Challenges of LD in high school

: The biggest challenge is that children with reading disabilities and children without shouldn’t be reading the same books in the same way. So unless you construct classes or groups within your class either your strong readers get bored or your weak readers get overwhelmed. If you construct groups within your class, it gets dicey. You’re running around all over the place to be in several places all at once and… it’s not really a class. At 10th or 11th grade, though, it could be done. But yes, it’s a challenge to teach reading and writing skills when the kids’ skills are so wide apart.Is that different that in your day or my day? No. Those kids were always there but no one cared about them. They were flunking English 30 years ago, sitting in corners, getting yelled at, being ridiculed sometimes by their teachers and often by their peers. The good old days probably weren’t all that good…at least for them.As it is, I have a complicated system by which I try to teach Language Arts to 5th graders in an inclusion environment. If you really want the details of that, e-mail me and I’d be happy to share.Good luck.Hello. This is my first time in one of these situations, so my query
: is general. Background: I’m a graduate student working on getting
: my certification in secondary school, teaching English. I’m coming
: to teaching as a second career, and it’s been 30 years since I
: have been in a classroom situation — either teaching or learning.
: I’m now taking a class on the Exceptional Child and realize how
: much the teaching environment has changed since my day as an
: undergraduate taking a few education courses. Inclusion was not a
: topic of import then. My search for wisdom is this? What’s your
: biggest challenge as a teacher of language arts to LD students in
: a classroom. Does having LD students slow down the pace of
: teaching or learning? Is it harder to make it through the
: curriculum? I’m thinking of, say, 10th and 11th grade. Any
: comments will be welcome. I want to know what I can expect.

I am both a special educator in a Middle School, as well as a parent of an LD young man who is in 11th grade (whew!). I find that no matter how many years of experience a teacher has in their “subject area”, old biases in how kids “should” learn remain. I constantly meet with the English teacher and his resource teacher to ensure proper instruction is being delivered in a realistic, accomodating manner. I also teach an adult class at a local college and work with many students who are LD. I have also taught as a resource teacher and English teacher in a high school setting. 1) I believe one of the greatest, most valuable tools to help them organize and visualize within the reading/writing process pertains to the use of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers can be used while they read AND while they write. They can be used to compare characters, analyze literary aspects, etc. 2) Deliver directions in clear concise terms. If you go on and on thinking they will understand better when given ‘more detail’, they simply get overwhelmed by excessive steps. 3) It helps to write a step by step ‘agenda’ on the board prior to class activites. This gives them a visual cue as to the expected structure of the class. It also helps them to get a mindset and provides a mental summary of what will be/has been discussed that day. 4) When giving reading assignments in class, providing oppotunities for them to read aloud in a quiet place, or alternate environment (sometimes even a back corner of the same room), accomodates their need to hear the material out loud. This must be done in a way which is not condescending or patronizing. You may consider discussing strategies for this in advance within the context of a brainstorming session with the child (privately). Hope this helps……feel fre to e:mail me any time. It may even interest you to ask my son a few questions based on first hand experience.

: The biggest challenge is that children with reading disabilities and children without shouldn’t be reading the same books in the same way. So unless you construct classes or groups within your class either your strong readers get bored or your weak readers get overwhelmed. If you construct groups within your class, it gets dicey. You’re running around all over the place to be in several places all at once and… it’s not really a class. At 10th or 11th grade, though, it could be done. But yes, it’s a challenge to teach reading and writing skills when the kids’ skills are so wide apart.Is that different that in your day or my day? No. Those kids were always there but no one cared about them. They were flunking English 30 years ago, sitting in corners, getting yelled at, being ridiculed sometimes by their teachers and often by their peers. The good old days probably weren’t all that good…at least for them.As it is, I have a complicated system by which I try to teach Language Arts to 5th graders in an inclusion environment. If you really want the details of that, e-mail me and I’d be happy to share.Good luck.Hello. This is my first time in one of these situations, so my query
: is general. Background: I’m a graduate student working on getting
: my certification in secondary school, teaching English. I’m coming
: to teaching as a second career, and it’s been 30 years since I
: have been in a classroom situation — either teaching or learning.
: I’m now taking a class on the Exceptional Child and realize how
: much the teaching environment has changed since my day as an
: undergraduate taking a few education courses. Inclusion was not a
: topic of import then. My search for wisdom is this? What’s your
: biggest challenge as a teacher of language arts to LD students in
: a classroom. Does having LD students slow down the pace of
: teaching or learning? Is it harder to make it through the
: curriculum? I’m thinking of, say, 10th and 11th grade. Any
: comments will be welcome. I want to know what I can expect.

I am both a special educator in a Middle School, as well as a parent of an LD young man who is in 11th grade (whew!). I find that no matter how many years of experience a teacher has in their “subject area”, old biases in how kids “should” learn remain. I constantly meet with the English teacher and his resource teacher to ensure proper instruction is being delivered in a realistic, accomodating manner. I also teach an adult class at a local college and work with many students who are LD. I have also taught as a resource teacher and English teacher in a high school setting. 1) I believe one of the greatest, most valuable tools to help them organize and visualize within the reading/writing process pertains to the use of graphic organizers. Graphic organizers can be used while they read AND while they write. They can be used to compare characters, analyze literary aspects, etc. 2) Deliver directions in clear concise terms. If you go on and on thinking they will understand better when given ‘more detail’, they simply get overwhelmed by excessive steps. 3) It helps to write a step by step ‘agenda’ on the board prior to class activites. This gives them a visual cue as to the expected structure of the class. It also helps them to get a mindset and provides a mental summary of what will be/has been discussed that day. 4) When giving reading assignments in class, providing oppotunities for them to read aloud in a quiet place, or alternate environment (sometimes even a back corner of the same room), accomodates their need to hear the material out loud. This must be done in a way which is not condescending or patronizing. You may consider discussing strategies for this in advance within the context of a brainstorming session with the child (privately). Hope this helps……feel fre to e:mail me any time. It may even interest you to ask my son a few questions based on first hand experience.