Let me put in a plea again here for helping the learners learn what it 
is they need and not constantly expecting them to wait for a trained 
teacher to provide it, which is , as we all know, a very hit and miss 
approach. With such an approach, the student is always at the mercy of 
the training of the teachers and those teachers' interpretation of 
their training and the learners's needs, rather than the learner being 
in charge of his or her own needs.  Can  you imagine someone telling 
you when and what kind of Kleenex you should use if you have a runny 
nose?  This is essentially what happens.

  As I mentioned on one of these lists,  at the school for persons with 
LD at which I taught in Washington, DC, even the youngest kids ( 5 or 6 
years old) are taught how to talk about what their challenges are and 
ask for what they need to learn. It is quite astonishing to ask an 8 yr 
old why he is using crayonsfor writing and have him answer that h s 
motor skills are not well developed and it is easier to write with 
crayons than with pencils.

Obviously adolescent or adults can easily be taught to advocate like 
this once they have the information about their challenges from good 
screenings.   Elaine points out that many learners already know they 
need less light and self-accommodate by having hats, hoods, etc and 
seeking out less light.  This is the kind of information they need to 
see as part of their "learning prescription" and that should not be in 
the hands of teachers only.  And she rightly points out as well that 
many school rules contradict what the learner already knows about him- 
or herself rather than reinforcing that knowledge.    It is good to 
hear the school was able to change its rule about hats and hoods and 
that Irlen filters are readily available.

A reminder that Irlen filters and a hat with a brim or a visor can be 
used as an accommodation for the GED without any supporting paper work. 
  The learner has only to ask to use them-- some testing centers provide 
them; others permit learners to come with their own.

Robin Lovrien Schwarz



-----Original Message-----
From: bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Sent: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 3:25 PM
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1049]  The California Plan

   I widely distributed the email on LD specialists from Judy Campbell 
in Washington state to teachers and administrators in our district, and 
received these replies. Oakland Adult and Career Education is an 
integral program in the Oakland Unified School District; we have High 
School Subjects (participation in which can lead to a HS diploma), ABE, 
and GED programs as well as Career and Technology, ESL, Elderly Adults 
and Adults with Disabilities programs. The first reply is from Elaine 
Brooks who is a counselor in the HS subjects program; the second is the 
assistant to the director of OACE. HS subjects and all interested 
teachers recently attended a workshop conducted by our HS reading 
specialist, Jennifer Block.

from Elaine Brooks

  The training we had was geared toward making accommodations in class 
in methods of instruction, amount of light, use of rocking chairs, 
wrist bands, Irlen Filters, ways to ask questions on tests without 
causing failure simply by way item was presented, etc. For example, 
there is something called a "crossing the midline" problem which can be 
remediated by simple exercises that Jennifer Block begins every class 
with. Students with that problem cannot answer questions that are put 
in a "not" form, such as "Which one of these was NOT a cause of the 
Civil War?" Those same students cannot subtract and divide. However, 
with these exercises, which they can be taught to do for themselves 
prior to class, it's a whole different story. Students with scotopic 
sensitivity tend to seek out the least light corner of the room, and 
wear hats with brim and sweatshirts with hoods up even in hot weather. 
At the time, hats were not permitted for male students at Shands. We 
had to stop that rule in order for those students to be able to read. 
Using colored paper and columns for reading was also helpful. There are 
many simple things that any trained teacher can spot and accommodate. 
Elaine

Christian Nelson <Christian.Nelson at ousd.k12.ca.us> wrote:   I believe 
she is referring to the model that is in place in most California 
Community Colleges. I believe that most of them have an LD specialist 
that does what is indicated below. When I worked in SF 10 years ago 
with homeless and low income students, the LD specialist was a resource 
for community college students. Because the CBO I worked for had CC 
teachers, our students were able to access the services as well. The 
testing and assessment was very detailed and comprehensive. The 
drawback was that there was only one person serving as an LD specialist 
which meant that students had to wait many weeks to get an appointment 
depending on the time of the year. We could have sent more there for 
assessment but it wasn’t always worth the time to get information that 
didn’t always assist us in developing a learning plan for the student. 
It helped those students who were moving on full time to CC and needed 
accommodation.

  An FYI, Neil Sturomski worked with my program specifically to help us 
to learn to diagnose LD in our students.

  Christian M. Nelson
 Assistant Director
 Oakland Adult & Career Education
 1025 Second Avenue, Portable 15
 Oakland, CA 94606


   --------

 From: Bonnita Solberg [mailto:bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net]
Subject: Chair of Practitioner's Task Force on Adults with LD


  Does anyone know what the "California model" is Judy is referring to? 
what a cutting edge project--Learning Disability specialists at the 
Adult Ed level. Bonnita

"Campbell, Judy" <jcampbell at iel.spokane.edu> wrote:
 Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:30:44 -0700
From: "Campbell, Judy" <jcampbell at iel.spokane.edu>
To: "The Learning Disabilities Discussion List" 
<learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1043] Re: Fwd: Chair of Practitioner's 
Task
Forceon Adults with LD





   In 1999, in Washington State, we were fortunate to be part of a 
federal grant called a Quality Initiative. Our state chose to focus on 
learning disabilities. With the ongoing support of the Office of Adult 
Literacy (who had previously provided the opportunity for statewide 
learning disabilities training for teachers and DSS counselors by 
Nancie Payne and Neil Sturomski) and our administrators, we created a 
systematic process (based on the California model) for identifying 
(flagging), screening, interviewing, referring, diagnostic/prescriptive 
teaching, and requesting GED accommodations if needed.



   In our Adult Ed program we have two certified Learning Disability 
Specialists. (We cover 6 counties.) We both meet individually with 
students who have been referred through counselors or teachers or are 
self referred. We screen, interview, teach study skills and learning 
strategies, work with teachers, make referrals, tutor, teach mini 
workshops, provide teacher trainings, and request GED accommodations.



   I think a key issue is that Special Education students don’t go away 
just because they become adults. Being able to read, write and do math 
to 10th grade level is a great benefit to being successful in the adult 
world. Those with lower skills often do not have a high school diploma, 
end up on some sort of state support—TANF or prison. Many have mental 
health problems which are complicated by poor decision-making and 
problem solving processes. Having a learning disabilities 
specialist—which is VERY,VERY,VERY, different from most Disabilities 
Support Service persons---is a contributor to the retention and success 
of students. The first year we provided services to 12 students. This 
year we have provided services to 250 students so far. We can say with 
confidence that the services we provide allow students to be successful 
who would never have made progress or reached their educational goals 
before the system was in place.



   What made our systematic approach successful was the federal and 
state funding to get training, the support of the administrators who 
recognized the need for funded positions like Learning Disability 
Specialists to work with students with learning challenges, and the 
passion of instructors willing to do the work to take on a new role to 
serve students.



   For the past two years we have been fortunate to be part of the 
Universal Design for Learning Federal grant through Renton Technical 
College. With the funding from this grant we have been able to do even 
more for our program. With the focus on improving access to education 
to all students (UDL) we have purchased assistive technology, classroom 
materials and books, and paid for teacher to access workshops and 
conferences. This has truly been another big step forward for us.



   We need Washington State to address the funding needs to keep this 
systematic process in place and to create a policy so all community 
colleges in the state have a Learning Disability Specialist and a 
system for serving students with learning disabilities

   Judy A. Campbell
Learning Disabilities Specialist
IEL/ABE/CCS


   --------










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