Rochelle and LD Listserv Participants:
Last week I posted information about a COABE session entitled:   Special 
Learning Needs:   Incidence and Implications for Supporting Persistence and 
Successful Transitions.   I have receive so many requests for the information 
presented in that session that I decided to relay the information about the study to 
all readers.   

Rather than wait for an article to be published on this data - my colleagues 
also encouraged me to share the results with the readers of this listserv.

In light of discussing models and policies for learning disabilities in adult 
basic education, I thought this data could be both supportive of the need for 
rethinking our service delivery and keep us on track for how our limited 
resources need can be best used to yield more persistent and successful 
participants.   

We believe this is one of the largest data collections that has focused on 
special learning needs (beyond state and federally directed data collections) - 
nearly 5,000 participants from: community-based adult basic, literacy, TANF, 
workforce development, and youth in transition programs - 108 program sites 
from 13 states, for the years 2003 - 2006.   This data includes both subjective 
interview information and objective standardized screening data.   (We have 
also collected data on about 2000 offenders that was initially presented in a 
Focus on Basics article in 2005 - but, that is another discussion.)   

Like most data collections and research, there are limitations that exist, 
conclusions drawn that may be too narrow or too broad, implications for digging 
deeper into the existing data, and   definitely additional research and study 
that is needed.   This data constantly brings up new questions for me, the 
many groups that I have presented it to, and I know it will do the same for you.  
 

The data was originally collected to present at a NAEPDC (National Adult 
Education Professional Development Consortium) session with state adult education 
administrative staff in Denver, 2005 that was co-hosted by NAASLN (National 
Association for Adults with Special Learning Needs), updated for the 2006 NY 
State Adult Learning Disabilities in Adult Education Symposium, and then updated 
again for the Meeting of the Minds Research Symposium in CA, November 2006.   

It was in 1974-1976, through funding from Ohio Department of Education, that 
I first began researching and reporting data on the incidence of learning 
disabilities in adult basic education.   As I have followed the field for the last 
33 years - I believe this current data is the most comprehensive view of 
special learning needs that we have gathered.   

We have attempted to peel the layers of learning disabilities and special 
learning needs to identify the concrete learning challenges that can be easily 
identified and systemically addressed using existing resources within our field 
and in partnership with community resources.   I hope that it will not take 
another 34 years for the field to start discussing and addressing these learning 
challenges and needed systemic shifts at all levels of service delivery. 

Our data collection and statistical review is rather overwhelming at first 
reading - so, I thought I'd break it into three pieces for readers to digest and 
begin a dialogue.   I welcome both questions on the data and additional data 
that has been collected in the field.   My personal contact information is 
listed at the end of this posting if you'd like to being a more private 
conversation.

This first posting will address the population sampled and results of the 
subjective personal interviews;   a second posting will discuss objective 
standardized screening results (visual and auditory functions, attention 
difficulties, visual stress syndrome, reading encoding and decoding, visual and auditory 
processing);   a third posting will look at the implications of this data as it 
relates to the research data on persistence and transitions.

With nearly 5,000 in the data base - here are the highlights of the 
population, standardized reading test results, and the information received via 
personal interviews (data on ESOL learners/clients is not included in this sampling):

A profile of participants included in the data base:

38% Reading Instructional Level under 3.9
29% Reading Instructional Level between 4.0 - 7.9
33% Reading instructional Level 8.0 or above

35 years old - Average Age
15 - 67 Years Old - Age Range
61% Female
20% Employed
45% Receiving Public Assistance

20% Disabled
41% Currently Wearing Prescriptive Glasses
70% Urban Residency

47% White
35% African American/Black
8% Hispanic
4% Native American

6% 6th Grade last grade completed
37% 7 - 9th Grade last grade completed
43% 10 - 11th Grad last grade completed
14% had completed high school

34% Previously Tested for LD
39% Told they had a LD
41% in Special Education or Previously Helped for Special Learning Needs

39% Previously Attended an Adult Education Program

26% Had Health Problems that Might Interfere with Learning
31% Had Family Members with LD

53% Had Drivers License
69% Had Transportation to AE Classes

70% Had Someone to Turn to in Times of Trouble
47% Had a Library Card
38% Registered to Vote
25% Had Been in Home Less than 1 Year

32% Had Goal of Improving Basic Skills
29% Had Goal of Getting GED
25% Had Goal of Getting a Job


My thanks to the incredible numbers of dedicated, talented and wise adult 
educators, program administrators, related service staff and programs who took 
part in this data collection.

My heartfelt gratitude to the participants included in this study and their 
willingness to share their time and lives with us in hopes that they can become 
successful learners and workers.   After thousands of interviews with 
participants I have learned that it is their hope to understand what has kept them 
from being successful, figure out how to learn anything they need to know, be 
their own advocate for what they need, retain skills and information to achieve 
goals, appreciate our efforts, and get on with their lives as successful 
learners, parents and workers!

I look forward to hearing from you -

Laura P. Weisel, Ph.D.,
The TLP Group
PO Box 21510
Columbus, OH   43221
614.850.8677
dr.weisel at powerpath.com







**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/attachments/20070415/617d8854/attachment.html