Discuss With Us! NAEFL Week Featured Disabilities Resource

Thanks to you, Rochelle, for inviting us to participate in this discussion. I think I can speak for both Sharon and Jerry in saying that we were surprised and honored that you chose our article for discussion; to be honest, I didn't even realize that it had been accepted into the LINCS resources.

As a way of introduction, and as the director of the Stevens Literacy Center at Ohio University, I can say that the work that we've done on adult literacy, and especially the work that Sharon has led on addressing the challenges of accessing accommodations for adult learners with LD, is relatively new for me, having spent much of my career dealing with K-12 issues. That said, the commonality for me between the K-12 and adult learning worlds is that we often find ourselves dealing with learners who've come to accept themselves as "dumb" because they've tried to cope with undiagnosed learning challenges that have infringed upon their abilities to "live up to their potentials." As we researched and wrote the article, one of the startling realizations for me was how little the research community has done to even determine the extent of the challenges. The fact that there is no consensus on the percentages of adult learners with LD issues and that there is such a wide gap in estimates was an eye-opener for me personally.

I look forward to the rest of the week as we all celebrate Adult Education and Family Literacy Week.

Hello LINCS Friends,

I, too, am excited to discuss this topic with my colleagues in adult education.  I am interested to hear your thoughts and questions and to learn about what other states are doing to better understand the issue of screening for learning disabilities in adults.

Since I started in ABLE in Ohio 10 years ago, I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from some very knowledgeable professionals in the field of learning disabilities.  I coordinated a statewide committee to address programmatic issues surrounding serving adults with special learning needs.  I have also served on the NAASLN board. I have participated in Learning to Achieve and have conducted many workshops for instructors and teachers across Ohio.

What I learned most of all during this time in the field is that we all care deeply about helping our students learn.  

The process of screening can help professional understand where their learners are for instructional as well as intervention. More importantly, in my opinion, screening can help teachers and students increase the students understanding of their own learning strengths and challenges.

I look forward to the conversation!

Sharon

We talk a great deal in education about making data-based decisions. Often, that becomes code for allowing standardized tests and often arbitrary cut scores make decisions and policy in the name of institutional integrity or fairness. However, these measures do not provide fair opportunities to learners with learning disabilities who do not have official diagnoses that they can use to get appropriate accommodations. On page 190, we wrote:

Additional research is needed to disclose and understand

the reasons for the low rates at which students

in ABLE programs are diagnosed with a learning disability.

Several issues likely exist: lack of affordable

diagnostic services, lack of knowledge of the benefi ts

of obtaining a diagnostic evaluation, and proximity to

and availability of professionals trained in assessing

LD in adults.

It's the kind of implication for future research that one would expect from a research article in a peer-reviewed journal. What has gratified us is that our state leadership has taken a look at the data and made efforts to mitigate the affordability of LD services. We are still early in a pilot study of contracting with two professional psychologists who are on retainer in Ohio to travel to sites to test individual students who qualify for their services; the state has set aside $40,000 in year one for these services and we've negotiated a flat rate for the testing and reporting. This is an attempt at determining if we can indeed increase the number of ABE students with suspected learning disabilities who, with appropriate and documented accommodations, can pass standardized measures for entry into postsecondary institutions or completing certificate programs.

Sharon and I are curious about whether there are other state- or locally-led efforts to help ABE students acquire the documentation that they need for accommodations. What's happening in your state on this front?

Thanks for the link to the Ohio Study. We have the very same experience in CT. Assessment, even after screening, is expensive with no public dollares available to supplant the cos becomes impossible for many. SO...like Ohio we urge the teachers to use screening info as a guide to design strategies that can be tweeked to meet the learning styles of students. Although the universal design model does reach many students thus alleviating the need for accommodations in Adult Ed it does not translate to their ability to receive accommodations in post secondary ed without documentation of a disabiity. And of course univsersal design for learning works well for many, it does not enable all students with possible learnings disabiities to be successful....only individualized assessmnets by a professional trainined in the identification of SLD can do that!