Exploring Learning Differences: A Successful Transition Course for Students with Learning Disorders

1
Exploring Learning Differences A Successful
Transition Course for Students with Learning
Disorders
2006 International First-Year Experience Conferenc
e Connie Chiba, Ph.D. Rick Low, Ph.D. University
of California, Berkeley
2
Brief Background Legal Protections for Students
with Disabilities

• The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• No otherwise qualified individual with a
  disability in the USshall, solely by reason of
  her or his disability, be excluded from the
  participation in, be denied the benefits of, or
  be subjected to discrimination under any program
  or activity receiving federal financial
  assistance

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Legal Cont. Protections for Students with
Disabilities cont.

• Students with documented disabilities may request
  modifications, accommodations, or auxiliary aids
  which will enable them to participate in and
  benefit from all postsecondary educational
  programs.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• takes over where Rehab left off by extending
  protection to private sector.

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Legal Cont.

• Legally, a person is considered to have a
  disability when he or she has a physical or
  mental impairment whose symptoms significantly
  impair the condition, manner, or duration in
  which he or she engages in one or more life
  activities.
• Examples of major life activities
  reading,working, learning, hearing.

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Nationwide increase in numbers of college
students with disabilities

• College Freshmen with Disabilities Surveys
• 1978 survey 3 percent of freshmen reported a
  disability
• 1988 percentage had tripled to 9
• 1998 3.5 of freshmen reported having a learning
  disorder

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Numbers of Students with LearningDisorders at UC
Berkeley

• 1988 serving 148 students with learning
  disorders
• 2005 serving 271 students with learning
  disorders
• 55 increase

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About Learning Disorders(AHEAD, 2002)

• Learning disabilities and ADHD are two separate,
  distinct disabilities. However, the functional
  impact they have on learning can often be the
  same. For example, learning disabilities and
  ADHD can both impair an individuals ability to
  read, listen, attend, concentrate, communicate or
  otherwise perform in the academic setting.
• Nearly 25 of students with learning disabilities
  also have ADHD.

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Definition of Learning Disability(AHEAD, 2001)

• Is a general term for a variety of specific
  subtypes including dyslexia, dyspraxia,
  dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
• Is manifested by deficits in one or more of the
  following areas basic reading skills, reading
  comprehension,listening comprehension,oral
  expression, math calculation, or problem solving.

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Definition of LD cont.

• Individuals with LD may also have difficulty with
  sustained attention, time management, and social
  skills.
• Is presumed to be neurologically based.
• Is lifelong.
• The degree and severity varies from individual to
  individual.

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ADHD(AHEAD ADHD Brochure, 2002)

• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  is a disorder that consists of three distinct
  sub-types of symptoms experienced by both
  children and adults. The three subtypes are know
  as
• Predominantly Inattentive
• Predominantly Hyperactive
• Combined

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About ADHD Cont.(AHEAD ADHD Brochure, 2002)

• ADHD is considered to be biologically based.
• The degree and severity varies from individual to
  individual.

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Transition Experience Students with Learning
DisordersCase Study

• Jenny is an entering freshmen with LD.
  She was diagnosed with a LD in the second grade
  and has had lifelong difficulties with reading
  and written language. She received Special
  Education services in grades K-12 including
  special classes, extended time on exams, and some
  homework modifications. Jenny is accustomed to
  having to study much longer than her peers, but
  her hard work has paid off and she has earned
  high enough grades to get into Cal.
• Jenny is worried about her transition to
  college life.
• Her friends in high school knew she had a
  learning disability. She wonders if shell meet
  other students with learning difficulties. She
  hopes to be a political science major and is
  concerned about the amount of reading and writing
  that will be required.

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Transition Experience Students with Learning
Disorders

• What transition issues is Jenny facing?
• How are they similar to and different from a
  student without a learning disorder?

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College Student Development

• General factors
• Developing Identity
• Achieving independence
• Clarifying interests, beliefs, values
• Building integrity
• Developing Meaningful Relationships
• Building relationship skills
• Forming sexual identity
• Understanding and expressing feelings and
  emotions
• Developing Purpose
• Prioritizing interests, beliefs, values
• Determining career goals, life-styles
• Defining skills
• Building competence

• Additional for student with learning disorder
• Developing Identity
• Understanding of disability
• Acceptance of disability
• Developing Meaningful Relationships
• Communicating about disability
• Developing Purpose
• Self-determination and self-advocacy
• Using compensatory strategies
• Using disability-related resources
• Other factors mediated by law

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Research on Transition Issuesand Students with
Learning Disorders

• Many students having difficulty completing their
  degree (Mull, Sitlington, Alper,2001)
• Difficulties often not due to academics per se
  but lack of transition skills and subsequent
  adjustment issues (Harris Robertson, 2001)
• Lack of self-advocacy skills (Janiga
  Costenbader,2002)

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Successful Adjustment for College Students with
Learning Disorders (Skinner and Lindstrom,2003
Field,2003JanigaCostenbader, 2002)

• Knowledge about learning disorder including the
  diagnostic process
• Self-acceptance of disability
• Ability to use compensatory learning strategies
• Knowledge of the law
• Self-advocacy skills
• Using peer support
• Using academic and social support networks

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Collaboration of Campus Student Support Programs

• Student Learning Center
• Graduate School of Education
• Counseling and Psychological Services
• Disabled Students Program
• College of Letters and Science
• Student Life Advising Services
• Transfer Student Re-entry Programs
• Teaching Library

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Course Goals, Content, Process
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Course Goals, Content, Process, cont.
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Education 1/98Final Presentation
Fall
2003
21
Serena Smith-Patten
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The Assignment

• Peace and Conflict Studies 150
• Final Paper
• 7-10 Pages

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Concerns

• Never written expository this length
• Grading for class uncertain
• Want to do well
• What to write about
• Guidelines for paper are really open
• I prefer structure and wish she would

Spell it out
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Couldnt Get Started
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In Preparation

• Too tired so I took a nap
• Looked at my first paper and wrote on it where I
  could expand
• Found I had more to say than I thought
• Gained confidence
• I had sized-down the assignment

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The Plan

• Show Prof. ideas for assignment and ask for
  suggestions.
• Write a draft on Wednesday Thursday.
• E-mail draft to Prof.
• Re-write for next week.

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Description of My LD on Academic Performance

• Strengths
• Verbal comprehension
• Reading comprehension (untimed)
• Spelling
• Writing

• Challenges
• Auditory short term memory
• Processing speed
• Reading comprehension (timed)
• Reading rate
• Math calculation

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Quotes from Learning Outside the Lines

• These are lines that I identified with throughout
  my life with a Learning Disability.

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For the first few months of college, the spinning
was almost too much. But I knew somewhere inside
that, if I just kept pushing, it would stop and
I could change.
Learned to hide in the bathroom to escape reading
out loud.
Wanted desperately to be like everyone else.
While I experienced these successes, my
weaknesses did not go away
I was tested and diagnosed with dyslexia. I had
no idea what that meant at the time. It was never
explained to me
I had hit my emotional bottom but kept fighting,
Your mind is quicker than your pen.
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How It Effects This Assignment?

• Slow reader. Dont want to reread many
  assignments
• Did not read everything the first time because
  readings summarized in class
• Did not know would need to use info in a paper
  (assignment was changed.)

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Accommodations

• Did not really use for this class
• Instructor told me the most important reading
  assignments
• Utilized the cave
• WYNN
• Inspiration
• Adam

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Myers-Briggs

• I
• I N T J
• N T H U
• T U I D
• R T N G
• O I K I
• V V I N
• E E N G
• R G
• T

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• Thinking
• Logic guides learning
• Learn by challenge and debate
• Like to critique new ideas

• Introversion
• Prefer to study individually
• Need quiet for concentration

• Judging
• Want faculty to be organized
• Like formal instructions for solving problems

• Intuition
• Read between the lines
• Like theories to give perspective

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Personal Strategies for Academic Success!
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Personal Strategies for Academic Success!

• Flash cards.
• Write it out
• Color it.
• Post-its
• Make lists
• Talk about it-
• Recite information out loud when reviewing
  almost anything

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Because in the End, the Wounds Heal. The Scars
Remind Me of Where I Came From and Who Loved Me
The Gifts the People in My Life Gave Me Bloom the
Brightest and Continue to Grow.---Learning
Outside the Lines
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Thank You Kristin for Showing Me How to Use
PowerPoint

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Understanding Learning DifferencesStrategies
for SuccessAn Eight-year Follow-up Survey
Student Perceptions of the Impact of the Course

• Fall 1993 through Spring 2002 ( N 222) 39
  Response Rate
• Demographics
• Gender  58 Females 42 Males 
• Type of Learning Disorder
• 61 have a diagnosed learning disability18
  have a diagnosis of ADHD21 have both a learning
  disability and ADHD
• Date of Diagnosis of Learning Disorders
• 32 -  Elementary School
• 3 - Middle School
• 27 -  High School
• 38 -  College
• Class Level  When Enrolled in Course 52-Freshme
  n 14-Sophomores 28-Juniors 5-Seniors
  1-Graduate Students
• Graduation   42 of the respondents had
  graduated from Cal.

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Two Approaches to Course Evaluation

• Approach 1
• In Fall 2002, a follow up survey sent to all
  students (N222) who had taken course from Fall
  1993 through Spring 2002.
• 39 response rate
• Approach 2
• Pre-Post version of the questionnaire
  administered to all students (N68)in the class
  from Fall semester 2002 to Fall semester 2004.

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Questions Included on Follow-up Questionnaire

• 1a). Which statement best describes your
  feelings and thoughts about your learning
  disorder before taking the class?
• Understanding and accepting that a learning
  disorder is part of who I am
• Feeling sad/Feeling down on myself because of
  my disability
• Asking myself, "Why me, why did it have to be
  me?"
• Telling myself I did not have a disability.
• 1b). Which statement best describes your feelings
  and thoughts about your learning disorder after
  taking the class?
• Understanding and accepting that a learning
  disorder is part of who I am
• Feeling sad/Feeling down on myself because of
  my disability
• Asking myself, "Why me, why did it have to be
  me?"
• Telling myself I did not have a disability.
  
• 2. To what extent did the course help you
  understand your learning disorder?
• 3. To what extent did the course help you
  accept your learning disorder?
• 4. To what extent did the course help you
  communicate about your learning disorder?
• 5. To what extent did the course help you
  understand your learning preferences and styles?
• 6. To what extent did the course increase your
  academic self-confidence?
• 7. To what extent did the course help your
  overall academic performance?
• 8. To what extent did you feel peer support in
  the class helped you?
• 9. To what extent did the course help you adjust
  socially to Cal?
• 10. To what extent did the course help you
  adjust personally to Cal?

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Significant Results for Long-Term Follow-up
Survey

• To what extent did the course help you understand
  your learning disorder? 
• 77 "moderately" to "a great deal"
• To what extent did the course help you
  accept your learning disorder?
• Before
• 44 accepted that a learning disorder is part
  of who they are.
• 56 either denied, felt angry, or were sad
• After
• 91 accepted that a learning disorder is part
  of who they are.
• 9 continued to deny, feel angry or sad
• To what extent did the course help you accept
  your LD? 
• 69 "moderately" to "a great deal"

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Survey Results (continued)

• To what extent did the course help you
  communicate about your learning disorder?
• 75 "moderately" to "a great deal"
• To what extent did the course help you understand
  your learning preferences and styles?
• 76 "moderately" to "a great deal"
• To what extent did you feel peer support in the
  class helped you?
• 69 "moderately" to "a great deal."
• To what extent did the course increase your
  social adjustment? 
• 34 "moderately" to "a great deal"

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Significant Results for Pre-Post Questionnaire

• To what extent did the course help you understand
  your learning disorder?
• Pre 53 "moderately" to "a great deal
• Post 82 "moderately" to "a great deal"
• To what extent did the course help you
  accept your learning disorder? 
• Pre 65 accepted that a learning disorder is
  part of who they are 35 either denied, felt
  angry, or were sad
• Post 88 accepted that a learning disorder is
  part of who they are 12 continued to deny, feel
  angry, or feel sad
• To what extent did you feel peer support in the
  class helped you?
• Pre 40 moderately to a great deal
• Post 73 moderately to a great deal
• How have you adjusted socially to Cal?
• Pre 61 moderately to a great deal
• Post 25 moderately to a great deal

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Student ReflectionsTo what extent did the
course help you understand your learning
disorder?

• Increased knowledge about their learning
  disorder
• It gave me more confidence in answering
  questions about my disability. I never had to
  articulate my learning disability to a group of
  peers or teachers before. Doing this helped me
  understand how to articulate my difficulties.
• Increased adjustment to their learning
  disability.
• I learned new strategies to deal with my
  disorder and
• I was able to relax a lot more in school.
• Making the transition from high school to
  college.
• It definitely helped me understand the
  transition from high school to college. It gave
  me coping mechanisms.

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What was Most Significant about this Course?

• A better understanding and acceptance of their
  disability
• I learned about the nature of my disability.
  Even though the brain is a total mystery, I
  learned a great deal. The class also inspired me
  to learn more so I became a Cognitive
  Neuroscience major and I want to figure out about
  the brain and how to fix these problems.
• The peer support that it provided them
• Just being in an open setting with other
  students who have a disability was most helpful.
  Also there was a lot of peer support.

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Student Reflections

• I never had to articulate my learning
  disability to a group of peers or teachers
  before. Doing this helped me understand how to
  articulate my difficulties and gave me more
  confidence in answering questions about my
  disability.
•  
• I learned new strategies to deal with my
  disorder and I was able to relax a lot more in
  school.
•  
• It definitely helped me understand the
  transition from high school to college. It gave
  me coping mechanisms.
• I learned how to express in words what was
  going on with me
• and how people or professors could assist me.
   
•  

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Student Reflections

• I basically learned what my difficulties were
  my learning process -- Who I am-- and with that
  in mind I now hold a clearer sense in how to
  navigate myself through school, my studies. I
  learned alternate and easier techniques with
  certain areas and, conversely, what to avoid.
•  
• Im not afraid to tell people anymore, I
  understand that my disorder is not a reflection
  of my intelligence.
•  
• It really gave me the vocabulary to talk and
  feel confident..
•  
• I never really thought about other students
  having the same disability as me, and after
  meeting others like me, I felt more comfortable
  in that I didn't feel as alone as I did before
  with my problems.
•  

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Thank you Connie Chiba Rick Low University of
California at Berkeley
 
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cchiba_at_berkeley.edu