| In the teaching of education courses at the college | | | | Working with Ryan to increase his understanding of |
| level, it is common to discuss the various modes of | | | | the spelling of syllables and his ability to visually recall |
| learning and to emphasize the premise that "we all | | | | words using Achieve: A Visual Memory Program, a |
| learn differently." When there is a case study of a | | | | program that developmentally expands a student's |
| student discussed that involves a diagnostic evaluation | | | | ability to spell words, Ryan was able to develop his |
| determining the learning mode of the student, it is | | | | visual mode of learning so that he no longer was |
| common practice to recommend instruction that | | | | faced with this embarrassing problem. |
| teaches to the strength of the student. Therefore, if a | | | | Ryan went on to college with good spelling skills, and is |
| student is diagnosed as having a serious weakness in | | | | now an engineer for a prominent company in New |
| the visual areas, such as visual perception or visual | | | | York State. |
| memory, it is recommended that the educator uses an | | | | Instead of teaching to students' strengths, we should |
| auditory mode of presentation. If the student's | | | | be instructing our teachers to develop the learning skill |
| weakness is in the auditory mode, the teacher is | | | | weaknesses of our students. When you consider that |
| encouraged to use a visual mode of presentation. | | | | a learning disabled student is one with an average to |
| There are, however, two questions that arise from this | | | | superior IQ but one who generally has very serious |
| teaching recommendation. | | | | learning skill deficiencies in both the visual and auditory |
| 1. Exactly how does a classroom teacher who is | | | | learning modes, it is obvious that he is not going to |
| working with fifteen to thirty students realistically | | | | learn as the average child learns. However, case |
| present instruction using one mode for one student | | | | studies have proven that if we address the weak |
| and another mode for another student when he or | | | | learning skill areas and develop these skills, learning |
| she has a limited amount of time to cover the required | | | | disabled students learn just like any other student! |
| curriculum to the entire class? | | | | Take the case of Jamie, a seven year old learning |
| 2. Is the teacher truly meeting the needs of these | | | | disabled child who also had AD/HD. As with most |
| students by teaching to their strengths? Or is the | | | | ADD or ADHD children, he had seriously weak listening |
| teacher creating a situation whereby compensations | | | | skills. However, his visual and auditory skills were |
| are being made for the students while their | | | | interfering seriously with his ability to learn. With a |
| weaknesses are being ignored? | | | | concentrated program for the development of Jamie's |
| Take the case of Ryan, an eighth grade student who | | | | visual and auditory perception and memory skills, along |
| consistently displayed very poor spelling skills. While | | | | with his basic skills, Jamie was able to overcome his |
| Ryan's overall grades were good, for years his | | | | disability and learn so well that by the time he was in |
| teachers had overlooked his inability to spell even basic | | | | sixth grade, he was at the top of his class. |
| words because the overall content of his work was | | | | Since most learning disabled students are seriously |
| very good. Ryan's parents, however, were very | | | | weak in both the visual and auditory skill areas, |
| disturbed by the fact that he could not write them a | | | | teaching to the stronger of the two does not solve the |
| simple note without misspelling common words. They | | | | problem because these student are not able to learn |
| knew he was headed for college and were | | | | well from either one of these mode. Therefore, |
| embarrassed for him. A diagnostic evaluation was | | | | developing both the visual and auditory skills of these |
| made of Ryan's reading, spelling and learning skills. The | | | | students is the only way to set them up for learning |
| results indicated that while his reading skills were highly | | | | like the average child. |
| developed overall, he needed remediation for the | | | | One of the most important aspects of the success of |
| development of a good understanding of syllabication | | | | the "No Child Left Behind Act" lies in the inclusion of |
| and, in particular, the spelling of common syllables. Most | | | | basic learning skills within our teaching training |
| importantly, Ryan's visual memory letter span was | | | | programs, and an emphasis on developing students' |
| very weak. While he had read the word "were" | | | | weak modes of learning. It lies in teacher training |
| thousands of times, he often misspelled the word, | | | | programs that emphasize the development of both the |
| spelling it phonetically as "wir" or "wer" simply because | | | | visual and auditory modes for all students, learning |
| he could not visualize the appearance of the word | | | | disabled to gifted. Then and only then, will we be truly |
| when he needed to spell it. | | | | addressing the needs of our students. |