Introduction

Hi Everyone:

My name is Susan Duryea. I am currently a GED instructor at the Dominican Literacy Center. I have been working in adult education for about fifteen years and really do not know that much about the field of learning disabilities. 

 

Comments

Hi Susan,

One of the great fears beyond academics, for someone with LD can be the work environment. Preparation for work can take many different roads. One road is knowing your employment rights and feeling comfortable with self-disclosure. There are many different publications having to do with disability rights and self disclosure. Some are offered by the Department of Labor, Disability .gov even general goggle searches are useful. One of my favorites is the 411 on disabilities http://www.ncwd-youth.info/411-on-disability-disclosure It is written for teens and young adults but is so simple and breaks down the aspects of self-disclosure into simple to deal with self-exploration and concrete steps.

One road can be using 'self-accommodations" that the student may have been doing all his/her life and applying to the world of work. Breaking down all the aspects of employment seeking as well as general work environments into situation in which the person may need a "self accommodation" and planning it out and how one would use it.

One road can be utilizing formal testing and vocational services( thru Vocational Rehabilitation) to determine what types of training and employment best fits the persons abilities taking into account the effect LD would have on a work environment. If this is an option, try to make sure the student takes advantage of a service called work evaluations. They are specifically designed to combine academics, skills learning potential, real work situations and data to find the best job fit for a person and their LD.

You can combine any of the above with self- career exploration using the department of labor web site O'Net http://www.onetonline.org/ it will guide you thru career exploration and give you information on all the requirements for almost any job title in the world. It breaks down those titles into tasks/skills, education, the social and personal aspects of the work environment associated with that job title.

All of the above can be used in combination with classroom instruction. Good LUCK!