 "Photo: Photo Illustration by Tony Blazejack * Ka Leo O Hawai'i")
Helen Keller, Beethoven and Whoopi Goldberg are well known people who achieved much during their lives. It's is not commonly known, however, that they all faced learning disabilities.
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, and may manifest itself as an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
In the past, people with learning challenges were thought to be disabled or deficient. Individuals with learning challenges, however, are capable of success.
In order to help develop the full potential of people with learning disabilities, alternative teaching methods should be used. Learning disabilities can have underlying causes, such as depression, that need to be addressed by a counselor or teacher.
Academic coordinator Marian McDonald, from Stanford University's Office of Accessible Education, states "A label of depression may signify [that] the individual student simply requires photocopies of a classmate's notes to compensate for his or her compromised concentration. [Methods] could encompass audio books and authorization for additional time to complete exams."
If you struggle with a learning disability, or know someone who does, look for assistance from your college. The University of Hawai'i created the KOKUA Program to provide assistance to students with special needs. KOKUA's office is located in the Queen Lili'uokalani Center for Student Services, room 13.
Academic specialists help individuals with learning disabilities by bridging the gap between teaching and learning styles. Accomplished educators, who care about inner-strength and academic accomplishments, are starting grassroots efforts throughout the nation to help people with learning disabilities.
One grassroots effort on the leeward coast of O'ahu is the Makaha Education Institute. This institute uses many different approaches, such as clinical reading therapy, to help people with learning disabilities. Janet E. Powell, the founder of the Makaha Education Institute, is an expert on clinical reading therapy. According to Powell, clinical reading therapy encompasses individualized multi-sensory factors to capitalize on students' strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses.
Education institutes and Disability Resource Centers across the nation have learned to make time for thorough and sensitive intake procedures. They encounter students with severe disabilities and those who have more minor diagnoses. Many students need a wide array of help, including emotional and social support. Changes in teaching approaches have also occurred, as students have given feedback on what works for them.
Although there are techniques that are known to help individuals with challenges, there is still a gap between student needs and faculty responses. Producing student materials in alternative formats - like Braille, audiotape or e-text - requires advance preparation time, sometimes months if the materials contain graphics. DRCs receive negative feedback from students who are frustrated when they cannot promptly access class materials.
Teachers also face difficulties when they cannot provide original source materials that can be changed into different formats. I'm hopeful that there may be an incoming generation of instructors who will cater to disabled students and bridge this gap.
For more information about the KOKUA Program at UHM, call 956-7511.
To contact the Makaha Education Institute, call 695-7191 or e-mail powellj025@hawaii.rr.com.
Here's an across-the-board sampling of authorized accommodations for people with learning challenges:
1) Extended time
2) Reader
3) Private room
4) Large print
5) Accessible table
6) Adaptive computer software
7) Dictation
8) Low distraction
9) Electronic speller
10) Braille
11) Calculator
12) Books on tape
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