Transitions and Students with Disabilities
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Just out of curiosity, do any of your programs specifically address the needs of students with disabilities? If so, may I ask how?
Robin Matusow
Rehabilitation Instructional Specialist
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
rmatusow@dadeschools.net
All -
The GED Program at Del Mar College has a Learning Difficulties Assessor (Dan Zamora). He surveys students during orientation about any learning difficulties or problems they may have had growing up or in school. If students obtain a score of 12 or higher off the thirteen question survey, they are eligible for his services. Students are not obligated to use Mr. Zamora's services which are free of charge. Even if a student scores below a 12 and still feels they may have a learning problem, they may meet with Mr. Zamora. LD screening is done through PowerPath. PowerPath screens for key breakdowns in learning that result from difficulties in vision and hearing, scotopic sensitivity, information processing, attention difficulties, and phonological processing skills. All the data that is collected during the screening process is entered into the PowerPath software and then a report is generated. The report includes: Analysis of Screening Results, Recommended accommodations with targeted skills, and curriculum and or work place activities. Students can then develop a personal learning plan.
Charlene Salazar
Good morning! I have been very interested in the conversation this week as I will be facilitating a pre-conference session at COABE for NAASLN (National Association for Adults with Special Learning Needs) on transition programs and the underlying issues re: long-term learning barriers that, if not acknowledged, identified, and addressed, will likely interfere with successful persistence and limited learning success.
We would really like to have you participate in the pre-conference dialog and, what will no doubt, be a learning-filled day of meaningful conversations. The highly interactive session will model facilitation techniques that can be used to 'change-up' transition classes and move them to a learning community. Representatives (from state-level administrators to instructors to learning specialists) from 5-7 states will be presenting their experiences.
I am interested in finding out if:
anyone is looking at brain-based and functional learning challenges as underlying barriers to persistence,
how these challenges are being addressed,
other than universal design - how programs are engaging transition students and helping them become their own personal advocates so that they can know how to adapt college learning environments to meet their unique learning needs
how learning communities are being created and used in place of either the learning center or traditional instructor-led learning modalities?
I have been working with some programs to begin looking at transition students' learning challenges. To date, our data base is small to date, but very interesting and more data is being collected every day.
In our preliminary data on transition students, the demographics of the group looks like: average age about 27; 50% female; 80% high school graduates; 50% receiving public assistance; 64% were identified as LD in school); native English speakers. Our screenings found:
About a third of the group wears glasses.
When screened for vision functions (normed, standardized screening), those who had glasses were asked to wear them during the screening, here is what we found:
33% had difficulties with distance vision (seeing a black/green board)
50% had difficulty with near vision (seeing written materials at reading distance), and
50% had difficulty with binocular vision (using two eyes together for sustained reading, etc.)
When screened on a standardized and normed auditory function screening - using an audiometer, Nearly 80% had some hearing loss
On a standardized self-rating scale for attention challenges:
33% self identified having moderate to severe attention challenges (impulsivity, distractibility, hyperactivity, difficulty focusing to complete tasks, difficulty with taking feedback as personal criticism, etc.);
an additional 55% identified themselves with mild to moderate attention issues
On a standardized self-rating scale for Visual Stress Syndrome:
81% identified that they had moderate to severe visual stress syndrome - i.e., eyes want to close under bright lights, there is too much glare from white pages with black letters, words and numbers move and/or swirl on the page, can't stay focused on reading materials as longer lengths of time make the words begin to go fuzzy, can't keep track of responses on bubble sheets for standardized testing, too much glare from 'normal' contrasts on computer screens, difficulty copying from a workbook or board to paper, etc.).
Interesting? What are you finding?
Laura Weisel
Such interesting questions, Laura! Our LD specialist, who appropriately teaches our lowest-level reading classes, also found sleep deprivation to be a serious issue -- some of her students (and, I suspect mine) slept only 3-4 hours a night but had no sense that this affected them negatively. She put together a whole sleep curriculum to deal with that.
One of my students this year has a pretty severe version of the vision issues you mentioned. We managed to find a developmental ophthalmologist who takes her insurance; now the problem is to get her to make an appointment, as despite her obvious problems, she insists that she sees "well enough."
Wendy Quiñones
Wendy, might we get the sleep curriculum or contact info? I suspect that many students could benefit from knowing about this phenomenon.
Several years back, studies came out saying that teenagers should start school at 9 or 10, not 7 or 8. Me, too!
Stephanie Moran
Laura's NAASLN studies confirm other studies that have made plain just how many students suffer from vision and hearing problems, problems that may often misdiagnosed as an LD or low intelligence. See the article "Who Belongs in College: A Second Look" by Carlette J. Hardin. A study by Hiett in 1987 showed that after screening was done, "65% of the students enrolled in developmental courses had visual problems that had never been detected. Another 54% of the students had a hearing loss, while 41% of the students had both visual and hearing problems. Is it such a shock that these ignored students encountered academic difficulties?"
Stephanie Moran
Dear Laura, Wendy, Marie, and Fellow Assessment Listers:
One of the NCTN members works with several prison systems around the country. As part of beginning an educational program, prisoners had their vision tested. Many, many had vision problems that had gone undetected and untreated prior to entering prison. It's hard to fathom how these physical issues of vision, hearing, sleep deprivation factor in to educational problems.
I want to say "thank you" to everyone who has contributed and followed the discussion this week. It is usually impossible (or is that virtually possible?) to get such specific answers to the questions raised. I appreciate the time people have taken to participate.
I look forward to reading on...
Cynthia Zafft, Senior Advisor
National College Transition Network
www.collegetransition.org
www.collegeforadults.org
