Challenges for students with learning disabilities

This is my final post on challenges. I've left learning disabilities until last, partly because it is such a vast arena and it seems impossible to summarise challenges in this category. I started trying to list the challenges that people with learning disabilities might face but I stopped partway through the task because it was just too big! If somebody from a university was considering this category, I think it would be easier because certain types of learning disability would probably be automatically exempted because university demands a certain level of ability.

In further education/adult education, we start at the lowest levels of ability. We have learners who are studying maths and English at entry level 1. That means they are learning to count and calculate with numbers up to 10. I started thinking about the challenges that these lower level learners face, when studying with us and I actually ended up wondering how on earth they survive the process. Everything in life, including further education, demands a certain level of literacy and numeracy. Of course, we give our learners one-to-one attention, sit with them and complete all the forms for enrolment and try to explain in simple terms, what they are signing up for... but I know we have people signing learner agreements that they don't understand. And that's just one aspect.

I actually have a serious soft spot for what we call our LD learners. I make opportunities to go into their learning environments and meet them and chat with them and just see how they're doing. I love their honesty and the way they give frank and often blunt feedback, with no expectation of action or change, other than that I listen to them and acknowledge their communication. I love to see their progress, often not in academic terms but in the soft skills that could go unnoticed. I love to see their unbridled joy when I point out their successes and praise them. Embarrassment and modesty have no place in these moments. In this arena, pride is encouraged.

So yes, I fully acknowledge that there are too many challenges to list for our learners with learning disabilities, but I find it difficult to focus on their challenges and much easier to celebrate their successes. In the same way, they acknowledge that I am the manager... the boss... but when we sit down and chat it's easier for me to be just Nicki.

Of course, we also have higher ability learners with a range of learning disabilities and their challenges are different. I honestly don't think we do a good enough job at meeting their study needs. But it's a discussion I'm determined to open up and I hope, an area where we can make some progress.