Teaching Adults with Learning Disabilities (PART 2)

Author: Odhinn Kohout

One strategy is to assist those students in your class who may have some degree of visual LD. Up to this point you may have noticed different media being used in this PDF to facilitate learning. This is one type of alternative approach to delivering course material which you can use.

 Being able to properly visually interpret information is crucial in both Military/Police training and in the field. If we look at firearm training as an example, students in your class may have 20/20 vision and yet struggle with spatial problems or sequences (the order in which to acquire, multiple targets) on the firing range. One solution I am recommending is to do some research on targets which can be used to assist an Officer with a visual LD experiencing some difficulties shooting a weapon accurately.

 In “Abigail Marshall’s “article (Brain Scans Show Dyslexics Read Better with Alternative Strategies) it has been shown that individuals suffering from dyslexia show marked levels of improvement when blending together a variety of teaching strategies

Here are some exercises which I designed to illustrate alternate methods of testing your students on pistol accuracy:

·         Call out shapes ; “Acquire and shoot two triangles on the target”

·         Sequencing; “In order; Acquire and shoot a square, circle, and triangle on either side or center of the target”

·         Numbering; “Acquire and shoot the number 4 and the number 2

·         Shading; “Acquire and shoot ONLY the shaded squares”

·         Combinations; “Acquire and shoot a triangle, the number 3 and a circle

If you notice I gave the students a lot of freedom to pick different sides and locations of their own choosing.

Why? In order to use “alternative strategies” to help them learn, and not to be so stringent as to raise their anxiety. Remember that this course was created to help your students become more comfortable and not only attain their own personal goals, but to reach the desired proficiency level as defined by your Agency and or Provincial standard.

Question: What are the added benefits that this target configuration and exercises brings to the rest of your class?

·         Adds variety instead of static exercises

·         Can be made to be very challenging

Is it not enough to affect physical change to the environment of your student with a visual LD. In the article “Helping Dyslexic Students Succeed” (teachingtoday.glencoe.com) there are some great follow up strategies that will assist you in building up the confidence of your students especially those with LD (visual in this study).

• Praise and commend often.
• Help students to see their strengths.
• Provide opportunities to increase confidence.
• Do not tell students that they are not trying hard enough.

Once a visual LD has been identified, let’s look at some solutions to the previous examples:

§  Has difficulty keeping up with the class regarding reading materials

(Provide notes of your course material to the class)

§  Poor note taking

(Record lectures on CD or email these as MP3 files to students)

§  Remembering images that have been presented during class is difficult

(If the certain images I.E. Equipment can be reinforced with the real object it will provide a “tactile” alternative strategy for retention. You could also provide aspects of your curriculum in PDF format with embedded video links (assistive technology)