most of a student's own pattern of learning strengths and weaknesses by combining skill building, compensatory techniques, and learning strategies.

TEACHING TECHNIQUES

As with intervention strategies, no single set of teaching techniques is likely to meet the needs of all adults with LD. The following techniques have been suggested (Clearinghouse on Adult Education and Literacy 1989; Ross 1987, 1988; Ross-Gordon 1989).

LEARNING STYLE

1. Assess individuals' learning styles and teach to the stronger modality or style
2. Use multisensory techniques when teaching groups
3. Create opportunities for concrete and experiential learning as well as for abstract and reflective learning
4. Make abstract concepts more concrete by having students handle materials, relating new information to everyday life, and demonstrating tasks
5. Teach new concepts concretely because it is often easier for LD students to learn the theory after learning its practical applications

STUDENT MOTIVATION

1. Talk to students about what techniques work best
2. Use language experience approaches and materials from their home and work environments
3. Build on students' strengths
4. Give frequent, positive, and explicit feedback
5. Help students recognize success

LEARNING STRATEGIES

1. Teach transferable strategies such as listening, paraphrasing, SQ3R (survey, question, read, recite, review), error monitoring, note-taking methods, sentence combining, and paragraph organizing
2. Teach memory techniques such as chunking and mnemonics
3. Discuss the situations in which the strategies will be useful and discuss which strategies will be useful across situations

COMPENSATION

1. Teach techniques such as tape recording and word processing, use computer-assisted instruction, and develop aids students can carry with them (such as a list of number words they will need to write checks)
2. Encourage students to obtain note-takers, readers, tutors, and recorded texts

ORGANIZATION

1. Help students identify organizational patterns
2. Make clear transitions from one topic or task to another
3. Use color coding whenever possible
4. Break lessons into manageable parts
5. Help students set realistic goals
6. Make directions specific, concrete, and understandable
7. Make changes in the schedule, assignments, or examinations orally and in writing
8. As a check for accuracy, have the student repeat verbally what has been taught

REFERENCES

This ERIC Digest is based on the following publication: Ross-Gordon, Jovita M. "Adults with Learning Disabilities: an Overview for the Adult Educator." Information Series no. 337. Columbus: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Center on Education and Training for Employment, The Ohio State University, 1989. (ERIC No. ED 315 664).

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

"ACLD Description: Specific Learning Disabilities." ACLD Newsbriefs, September-October 1986. Clearinghouse on Adult Education and Literacy. "Instructional Strategies for Adults with Learning Disabilities." Washington, DC: Division of Adult Education and Literacy, U.S. Department of Education, 1989.

HEATH Resource Center. "Resources for Adults with Learning Disabilities. Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 1989. (ERIC No. ED 311 671). Ross, Jovita Martin. "Learning and Coping Strategies of Learning Disabled ABE Students. "Adult Literacy and Basic Education 12, no. 2 (1988): 78-90. (ERIC No. EJ 403 358).
Ross, Jovita Martin. "Learning Disabled Adults: Who Are They and What Do We Do with Them?" Lifelong Learning 11, no. 3 (1987): 4-7, 11. (ERIC No. EJ 361 993).

This ERIC DIGEST was developed in 1990 by Cheryl Meredith Lowry with funding from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. RI88062005. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of OERI or the Department of Education. Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced.

top | next | table of contents | learning

home | about me | diagnosis | behaviors | faqs | personal stories | parenting
education | workplace | articles | meds | humor | resources | send page