Students with Disabilities in Higher Education
I have chosen to look at students with dyslexia. I have chosen this
topic because this disability affects a great number of people, and it
has become a lot more recognisably over the last fifteen years. It is
not known how many people suffer from dyslexia but “Thomson (1984)
gives a ‘conservative estimate’ of five per cent.” (Wolfendale and
Corbett 1996). A lot of students used to struggle through without any
help or they just drop out of further and higher education, not
knowing what was wrong with the and why they found the work so hard.
“Dyslexia, literally means ‘difficulty with language’.” (Wolfendale
and Corbett 1996). People with dyslexia usually have difficulties
spelling, pronunciation, and keeping track of what they have heard,
said read or written.
The main aim is to teach each dyslexic student to become an
independent learner; teachers need to gain a clear understanding of
students specific difficulties and learning styles. Then teaching
strategies can be designed. When teaching students with dyslexia it
is important to establish clear goals. “In an ideal world, those who
feel they experience study difficulties would be offered assistance
irrespective of label or level of difficulty. Their progress would be
monitored, the assistance altered to suit their needs or learning
style and, if difficulties persisted, they might be referred on for
more expert guidance, or formal assessment if necessary.” (Wolfendale
and Corbett 1996). Special need departments have grown in further and
higher education but this area still suffers from a low status value.
As a lot staff working in this department are often of the lower
levels it is often difficult for them to get the necessary resources.
“It was the Warnock report that drew attention to the need for the
development of further education opportunities. Although, prior to
that, limited provision had been made for some students with physical
and sensory disabilities, the development of further education was one
of the reports three priority areas.
“Using Disability Studies Theory to Change Disability Services: A Case Study in Student Activism” outlines Syracuse University struggles with disability-related topics. Some of the university’s students formed a committee called Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee to be the voice for the disabled students. The article follows their journey in struggles with implementing handicap-accessible areas and study material for a student that was blind (Cory, White, & Stuckey, 2010). This article reminds me of a close friend from my old neighborhood. He got into a really bad car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After the accident some friends and I helped his parent modify their home to accommodate for his wheelchair. When tragic accidents like that help it really makes you put thing into perspective.
Along with many other topics of special education, the topic of inclusion has been surrounded by uncertainty and controversy for as long as the concept has been around.
As societal pressures for higher education increase, more emphasis has been placed on the importance of a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. This has led to the increased enrollment of students with learning disabilities over the past decade. According to a recent survey from the National Clearinghouse on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Disabilities, one in eleven full-time first-year students entering college in 1998 self-reported a disability. This translates to approximately 154,520 college students, or about 9% of the total number of first-year freshmen, who reported a wide range of disabilities, ranging from attention deficit disorder to writing disabilities (Horn).
Couzens, D., Poed, S., Kataoka, M., Brandon, A., Hartley, J., & Keen, D. (2015). Support for Students with Hidden Disabilities in Universities: A Case Study. International Journal Of Disability, Development & Education, 62(1), 24-41.
Dyslexia has been a commonly known problem in the Unites States. Even though, dyslexia is a mental problem that causes disabilities in reading, most people do not know the truth about it. There have been movies where a person with dyslexia sees letters moving around, yet people with dyslexia do not have disabilities like moving letters around. The truth is that there are plenty of misconceptions. The myths going around of what dyslexia supposedly is, is not the truth. These myths are just misconceptions and the truths about dyslexia are more complex than what it seems like. Dyslexics have different learning processes and different ways of handling the problems at hand.
Registering for classes is just the beginning for learning disabled students. Kyle Turin, a freshman with Dyslexia, at Northeastern University is dismayed at the lack of attention he feels he is getting. Turin was diagnosed at a young age. He was never officially tested for a learning disability, but he was put into a specialized reading class until he went to high school. Kyle learned how to compensate for his difficulties but felt he slipped through the cracks in the system.
Just like in basketball their are people who play that our not disabled and those who are at the end of the day they are both on the same playing field just like students who are not disbaled and those who are should be at college campuses.Rachel Adams wrote a piece called ‘’Bringing down the barriers Seen and unseen’’,which was published on November 6,2011 in the chronicle of education.In this article Adams argues that disabled students are not treated fairly on college campuses despite their being a Disabilties act.*which prevents professors in schools from discriminating against college students.Adams wants all students to be treated fairly and not looked as different.She begins to build a strong effective argument by using her own personal
Students with Dyslexia can progress very quickly in some areas, it just depends on how their brain “lights up”. Students with Dyslexia can be gifted in art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, mechanics, music, physics, and sports. So not everything can be a problem for your student. Students with Dyslexia don’t have anything wrong with them except they have a hard time reading and
Dyslexia is one of several distinct learning disabilities. It is a specific language based disorder of constitutional origin characterized by difficulties in single word decoding, usually reflecting insufficient phonological processing abilities. These difficulties in single word decoding are often unexpected in relation to age and other cognitive and academic abilities; they are not the result of generalized developmental disability or sensory impairment. Dyslexia is manifest by ...
Students with learning disabilities can learn; each student has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Educators must continue to focus on the strengths of each student and building on them, creating a stronger student and person. Identifying the weakness is at the core of getting a student help with their learning disability, but after this initial identification and placement, the focus should shift to the strengths and adjusting the student’s schoolwork to reflect these strengths. For instance, if a student is weak in reading but has wonderful group interaction skills and is good with his or her hands, the students' reading tasks should then be shifted to reflect these st...
“The Extraordinary Characteristics of Dyslexia” by Jake Horner is a definition essay on what it means to be dyslexic. He incorporates his own life story to support his definition and his ideas in his essay. Dyslexia is looked upon as a disability that should be treated even though dyslexia has to do with the way your brain processes the information given to you. Horner includes two types of thinkers, spatial and linear. Spatial thinkers are the dyslexic people in the world, and linear thinkers are the non-dyslexic people in the world (Horner 493). As I read this essay, it made me reflect.
Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/sep/09/supporting-students-with-dyslexia-teachers-tips-pupils [Accessed 25 June
The most common learning disability in children does not affect only one aspect of their lives, but alters nearly every measure. Dyslexia inhibits one 's ability to read, write, and spell. About 5 to 20 percent of children attending school have some sort of a disability involved with reading. When thinking of a condition that contains no cure, such as dyslexia, you may imagine a lifetime of complications and difficulties; although, dyslexia does not damage a person’s ability to learn, it merely forces them to grasp ideas and think in their own original way. Multiple obstacles can potentially arise, but successfulness and intelligence tends to prevail, and has in multiple situations. Numerous well known people have personally suffered through
Not many people who are not already involved with special education understand what exactly a student in a special education program does. Most people assume special education is for only the worst cases, such as autism or Down syndrome or that the students are completely different from any other student. However, this assumption is not the case. These assumptions only show some of the stigma against special education. Special education is the term used to “describe specially designed instruction that meets the unique needs of a child who has a disability,” (Hancock). As predetermined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), one qualifies for special education if they meet one or more of the thirteen disabilities included in the act. These disabilities include, but are not limited to, autism, hearing impairment, specific learning disability, visual impairment, and emotional disturbance. The IDEA act requires the public schools to provide a “free appropriate education”, or FAPE, to those who qualify. An example of a free appropriate program is “modifications in the educational program, such as curriculum and teaching methods,” (Hancock).
Education is a profession which requires a teacher to be able to communicate with a multitude of students on a variety of levels. There is not a class, or student for that matter, that is identical. Therefore, teachers must be able to identify and help educate students from all different types of backgrounds and at different levels. Teaching a singular subject presents difficulties, but teaching students with disabilities should not be one. There are three main teaching areas that need to be focused on when teaching a student with a learning disability. Teachers need to focus on the strategies that will assist students with reading comprehension skills, writing skills, and maintaining appropriate behaviors in a classroom setting.