ON THE FRONT LINES: Q&A ON THE ACTIVE LEARNER APPROACH FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES with David Allsopp, Ph.D.
Why do current teaching methods sometimes fail to meet the needs of
students with learning disabilities?
The most notable omission regarding instruction for students with learning disabilities in secondary and postsecondary settings is lack of attention to individual learning needs. Students with learning disabilities have an array of potential learning needs that are the result of their disability. Moreover, no two students with learning disabilities are alike in how their disability affects their learning.
Often, the type of instruction provided at the secondary and postsecondary levels is not differentiated to meet the specific learning needs of the student with a learning disability. When differentiated instruction is provided, it is often done in rather generalized ways based on commonly used accommodations (providing copies of lecture notes, allowing extra time on tests, etc.). What students with learning disabilities need is instruction that considers their individual learning needs. This consideration is even more important as these students strive to master rigorous academic standards in specific content areas.
Unfortunately, this consideration seems to be less and less emphasized as students move through schooling. The idea seems to be that they need less individualization, and that somehow their learning needs disappear or lessen even when the content and academic expectations they face increase in difficulty.
How can teachers use the Active Learner Approach to meet students' individual needs?
By using our book, teachers have access to a simple process for determining individual student needs in the form of a questionnaire/checklist. Additionally, teachers are provided a process for using current student grades in specific courses as a means for determining how a student's particular learning needs (determined by the questionnaire/checklist) impact their performance in those courses. From there, a "menu" of strategies is available.
Teachers are provided explanations for how eight common characteristics of learning disabilities make learning difficult for students and how these characteristics impact the important learning areas of organization, test taking, study skills, note taking, reading, writing, mathematics, and advanced thinking. We also emphasize how the instructional methods incorporated in the Active Learner Approach accommodate the learning needs that result from these eight characteristics of learning disabilities. In this way, teachers can begin to make connections between why students have trouble learning to the explicit instructional methods they will use when implementing the Active Learner Approach.
Why is it important to use explicit instruction when working with students with learning disabilities?
Imagine trying to get to the store and the only road that takes you there is undergoing construction and is blocked by a big barrier. Until you have a detour provided or the road is fixed, you will have great difficulty getting to the store. Well, this is somewhat like the experience students with learning disabilities experience when they are presented something to learn. The barrier created by the particular combination of learning characteristics they possess can make accessing and understanding the concept to be learned very difficult.
Explicit systematic instruction makes concepts more accessible to students because the emphasis is on clearly describing and modeling a concept or skill in multiple ways and on involving the student in the learning process. By using such techniques as multisensory instruction, use of examples, prompting student thinking, and cueing, explicit instruction provides students multiple pathways to access the concept or skill to be learned.
The authors have created a web site, "The Learning Toolbox," to provide teachers with downloadable forms for implementing the Approach, as well as questionnaires to assess student needs. For information, see http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/
David Allsopp is the author of "Academic Success Strategies," a guide for educators on how they can help students with LD reach their full academic potential.
Copyright (c) 2002 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission.
