The Project

What is Bridges to Practice?
Estimates about the number of adults in adult education programs, social services programs, or employment-seeking programs indicate that probably 40-50% of these adults, at a minimum, may have learning disabilities that have kept them from achieving academic and employment success in their lives.

The Bridges to Practice materials address this issue and are designed to help teachers, social workers, employment counselors, job coaches and others recognize learning disabilities, learn how to implement a screening process in a program, and learn what to do when an adult has been diagnosed with a disability.

The program consists of four guidebooks that contain the training materials, and a fifth book that is a trainer's manual. These materials were developed through a grant from the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and are based on research with adults and youth with learning disabilities that was done in the 1990s at the University of Kansas.

Originally designed for use in education programs, the materials have been revised for use with a multitude of audiences, but the core message remains the same: an adult who has learning disabilities has a disability and is eligible for accommodations and/or assistive technology and support under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The recognition of a possible learning disability and subsequent referral for testing for a legal diagnosis can make a significant difference in the life of an adult who has previously not known about this disability.

Since 1999 hundreds of trainers have been trained in 46 of the 50 states and in the Pacific Islands. Many of these trainers are busy training others about adults with learning disabilities. Some do this through grant programs that were funded by NIFL; others are funded through their State Education Department or through volunteer literacy programs. Still others have been training staff in welfare offices across the US. The Workforce Development Offices in many States are using trainers to prepare their staff to better serve adults who have, or may have, learning disabilities.

The National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) is the lead training agency and retains the right to certify trainers in the Bridges to Practice materials. A trainer may begin with a local program, but to reach the Master Trainer Certification, a portfolio must be established with the NIFL. Training is done in person at this time. In the near future, we anticipate training sessions will be available online as a distance learning course. Further information about the current training certification can be obtained from June J. Crawford, Learning Disabilities Program Director, at jcrawford@nifl.gov.

Growth Possibilities
NIFL has recently made arrangements to train other national organizations in this material. In order to do this effectively, the training segments will need to be modularized to meet the needs of a variety of audiences. For example: the majority of our trainees have been in adult education or the volunteer world, or in one-stop employment centers. In this year, we have collaborated with the Department of Health and Human Services to develop training for social workers and intake workers in social services programs. Now we are adding other audiences for the materials. It is possible to provide a basic framework for all participants and then expand that to meet the needs of specific agencies, but this needs to be built into the training online. This will include links to government agencies, private organizations in the field, research materials, policy statements, and public legislation that affects the training.

This project is a long-term one. It is planned that it may take as long as three years to implement most of the parts, and then it will be an ongoing process to keep it up-to-date and to make certain that the training received online is done in collaboration with the personnel at NIFL and especially with any conference or symposia training that NIFL provides or helps to support as part of the professional development. Other programs at NIFL also offer training and there is the possibility that other training areas could also be offered in this manner.

What You Can Do
If you are a trainer for Bridges to Practice and are willing to provide feedback to this project, please contact us. We are looking for experienced trainers who are willing to review segments of the project as they are developed. We are open to new ideas about how to present a particular part of the Bridges material in an online training process. If you want to be involved in this project, please contact June Crawford at NIFL at 202-233-2064 or jcrawford@nifl.gov. In future seminars and meetings, we will showcase some of the materials and we welcome your input at that time, too.