LD Support Groups
Berkowitz,Daniel
We have identified several things which our students could really use but
are unlikely to spontaneously happen on their own. One of which is a Support
Groups for students with learning disabilities.
Could anyone out there who has a successful (or unsuccessful...I'd rather
learn from others failures) LD Support Group give us some ideas on how to
get one up and running. My expectation is that the hard part will be
establishing it and that once it is up and running things will be
easier.....please tell me if I ma wrong!
Thanks in Advance
Daniel Berkowitz, Learning Specialist
Dean College Learning Center
(508) 541-1764
dber...@dean.edu
Mark Farone
At 3.30p 10/22/96, Berkowitz,Daniel wrote:
>We have identified several things which our students could really use but
>are unlikely to spontaneously happen on their own. One of which is a Support
>Groups for students with learning disabilities.
>
>Could anyone out there who has a successful (or unsuccessful...I'd rather
>learn from others failures) LD Support Group give us some ideas on how to
>get one up and running. My expectation is that the hard part will be
>establishing it and that once it is up and running things will be
>easier.....please tell me if I ma wrong!
This year I started a group for our students who have learning disabilities
which focuses on strategic learning. I have some serious reservations
about remedial techniques for any student in the college arena and do not
adhere to a "deficit model" philosophy. I am concerned that remedial
techniques may not be helping students in the way they are intended in
postsecondary settings. I should note here that many people do not agree
with these beliefs, but it is important to note as this was the basis for
the development of the Strategic Learning Groups.
I did plenty of outreach. I called more than 25 different colleges with
similar demographics. I found out that although many were providing
services for students with LD, few were doing anything other than one-one
assessments or emotionally-based support groups. When I decided not to
approach these groups from a deficit model, and realizing the fact that
each semester students with learning disabilities successfully matriculate
through the university and do indeed learn from their experiences in
college, I was left thinking how I could help students focus on success
strategies.
From one point of view, students with learning disabilities are much, much
more like their peers without disabilities with some differences in their
learning styles. Just like any successful student, one must find
successful ways of "learning how to learn". If students with learning
disabilities can be successful, maybe the best way to *begin* to meet their
needs is to focus on "what works" for any student and to do it in an
enviroment with other students who have LD.
I am using a three tiered model:
1) What makes any student successful?
Focus on the areas which make any student academically and
personally excel.
Emphasize "what works".
Work with students to identify areas of need.
Utilize interactive guest speakers which highlight academic success
strategies.
2) What are the specialized issues which students with LD are grappling?
Focus on the areas of special interest/needs to persons with LD.
Provide follow-up discussion of guest speakers.
Ask students to share currently successful personal strategies for
success.
Provide access to resources, referral to campus agencies, etc.
Facilitate the group with two LD Specialists.
Utilize NGT to better identify needs.
3) Individual Follow-up.
Focus on making the information from speakers and the group
specific and applied for individuals' needs.
Self-assessment (using tools such as the LASSI).
Personal needs assessment.
Emphasis areas (which are also the topics of guest speakers):
a) Communication/Learning/Teaching Style;
b) Time/Task/Stress Management;
c) Career Planning/Purposeful Matriculation
d) Notetaking and Study Skills (e.g., Cornell Method of
notetaking).
The students are responding very, very well to this approach. I hope that
after this pilot semester that we will be able to expand services by 50%
next semester.
As I re-read what I have written here, I realize that I've gone over this
program very, very quickly. Please respond directly to me if you have
questions (or comments!) about our Strategic Learning Groups (SLGs). If
you like, you can phone me at 352.392-1261; I'd be happy to discuss this
topic!
Best,
Mark
--
Mark C. Farone In the future,
Email: far...@fdt.net Everything will work.
Office for Students with Disabilities
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, US
Learning Strategies Coordinator and Technology Extraordinarist
se...@sentientit.net
Tamil is a beautiful and ancient language spoken in
various parts of the World, predominantly in South
India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. It has so many
alphabets (247 to be precise) and hard to learn.Tamil
alphabets application provides information about basic
letters and example words appropriate for those letters
along with audio pronunciation in the back ground...
Tamil alphabets 1:
Features:
Vowels (Uyir Ezhuthukal)
Consonants (Mei E%94zhuthukal)
Aytam
download visit : http://bit.ly/qIIj9a
Tamil alphabets 2:
Vowel Consonants(two hundred and
sixteen Vowel Consonants (Uyirmei Ezhuthukal) included)
download visit:http://bit.ly/nprEEU