CRLA I Topic 16
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How to Tutor Students with Learning Disabilities: CRLA Level I # 16 

A Learning Disability (LD) is a permanent disorder, which affects the manner in which individuals with normal or above average intelligence take in, retain, and express information.  Like interference on the radio or a fuzzy TV picture, incoming or outgoing information may become scrambled as it ravels between the eye, ear, or skin, and the brain.  This is one definition of a learning disability.  Look at this site for more definitions.  http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/learndis.htm

Abilities are frequently inconsistent; a student who is highly verbal with an excellent vocabulary may have difficulty spelling simple words, and students who learn very well in lecture may not  complete the reading assignments.  These striking contrasts in abilities and learning styles are evident in many famous individuals.  For example, Nelson Rockefeller had dyslexia, a severe reading disability, and yet he was able to give very effective political speeches.

Learning disabilities are often confused with other non-visible handicapping conditions like mild forms of mental retardation and emotional disturbances.  Persons with learning disabilities often have to deal not only with functional limitations, but also with the frustration of having to “prove” that their invisible disabilities may be as handicapping as paraplegia. 

Thus a learning disability does not mean the following:

1.      Mental Retardation: Students who are learning disabled are not mentally retarded.  They have average to above average intellectual ability.  In fact, it is believed that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison had learning disabilities.

2.      Emotional Disturbances: students who are learning disabled do not suffer from primary emotional disturbances such as schizophrenia.  The emotional support hey need is due to the frustration mentally healthy individual experience because of having a learning disability.

3.      Language Deficiency Attributable to Ethnic Background: student who have difficulty with English because they come from a different language background are not necessarily learning disabled.

A learning disability is commonly recognized in children and adults as a deficit in one or more of he following areas:

1. Difficulty with basic reading skills, reading comprehension, math computation, math reasoning, written expression, spelling, writing, listening comprehension, oral expression, or problem solving.

2. Poor organization and time management skills

3. Slow to start and complete tasks

4. Short attention span and difficulty controlling behavior

5. Difficulty following oral or written instructions

6. Inability on day-to-day basis to remember what has been taught

7. Poor social skills due to inconsistent perceptual abilities

A learning disability is often inconsistent.  It may seem worse at some times than other, and may cause problems in only one specific academic area.  

Tutor Responsibilities:

• Be aware of the possibility of a learning disability and do not harshly judge a student without knowing more.  

• Treat the student as an equal.  The student may have a learning disability, but he/she also possesses knowledge and talent they you don’t have.  

• Listen carefully to what is important to the student.  What areas of learning does he/she want to focus on?

• Create an atmosphere of trust that permits the student to confide in you.  Seek an isolated table in the Learning Center if your tutee seems embarrassed or ill at ease.

• Encourage your tutee just as you would any other student, being careful not to treat him/her in a condescending way.

• Send him/her away with a specific task, a smile, and an invitation/appointment to return for more help.

 Self Study:  Read/study the material and look up related links on the web site listed.  Copy/paste/complete, and print the answerers to the following questions and give your paper to your supervisor for discussion.   

1.      If you suspect (or the student tells you) that he/she has a learning disability, what is the first thing you should do to have a successful tutoring session? Why?

2.      How should you treat a learning disabled student?  Be specific and give examples.

3.      Do you know someone with a learning disability who is successful in other areas of his/her life? Give examples (no real names please) 

4.      Is a learning disability the same as mental retardation?  Why?

5.      What are some of the characteristics of a student with a learning disability?

Sources:

Kath Read – American River College – California

New Mexico Learning Disabilities Association   www.http://kumo.wcp.com/nm/nmlda/whatisld.html