Students
Who Learn Differently Overseas
CONCLUSIONS AND PREDICTIONS
A GOOD TIME
This is a good time to be a student
who learns differently. There is a heightened public awareness both in and out
of school of the nature of perceptual problems that are internal rather than
external. Most public educational school systems have developed some sort of
program to teach the learning-differently student. The rest are following suit.
New physical testing methods,
including genetic testing, plus new assessment procedures, have been and are
being developed to help in the early identification of students who learn
differently.
Multisensory teaching techniques
that make use of sight, sound, touch and color are being integrated into the
mainstream teaching techniques at all levels.
Technology continues to make the
demands of written communication easier both in the classroom and in the
workplace. Voice-activated computers are already here. The Internet provides
access to the latest information on methods and strategies.
- A time will come when all children will automatically be assessed
before they enter elementary school, if not at birth. Then they can be
helped right away, so that they need never hear words like "Pay
attention! I know you can do it. You're just not trying hard enough."
Or, "You're thick, you're dumb, you're lazy, you're stupid."
Teachers won't have to say, "She's bright enough, follows along very
well in class, but we're going to have to fail her because she can't do
the written work."
- A time will come when students who learn differently will have
their own networking groups where they can share learning techniques and
express their common concerns. Sometimes it's hard to be different alone.
But being different together might not be so bad.
- A time will come when not only parents and teachers will know how
to teach learning-differently students, but the other students in the
class will also learn what learning differently is all about and in the
process learn more about themselves as well as about their friends. Then
no one should have to ask "Why does she get
more time to take the test?" Or, "Why are his notes handed to
him?" They ask these questions now because they instinctively know
that often the learning-differently student is as smart, if not smarter
than themselves. So why the special treatment?
As Richard Lavoie so effectively demonstrates in his excellent workshop, How Difficult Can This Be?, "Being fair doesn't mean that everyone gets the same thing. Being fair means that everyone gets what they need."
- A time will come when there will be a bill of rights for the
learning-differently student, although actually one already exists.
According to the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child
that came out in 1989, "Each child has the right to an
education." But this could be rewritten a bit to state that,
"All children have the right to be educated in a manner appropriate
to their style of learning."
- A time will come when employers will especially seek out
learning-differently students for jobs where inventive, creative minds are
needed or where spatial awareness is an important factor. Computers with
their grammar and spell checks are creating a level playing field, and we
will see our learning-differently students being able to compete, learn,
and earn, with the best of them.
The work of the Students Who Learn Differently Overseas is
ongoing. You are invited contact the author, Susan van Alsenoy, with any
suggestions and/or questions (swl@fawco.org).
Especially welcome are suggested additions and/or deletions to the Resource
Materials, along with personal evaluations of the material.
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Students Who Learn Differently Overseas by Susan van Alsenoy, AWC Antwerp Website: http://www.studentswholearn.fawco.org Email: swl@fawco.org Page created 10/29/99 EvE. Last updated 03/01/11 SvA Federation
of American Women's Clubs Overseas
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