On the Road with
“Exploring Learning Disabilities”
by Alex Baez and Carol Speigl
As certified Bridges to Practice trainers, we have been “on the
road” across Texas since 2001, sharing our continually evolving
knowledge about adults with learning disabilities, first using NIFL’s
standardized Bridges to Practice Training about adults with learning
disabilities, and more recently with the training that we developed, “Exploring
Learning Disabilities: Why Is It So Difficult for Some Students to Learn?” From
El Paso to Houston, from Big Spring to Brownsville, we have presented
trainings about teaching adults with learning disabilities to instructors
of adult education programs and staff of workforce development centers.
We would like to share with you what we have learned “on the road.”
From “Bridges to Practice”
to “Exploring Learning Disabilities”
The Bridges to Practice Project about adults with learning disabilities
was our inspiration and springboard for our more recent training, “Exploring
Learning Disabilities.” “Bridges,” an intensive and
thorough training about adults with learning disabilities was developed
under the knowledgeable and passionate leadership of NIFL’s June
Crawford. “Bridges” is a two- to four-day awareness training
designed for a wide audience — social workers, workforce staff,
and public policy workers, as well as educators of adults.
As professional development trainers of adult education instructors
working with the GREAT Centers of Texas, we were faced with two major
challenges in presenting the Bridges training. First, the full-blown
Bridges training -- with all its bells and whistles -- can be costly
in terms of time available for teachers’ training. And secondly, not all of the
Bridges training material is targeted specifically to adult education
teachers.
So, we evolved the new training utilizing tighter time parameters and
spinning the new training’s content specifically to focus on the
needs of adult education teachers. Voila! “Exploring Learning
Disabilities” was born. This training will always be a “work
in progress” because we read new research and learn new teaching
techniques between presentations, hopefully improving the training each
time it is presented.
Inspiration: Moving from Labels
to Characteristics
U.S. civil rights laws restrict the labeling of a person as “learning
disabled” to state-licensed diagnosticians — licensed professionals
who administer the battery of tests to determine and diagnose learning
disabilities among adults. Therefore, the rest of us cannot, under federal
law, “label” our
students. We would not do this anyway, in the interest of being sensitive
teachers, but we cannot do this by law, to maintain our own precious
civil rights.
Therefore, to accommodate teachers who want to target the learning challenges
of their students and help their students find solutions to these learning
challenges, we designed the “Exploring Learning Disabilities” training
to address the characteristics of students that may present challenges
to their learning.
For example, a student having difficulty with spelling or writing may
not be hearing the different sounds of a word, and therefore, may be
unable to write the word correctly. Or, a student may hear and be aware
of the sounds of a word, but may be unable to recreate the word accurately
in writing because they cannot remember what letters to use to write
the word. Our message: Yes, understand the different categories of learning
disorders—in these cases an auditory processing problem or a memory
disorder—then be clear about the characteristics of the learning
behavior the student demonstrates in your class. Based on these characteristics,
select the types of teaching methods, strategies, and activities you
will try out with the student. This process is covered in more depth
in the “Exploring Learning Disabilities” presentation.
Family Matters; Community Matters
“On the road,” we have discovered many things, collecting
empirical data on glaring problems, which we hope someday to research
and publish results. Across Texas, adult education instructors share
the prevalence of learning challenges among their students, their families,
their friends, and acquaintances, and members of their communities from
all backgrounds and walks of life. These learning challenges — possibly
learning disabilities — often “bring friends along to the
party:” demonstrations of hyperactivity, vision and hearing problems
and other physical impairments, and the emotional disturbances that can
go hand-in-hand with these difficulties and disabilities. Imagine attending
school as a child or youth, where you cannot do—cannot succeed
at doing—the things the other kids are able to do both in and out
of the classroom. Students may be teased, harassed, become isolated,
and withdrawn, or exhibit inappropriate behavioral problems. And sadly,
some teachers unwittingly exacerbate this process. The result may be
a human being with a life altering emotional disturbance along with the
learning and other challenges.
We have discovered that families and communities need support in dealing
with these challenges. Within a family where one member has a learning
disability, frequently more than one family member has a similar disability.
Another problem our students face on a daily basis is the frustration
of dealing with bureaucratic repetition when dealing with community and
social services organizations whose help they need. Instead of streamlining
the processes of applying and obtaining eligibility for services, the
process seems to become more and more unnecessarily complicated. As a
result of the frustration and powerlessness our students feel when dealing
with these organizations, our students who need the most help often get
the least.
So, we strive, beg, plead, advocate for system-wide change. That the
community and social service processes be streamlined. That eligible
and deserving people—and families--receive the services they need
to survive and to improve their lives.
The Role of Adult Education Programs
Adult education programs, in addition to making sure their instructors
are knowledgeable about the characteristics of and best teaching practices
for students with learning disabilities, will need to put in place
screening processes for students who may be “at risk” for
having a learning disability, to determine who may need further testing.
Physical problems—
vision and hearing—should be screened out first, and affordable
and reliable referrals must be made for those services.
If a student’s screening assessment indicates that he or she is “at
risk” of having a learning disability, affordable and reliable
diagnostic testing should follow — and adult education programs
should be prepared to make referrals to licensed diagnosticians who work
with adults.
We hope to continue to build awareness among and share best teaching
practices for students with learning disabilities among our adult education
colleagues in Texas. We have come a long way . . . . and we have a long
way to go . . . . “on the road” with learning disabilities.
About the Authors
Carol Speigl coordinates Project Learn to Read, a literacy program with
customers from the 0 to 5th grade reading level, many of whom demonstrate
the characteristics of learning disabilities. She also teaches ESL
in the Adult Education Program at Northeast ISD, both in San Antonio.
A former tutor, and training developer for the American Foundation
for the Blind, Carol is currently completing her Master’s degree
in adult education at Texas A&M—Kingsville.
Alex Baez has taught ESL for adult education and college/university
programs throughout Central Texas. A National Institute for Literacy
(NIFL) Equipped for the Future framework trainer, Alex is also a past
president of TexTESOL III (Central Texas affiliate of TESOL).
Both Carol and Alex are certified by the National Institute for Literacy
as trainers with the Bridges to Practice Training and Dissemination Project.
Alex and Carol are also the lead trainers and presentation developers
of The Texas Professional Development Group (TTPDG).
  
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