The following is a list of suggestions for mainstream classroom teachers that have come from many different sources. These are noted at the end of this form. Perhaps you will recognize some of your own. In preparing this evaluation sheet, some suggestions have been copied verbatim, others have been combined with two or more possibilities, and some have been reworded. In all instances, the letters "LD" (learning differently /learning disabilities/SpLD) have been substituted for specific terms such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADD/HD.
If you are a specialist in special needs education for LD students, on the first space provided could you please rank these suggestions in what you consider to be their order of importance, taking into account that the eventual recipients will be educational professionals with little or no special needs experience.
Number 3 - would indicate greatest importance
Number 2 - moderate importance
Number 1 - somewhat important
0 - would indicate least or no importance
On the second space provided, please indicate if you feel the suggestion would pertain to primary school, secondary school, or both:
P = primary
S = secondary
B = both
For example:
3 B Allow extra time for thinking.
If you are a regular, classroom primary or secondary teacher, could you please evaluate the following strategies by indicating:
This information will be very valuable
to the study, for indeed it makes no sense to suggest strategies that everyone
is already employing.
If you are the parent of an LD child, please indicate which of these strategies:
If you are an LD student, please indicate which of these strategies:
During the evaluation, please keep in mind that we hope the final paper will
contain easily incorporated strategies for mainstream teachers who have had
little or no training in learning disabilities education. It is hoped that two
lists will be created, one for primary and one for secondary school use, and
that each list will be only 1 page in length. Space is provided at the end of
the evaluation sheet if you have additional suggestions.
The reverse of the final paper will detail references and websites that mainstream teachers who wish to learn more about students who learn differently may consult. Please indicate your suggestions where indicated.
____ Be aware that learning difficulties many be undiagnosed even at the high school and university level and that there are degrees of LD: mild, moderate and severe.
____ Keep in mind that no two students with learning differences are the same, but always there is a discrepancy between achievement and aptitude. They have average to above average intelligence and are usually highly creative.
____ The younger the child is diagnosed, the more often remediation is possible. When a student is older, you should deal more with coping strategies and self-advocacy skills.
____ Recognize that the LD student may take up to three times longer to learn and will tire quickly. They have to try harder, which can be exhausting.
____ Remember that LD students have good days and bad days. Performance inconsistency is part of the problem.
____ Be aware that the pace of the normal class is likely to be too fast for LD students because they often need more time to process language.
____ Be aware that LD might be undiagnosed as late as secondary school or university, or even never at all.
____ Recognize the frustration felt by the LD student.
____ Remember the child is more normal than different, and different does not mean defective.
____ Recognize that LD is a neurological condition that is beyond the control of the student.
____ Understand the intermittent nature of pupil's performance and attention. Part of the LD profile is that the student's work will be inconsistent and erratic.
____ Make sure a child feels safe and secure in your classroom and in your presence.
____ Teachers are urged to re-examine the notion of what is "fair." "Fair" does not mean that every child gets the same treatment, but that every child gets what he or she needs.
An honest acknowledgement of the learner's difficulties by the learner, the parent and the teacher is the single most important key to success.
____ Time, not money, is the coin we spend on children.
____ Learning is best when brought through the modalities of hearing, sight, touch, and movement - multi-sensory teaching. Students retain 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say, and 90% of what they say and do. A cumulative, highly structured, sequential, approach, which uses multi-sensory materials and software, is what is needed.
____ Use lots of visual aids such as overhead projectors, films, videos, slides, chalkboards, flip charts, computer graphics, diagrams, charts, highlighting, underlining, drawing arrows, and pictures to illustrate all subjects, including the teaching of language.
____ Encourage pupils to be aware of and to evaluate the strategies they use to study.
____ Develop active listening skills for everyone in the classroom.
____ Be aware that the student learns in a different way from the conventional methods.
____ Teaching spelling should be started with a multi-sensory approach -- say the word, spell the word orally, then write the word.
____ Encourage pupils to be aware of and to evaluate the strategies they use to study.
Auditory:
____ Test orally whenever possible.
____ Use games or songs that encourage repetition.
____ Permit students to repeat things under their breath.
____ Use games, songs, and rhymes to help the student listen and repeat sounds.
____ Allow a reader or taped version of exams where possible.
____ Allow the exam to be taken orally, or by using a word processor.
____ Allow oral or taped assignments.
____ Teach reading and spelling together through a structured, phonic, multi-sensory program.
Kinesthetic:
____ Use games or songs that encourage repetition.
____ Allow credit for projects involving hands-on activities such as collages, dioramas, posters, and skits.
____ The letter "L" can only be made with the left hand using the thumb and index finger, which can help students with directionality.
____ Use games, songs, and rhymes to help the student listen and repeat sounds.
____ Do not use playtime to complete work.
____ Provide fidgeters with appropriate materials to manipulate. Bookmarks and bits of paper are less easily dropped than pencils. Depriving those who require the physical sensory stimulation of manipulative objects just leads them to search for something else.
____ Allow the students who need it to move around. Provide opportunities for physical action, such as handing out books, pacing in the rear of the classroom, doing an errand, washing the blackboard, getting a drink of water, or going to the bathroom.
____ Teach the student breath control to relieve stress and anxiety.
____ Use a wooden or plastic alphabet to teach names and sequence of letters - capital first, then lower case. Close eyes to feel the shape and remember its name and associated sound/sounds. Use pictures and memory hooks to provide pictorial and memory hooks for sounds.
____ Let children develop their own word bank/dictionary, cards, or notebook where they can practice difficult, new, or irregular words.
____ Practice writing in the air, in sand, on a board and/or with play dough as well as in an exercise book.
Visual:
____ Use lots of visual aids such as overhead projectors, films, videos, slides, chalkboards, flip charts, computer graphics, diagrams, charts, highlighting, underlining, drawing arrows, and pictures to illustrate all subjects, including the teaching of language.
____ Write neatly on the board, using colored chalks or markers to emphasize different sections.
____ Use mind maps, writing frames, and other graphic organizers to help the student plan projects and papers.
____ Help the student see his/her progress using checklists, graphs or other visuals.
____ Don't expect the child to listen and do simultaneously. For example, note taking can be extremely difficult for some.
____ The design and presentation of worksheets needs to be carefully thought out - bold headings, clear print, less writing, more diagrams.
____ Provide wall displays of key terminology.
Just as there are different learning styles, so are there different kinds of intelligence. It is usually the students who have linguistic, logical, and mathematical intelligences that are often the most successful in academia. However other types of intelligence such as musical, environmental, spiritual, spatial, existential, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, are just as valuable and add much to the enjoyment of life. These intelligences need also to be recognized and educated.
____ Give new information more than once.
____ Repeat, repeat, repeat.
____ Break down learning into small, sequential tasks. Give specific examples.
____ Put key words on the board clearly.
____ Provide a list of key vocabulary words, explaining technical language and any foreign words. (learned roots, prefixes, suffixes help to figure out new words)
____ Don't make an LD student rewrite work.
____ Don't speak too fast. LD students have difficulty following and processing fast speech.
____ Don't expect the child to listen and do simultaneously. For example, note taking can be extremely difficult for some.
____ Actively teach study skills.
____ Begin lectures with a review of the previous lecture, an overview of topics to be covered that day, and/or an outline of the lecture.
____ Teach how and help students to fill in forms and applications.
____ Leave time for a question-answer period at the end of each lesson.
____ Provide study questions for exams that show the format that will be used as well as the content.
____ Relate concepts to past experience.
____ Use cueing words and gestures to emphasize points.
____ Encourage the student to ask questions, and teach them how to do so.
____ Read instructions aloud, even for tests and examinations.
____ Combine life skills such as reading medicine labels and filling out forms with phonics, word recognition, and reading comprehension.
____ Avoid double negatives, unduly complex sentence structure and embedding questions within questions when composing examinations.
____ Teach handwriting in very small groups or preferably one-to-one, using cursive script, which encourages flow and aids letter orientation.
____ Use Sassoon Primary, Comic Sans MS or Arial fonts in size 12-16, with double line spacing. Times Roman is to be avoided.
____ Allow students to use highlighters to mark key points/words/instructions.
____ Give out the homework assignment before the end of the lesson.
____ Actively teach study skills, like note taking and time organization.
____ Indicate reading priorities.
____ Summarize the main points.
____ Providing a list of topic words at the beginning of each unit helps parents know what's going to be covered, helps students to assimilate new vocabulary, and provides material for spelling development.
____ Provide wall displays of key terminology.
____ Ensure that pupils know the PURPOSE of tasks.
____ Provide practice questions for studying.
____ A 'mini-max' technique is best - take minimal steps for maximum practice and effect.
____ Remember that LD students are intellectually at the level of their chronological age, although functionally they may not be. Therefore, activities need to be appropriate to intellectual levels and broken down into achievable stages, to allow for success.
____ Textbooks and materials should be selected and/or adapted with the LD learner in mind. Check the readability of all texts and worksheets - they could be scanned into a computer that has the Word program as Word has a readability facility.
____ Discuss the value of making mistakes as a way of learning. Hold a brainstorming session to discuss, "What could I, as the teacher, and all the kids do, so that no one is afraid of making a mistake in this class?"
____ Provide the amount of support and structure the student needs, not the amount of support and structure traditional for that grade level or that classroom/subject.
____ Humor and exaggeration are two great teachers.
____ Attention span tends to lengthen when tasks are short and successful.
____ Teach the student efficient methods of proofreading own work.
____ Allow the student to begin an
assignment and then go to the teacher after the first few problems are done
for confirmation that he/she is doing the assignment properly, and to receive
gentle correction or praise.
____ Promote risk taking.
____ Do not use playtime to complete work.
____ Build up a bank of resources for the student. This will not be your last LD student, and you will be more prepared for the next.
Allow extra time for thinking.
____ Give study notes, models and guided outlines for projects and writing assignments.
____ Give shorter spelling lists and shorter essay tasks.
____ Use games or songs that encourage repetition.
____ Allow a dictionary at all times, even during tests.
____ Test orally whenever possible.
____ Leave notes on the board for as long as possible.
____ Put 3 lines of space between test questions.
Students with spatial awareness difficulties might find it useful to work "BIG" for a while
____ When writing on the board, use a different color on alternating lines.
____ Pause occasionally in your lectures to allow students to catch up in their note taking.
____ Allow the student to experiment with different types and shapes of writing tools.
____ Stand near the student when giving instructions
____ Allow the use of any learning tool necessary, such as a tape recorder, spell checker, laptop, or calculator.
____ Provide alternatives such as lined paper or a word processor to aid students with overly large, cramped, laborious or illegible handwriting.
____ Permit students to repeat things under their breath.
____ Frequent quizzes rather than, or in addition to, 1 or 2 big exams.
____ Provide study questions for exams that show the format that will be used as well as the content.
____ Read instructions aloud, even for tests and examinations.
____ Check that homework assignments have been copied down correctly.
____ Reduce the number of items to be completed in a given assignment (for example, the number of words on the spelling list).
____ Allow credit for projects involving hands-on activities such as collages, dioramas, posters, and skits.
____ Allow a reader or taped version of exams where possible.
____ Allow tests/exams to be taken in a quiet room, alone, with no distraction, with a teacher available if needed.
____ Provide detailed guidelines for revision.
____ Allow the exam to be taken orally, or by using a word processor.
____ Avoid double negatives, unduly complex sentence structure and embedding questions within questions when composing examinations.
____ Help the student see his/her progress using checklists, graphs or other visuals.
____ Students with spatial awareness difficulties might find it useful to work "BIG" for a while
____ LD students should sit alongside well-motivated children or a "study buddy" whom they can ask to clarify instructions for them either during or after class.
____ Use Sassoon Primary, Comic Sans MS or Arial fonts in size 12-16, with double line spacing. Times Roman is to be avoided.
____ Allow students to use highlighters to mark key points/words/instructions.
____ Give time for the homework to be done rather than next-day deadlines.
____ Summarize the main points.
____ Providing a list of topic words at the beginning of each unit helps parents know what's going to be covered, helps students to assimilate new vocabulary, and provides material for spelling development.
____ Create summary cards of topic material at the end of each unit to aid in overlearning and revision.
____ Give older students a plastic-coated card that can be shown to teachers which details their special needs
____ Give more time - to plan, to start, to complete, and to respond.
____ Don't expect the child to listen and do simultaneously. For example, note taking can be extremely difficult for some.
____ An accommodation often offered is more time for taking tests. However this is not always appropriate for some students who rather need a chance to retake a test, to take it in a quiet room with no distractions, or to take it at a different time of day.
____ Accept typed or word-processed assignments.
____ Provide practice questions for studying.
____ Give open book tests.
____ Allow revision cards to be used during testing.
____ Vary the format of tests: true/false, matching questions to answers or words to definitions, multiple choice, labeling diagrams, sentence completion, title-paragraph match, table/grid completion.
____ Give parts of the test in more than one sitting.
____ Give more frequent, short quizzes and fewer long tests.
____ Limit the amount of homework to a certain amount of time spent productively, rather than an amount of work to be completed.
____ Allow extra credit assignments.
____ Allow the student to work on homework at school. Ideally study periods should be part of the school schedule.
____ Help the students feel comfortable
with seeking assistance. Many students with
LD will not ask for help. They need to be taught how to ask questions.
____ Monitor frequently. Maintain a supportive attitude.
____ The design and presentation of worksheets needs to be carefully thought out - bold headings, clear print, less writing, more diagrams.
____ Choose only those accommodations and interventions that are the most needed. Attempt to select low-level accommodations and interventions before moving to more supportive or high-level accommodations and interventions. If high-level accommodations are necessary, choose them with the goal of slowly removing them whenever possible. The objective should always be to provide support while encouraging growth with these strategies to foster independence and self-advocacy.
____ Provide the student with a legible outline before a lesson/lecture and with legible teacher's notes of it.
____ Make a second set of books and materials available for this student to keep a back-up set at home.
____ Periodically if needed, modify
classroom and homework assignments (examples: student does every 2nd or 3rd
problem, or have the student use a timer and draw a line across their
homework page at the end of 15 minutes of sustained work).
____ For students with memory problems or unable to take notes in classroom, a fellow student might share notes by using carbon paper or photocopying, the teacher could provide a copy of the class lesson, or the student might be allowed to tape the lessons.
____ Avoid blaming and name-calling. Label the behavior, not the person.
____ Have pre-established consequences for misbehavior. Enforce classroom rules consistently.
____ Rewards should be frequent and important, but only when deserved.
____ Make sure the student is always provided opportunities for physical activities. Do not use recess as a time to make-up missed schoolwork. Do not remove daily recess as punishment.
____ Teach cognitive restructuring to students with low self-esteem. For example, positive "self-talk," - "I did that well."
____ Recognize EFFORTS the students employs toward attaining a goal, and recognize the problems resulting from skill deficits versus non-compliance.
____ Attention span tends to lengthen when tasks are short and successful.
____ Use a color-highlighted register to help remember specific needs of students (e.g. green = problems with language processing, blue = class position is important). This also helps new and substitute teachers.
____ Advocate on behalf of your student with other teachers, with the school administration, and with the parents, if necessary.
____ Insure that the information concerning the student is passed on when the child is in transition from one teacher to another, from one year to another and from one school or country to another. Do not assume that this will be done automatically.
____ Designate one teacher as the
advisor/supervisor/coordinator/liaison for the student and the
implementation of the student's plan, who will periodically review the student's
organizational system and to whom other staff may go when they have concerns
about the student. This teacher would also act as the link between home and
school.
____ Give older students a plastic-coated
card that can be shown to teachers
which details their special needs
____ Sensitively share the knowledge of your student's difficulties with appropriate others. In some countries, you might need to have the student's permission to do so.
____ Minimize noise and visual distractions in and outside the classroom, including flickering light bulbs.
____ LD students should sit alongside well-motivated children or a "study buddy" whom they can ask to clarify instructions for them either during or after class.
____ Slanted desk tops
____ Correct posture-producing chairs and footrests.
____ Allow the student to experiment with different types and shapes of writing tools.
____ Classrooms should be organized so that movement around the room is as quiet as possible.
____ Resources in the classroom should be clearly marked and neatly arranged so things can be found easily.
____ Place left-handers next to each other to reduce arm conflict.
____ Place the LD student in the front, middle of the class, thus reducing the angle of eye-to-board-to-book contact and minimizing distractions.
____ Provide wall displays of key terminology.
____ Have the daily routine in writing where it's easy to see, on the board, on the wall, or taped inside the student's books or desk.
____ The working environment should be quiet, non-distracting and attractive.
____ Recognize that test grades may be well below potential.
____ Use continuous portfolio assessment in preference to tests, and include non-print based assessment.
____ Frequent quizzes rather than, or in addition to, 1 or 2 big exams.
____ Mark positively - tick the good bits.
____ When correcting, use two colors, one for content and the other for spelling and presentation.
____ In grading, specify the skills mastered by the student, rather than giving a letter grade.
____ Marking of pupil's work should be carried out with her/him present whenever possible; the teacher should sit on the same side of the desk.
____ Limit the amount of homework to a certain amount of time spent productively, rather than an amount of work to be completed.
____ Allow extra credit assignments.
____ Allow the student to work on homework at school. Ideally study periods should be part of the school schedule.
____ Teach the student efficient methods of proofreading own work.
____ Periodically if needed, modify
classroom and homework assignments (examples: student does every 2nd or 3rd
problem, or have the student use a timer and draw a line across their
homework page at the end of 15 minutes of sustained work).
____ Use games or songs that encourage repetition.
____ Reduce the number of items to be completed in a given assignment (for example, the number of words on the spelling list).
____ Beware of overloading working memory.
____ Whenever possible, the child should be encouraged to repeat back what he has been asked to do - this also includes messages. His own voice is a very useful aid to memory.
____ For students with memory problems or unable to take notes in classroom, a fellow student might share notes by using carbon paper or photocopying, the teacher could provide a copy of the class lesson, or the student might be allowed to tape the lessons.
____ Information retrieval can be complicated by LD. When more time is available to complete an assignment, test, quiz or final exam, should it be needed, memory retrieval is improved and test pressure interferes less with the ability to retrieve and express what is known.
____ Across all subject areas, display and support the use of mnemonic strategies to aid memory formation and retrieval.
____ Offer review sessions.
____ Use a wooden or plastic alphabet to teach names and sequence of letters - capital first, then lower case. Close eyes to feel the shape and remember its name and associated sound/sounds. Use pictures and memory hooks to provide pictorial and memory hooks for sounds.
____ Give study notes, models and guided outlines for projects and writing assignments.
____ Insist on drafts of written work with deadlines.
____ Don't make the child work for long periods without a break.
____ LD students need a lot of structure. Lists of the day's routine and expected behaviors can help.
____ Prepare the child ahead of time for any change in schedule, and keep reminding until the change has occurred.
____ Make sure that the student has a complete set of notes prior to any test or examination.
____ Check that homework assignments have been copied down correctly.
____ Give plenty of warning when changes are made to the timetable, teacher or task.
____ LD students might have difficulty with such organizational tasks as keeping their things tidy at school, getting dressed, remembering their PE kit, looking for something they have lost, packing their school bag and organizing the equipment needed for homework.
____ Actively teach study skills, like note taking and time organization.
____ Give more time - to plan, to start, to complete, and to respond.
____ Begin lectures with a review of the previous lecture, an overview of topics to be covered that day, and/or an outline of the lecture.
____ Provide regular guidance and appropriate supervision on planning assignments, especially extended projects that take several days or weeks to complete. A part of the LD spectrum of symptoms is a sort of a temporal disability where the gauging of time, and how long tasks will take, are distorted.
____ Permit the student to check-in with this advisor first thing each week (Monday mornings) to plan/organize the week and last thing each week (Friday afternoons) to review the week and to plan/organize homework for the weekend.
____ Provide the student with a regular program in study skills, test taking skills, organizational skills, and time management skills.
____ Providing a list of topic words at the beginning of each unit helps parents know what's going to be covered, helps students to assimilate new vocabulary, and provides material for spelling development.
____ Be prepared to learn from the parents. Interest, involve and work closely with them. You both need each other's help.
____ Arrange for frequent parental contact, not just when a problem or crisis occurs. Celebrate successes, too.
____ Have a home/school communication book.
____ Advocate on behalf of your student with other teachers, with the school administration, and with the parents, if necessary.
____ Insure that the information concerning the student is passed on when the child is in transition from one teacher to another, from one year to another and from one school or country to another. Do not assume that this will be done automatically.
____ Designate one teacher as the advisor/supervisor/coordinator/liaison for the student and the implementation of the student's plan, who will periodically review the student's organizational system and to whom other staff may go when they have concerns about the student. This teacher would also act as the link between home and school.
____ Frequent parent/teacher communications via whatever works: home/school agendas, face-to-face meetings, phone calls, emails.
Students'
____ Seek opportunities to praise and build self-esteem.
____ Encourage expectations of success by having clearly set objectives.
____ At all times avoid the use of sarcasm, continual criticism or bringing attention to student's different needs in front of his peers. Recognize that this student will respond significantly better when encouraged and when positive achievements are noticed and mentioned.
____ Don't compare LD students with other pupils or siblings.
____ Actively teach social skills and self-assessment.
____ Show sympathy, concern and understanding.
____ Be a good listener.
____ Avoid letting the student become aware of your own frustration.
____ Teach cognitive restructuring to students with low self-esteem. For example, positive "self-talk," - "I did that well."
____ Catch the child being good, and reward this behavior.
____ Catch the child being good, and reward this behavior.
____ Recognize the frustration felt by the LD student.
____ See that the peer group understands the nature of the LD problem so that the child is not mocked or bullied. LD students are vulnerable to bullying.
____ Avoid blaming and name-calling. Label the behavior, not the person.
____ Remember the child is more normal than different, and different does not mean defective.
____ Emphasize to students that their worth as a person is not related to their test scores or how well they did on a particular assignment.
____ Encourage the child to compete against himself, not others.
____ Remember that tasks that seem simple to you may be complex for the pupil.
____ Talk to the student. Ask him/her what might be better.
____ Make PE activities less daunting. Avoid 'team choosing."
____ Give older students a plastic-coated card that can be shown to teachers which details their special needs
____ Let the student know privately that his/her difficulties are recognized.
____ Remember that LD students are intellectually at the level of their chronological age, although functionally they may not be. Therefore, activities need to be appropriate to intellectual levels and broken down into achievable stages, to allow for success.
____ Help the students feel comfortable
with seeking assistance. Many students with
LD will not ask for help. They need to be taught how to ask questions.
____ Help the child to succeed. Avoid failure - be constructive and positive. Praise helps boost flagging self-esteem.
____ Encourage expectations of success by having clearly set objectives.
____ Show patience, understanding, encouragement, and friendship at all times.
____ Praise in public, reprimand in private.
____ Understand the intermittent nature of pupil's performance and attention. Part of the LD profile is that the student's work will be inconsistent and erratic.
____ All efforts should be made to build the confidence of the pupils through the development of their superior aptitudes, be it in music, sport, design, technology, science or drama.
____ Students with LD problems often feel they are stupid, dumb, and worthless, and that they are the only ones with this problem.
____ Make sure a child feels safe and secure in your classroom and in your presence.
____ Give private, discrete cues to the student to stay on task, cue the student in advance before calling on him, and cue before an important point is about to be made (for example: "This is a major point.").
____ Recognize EFFORTS the students employs toward attaining a goal, and recognize the problems resulting from skill deficits versus non-compliance.
____ Allow the student to begin an assignment and then go to the teacher after the first few problems are done for confirmation that he/she is doing the assignment properly, and to receive gentle correction or praise.
Teachers'
____ Avoid letting the student become aware of your own frustration.
____ Use a color-highlighted register to help remember specific needs of students (e.g. green = problems with language processing, blue = class position is important). This helps new and substitute teachers also.
____ Encourage expectations of success by having clearly set objectives.
____ Get support for yourself through your administration, colleagues and community. Seek the help of special educators and learning disability organizations. Draw on their expertise. Do not be afraid to acknowledge what you don't know.
____ Keep your education ongoing. Attend conferences, read books, visit websites, take classes.
____ When you start blaming the child, you're burning out. Burnout comes from feeling that you're not making a difference.
____ Don't ignore the signs that the child is losing concentration or not understanding.
____ Recognize self-esteem/depression problems.
____ Recognize EFFORTS the students employs toward attaining a goal, and recognize the problems resulting from skill deficits versus non-compliance.
____ Voice-activated software.
____ Hand-held, electronic spellcheckers.
____ Mispellers' Dictionary.
____ Use Sassoon Primary, Comic Sans MS or Arial fonts in size 12-16, with double line spacing. Times Roman is to be avoided.
____ Teach keyboard and word-processing skills in primary school.
____ Allow the use of any learning tool necessary, such as a tape recorder, spell checker, laptop, or calculator.
____ Use selected computer programs to increase reading skills, improve comprehension, and aid written assignments. A computer is non-judgmental and is often the method of choice for many LD students.
____ Provide alternatives such as lined paper or a word processor to aid students with overly large, cramped, laborious or illegible handwriting.
____ Textbooks and materials should be selected and/or adapted with the LD learner in mind. Check the readability of all texts and worksheets - they could be scanned into a computer that has the Word program as Word has a readability facility.
____ Encourage the use of computers to help the child get over the hurdle of producing text, but remember that not all children relate to technology.
____ For students with difficulty
reading, or the very slow reader, the "read along technique" with
taped textbooks and workbooks might be used in the classroom, at home, and in
the
Resource room. Talking books may be acquired from Recording for the Blind and
Dyslexic http://www.rfbd.org/.
____ Educational filmstrips and videos are available on most subjects and most grade levels for general information not acquired from the printed page.
____ For students with short-term memory problems -- i.e., do not remember mathematical facts, but understand the computation process -- a table of math facts and other visual aids, and a printing calculator could be provided.
____ For the student who has difficulty
writing, a battery cassette recorder could be provided for
the student to dictate answers to tests or written lessons.
____ Some students may benefit from colored plastic overlays thought by some to enhance symbols and to give depth to printed page.
____ Give open book tests.
____ Vary the format of tests: true/false, matching questions to answers or words to definitions, multiple choice, labeling diagrams, sentence completion, title-paragraph match, table/grid completion.
____ Give more frequent, short quizzes and fewer long tests.
____ Frequent quizzes rather than, or in addition to, 1 or 2 big exams.
____ Make sure you are testing knowledge and not attention span.
____ Test orally whenever possible.