Learning Disabilities And The ESOL Learner

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Learning Disabilities And The ESOL Learner

• Robin Schwarz
• Lesley University
• Curry College

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Overview

• Number of ESOL students in education increased
  800 in last decade
• ESOL students in federally-funded adult education
  programs 40 (average)
• ESOL students in ALL adult education 50
• Conservative estimate of LD in general
  population1/10YOU do the math!

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ESOL Students in Adult ED

• No reliable statistics about persistenceanecdotal
  evidence says its a problem
• Survey in Boston area indicated
• 50 in GED classes are ESOL
• 20-30 of those SIGN UP for GED
• 20 of those took it and succeeded
• 100/50/10/2

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Under-identification of LD in ESOL Population

• Many reasons for under-identification
• Must consider that a number of these unsuccessful
  students perhaps have LD
• Here are some things we know cause students to
  have problems learning and can deflect attention
  from possible LD

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Some Obvious Truths That Cause Big Headaches

• Normal language learning process results in
  problems that look like LD
• Control of grammar
• Problems with spelling
• Problems following conversations, oral directions
• Reading comprehension problems

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Obvious Truths(1)

• Behaviors caused by culture differences can look
  like LD
• Interactions with teacher or classmates seem
  inappropriate
• Speaking out or not speaking out
• Tendency to rote learning
• Thinking and writing patterns vary from US
  modelI.e. Main idea isnt always king

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Obvious Truths(2)

• Interference of first language can look like LD
• Hard to hear phonemes of English that arent in
  first language
• Pronunciation patterns of first language may
  persist vowels on ends of words, stress on
  different syllable
• Grammar/syntax of first language shows up
• Concepts of time/tense differ
• ETC

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And More Obvious Truths

• Learning can also be adversely affected by
• Culture shock
• Stress of poverty, separation from family,
  dislike of job, children changing cultural values
  
• Poor health

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Still Another Truth

• ESOL learners are rarely aware of LD
• It is not generally recognized in other cultures
• They are not sufficiently acculturated to know
  about it here
• Therefore, they will almost never self-identify

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Commonly Held Beliefs About ESOL and LD

• It isnt LD
• They need to practice English more
• Its low language aptitude
• Its low intelligence
• Its low literacy
• People from ____language background dont learn
  to speak English very well

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And Then There Are the Beliefs Common to All LD

• She isnt really trying
• He doesnt make an effort to do homework
• If shed just get organized
• His life is a messhe cant concentrate on
  learning

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This Means

• ESOL students with LD are
• Under-identified
• Misidentified
• Inappropriately helped or supported
• Not helped at all

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This Means Also

• The ESOL student will blame other things for
  his/her lack of progress
• The student may be reluctant to consider testing
• The student may see help/ support as a less
  worthy way of dealing with difficulties

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Overview of LD/L2 Connection

• LD is neurologically-based
• Not restricted to one language
• Mostly inherited
• Life-long
• Not caused by learning another language
• Not caused by the features of first language

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LD and L2

• Language learning problems thought to be mostly
  caused by phonological processing deficitssame
  as reading problems
• Not all some result of speed of processing very
  slowlittle meaning
• Some caused by other types of LD
• Time concepts
• Memory problems
• Difficulty with sequencing

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ID of ESOL with LD

• Informal Screens in English (Spanish?)
• Questions/typical behaviors subject to
  cultural/linguistic influence
• Formal Same problems Normed on English-speaking
  population
• Language/cultural interference significantly
  affects ( lowers) scores)

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What Can We Do for Now?

• THE PROGRAM
• Establish policies and procedures to assure
  sensitive, appropriate handling of students who
  MIGHT have LD
• Establish an intake procedure that provides as
  much information as possible about students
  BEFORE they begin to fail

• ails to progress (E.G. for referrals, etc)

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What Can We Do?,Cont.

• ESOL TEACHERS
• Are fully aware of LD and of techniques helpful
  to learners with LD
• Are aware of rights and responsibilities under
  the law
• Are supported in their efforts but not expected
  to run a remedial class for one or two students

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Do Informal Screening of Students

• Ask any student who understands even a little
  English about previous schooling and reasons for
  not continuing
• Evaluate those who appear to be having problems
  or not making much progress
• Use qualitative information( tomorrow!)
• When information is gathered

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Accommodate or Remediate?

• REMEDIATE
• When it is clear what is needed
• When well-trained personnel are available to do
  it
• IF the student agrees that it should be
  triedwith full understanding that
• It may not work
• It may take a while to work

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Accommodate or Remediate?

• ACCOMMODATE
• When there is documentation requiring it
• To give the learner needed access to learning
  (E.G. Having books on tape, or a reader, for
  content learning in GED or Pre-GED classes)
• When no appropriate personnel is available to
  deliver remediation
• If the student requests it after careful
  counseling

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Help the Student Understand

• ESOL learners dont know about learning
  differences
• Self-advocacy/self-knowledge are very powerful
• Supportive, empowering atmosphere means a lot
• CAUTION!! DONT USE TERM LD

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Moving Things Forward

• DOCUMENT AND REPORT NUMBERS
• Students who dont persist
• Students who dont make progress
• Students strongly suspected of having LD
• NEED DATA TO PRESS FOR RESEARCH, FUNDING, SUPPORT

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Moving Things Forward

• DOCUMENT!!
• WHAT WAS TRIED WITH STUDENTS
• WHAT WORKED
• GOOD TEACHER/STUDENT MATCHES
• MATERIALS THAT WORKED
• ADD YOUR INFORMATION TO THE POOL TO HELP US ALL