Reflections

Here are the 2 articles relating to my topic of Adult Education and

Disabilities:

1. A Life Full of Learning

This article is about a young man named Raymond who has Duchenne

Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). This is a degenerative muscle disease.

Raymond was very gifted in middle school but the school wouldn't

advance him, so his family moved and at his new school, his counsellor

saw how gifted he was and advanced him. He finished high school at

age 14 and he finished University at 18. This article speaks to the issues he faced with accessibility and transportation at university. It also

speaks to how important it was for Raymond to have an advocate help

him navigate the systems at school, and arrange contingencies for him

as he went along.

2.Teaching students with Learning Disabilities in the On-line Classroom

This article has a premise that students with learning disabilities  tend

to learn better in the on-line environment. It notes that educational

institutions are not doing enough to prepare instructors to meet the

needs of these students with learning disabilities. The type of learning

disabilities referred to in this article include dyslexia, expressive

language disorder, reading processing disability and Attention Deficit

Disorder (ADD). One challenge identified is that not all of these

students disclose.This article provides tips for instructors in supporting students with learning disabilities, such as making special accommodations and open and constant communication.

Three reflections that address each of these three Guiding questions.

a. New insights: 

         The article on Raymond provided me insights into the variety of

roles of an educator. I have learned that the role of an educator is not so  much about imparting knowledge, which is very limiting, but rather

facilitating learning and gaining understanding into how that student

learns best. The instructor that Raymond had in his middle school years  would not advance him to the next level, judging Raymond by his

physical limitations and not by his intellectual abilities and strengths.

An instructor's role therefore, is to see a student as a student first and

their disability second. Another insight I had was how Raymond succeeded at university largely because he had a father who became a full time advocate and "expediter".  A role for an educator is to grasp how important the role of an advocate can be for a student with a disability, and to meet the advocate and include them in communication as much as possible.

In my exploration of characteristics of adult learners, I learned that

Raymond displayed several characteristics of an adult learner; he had

issues and problems that were barriers to his learning and he found

solutions such as having his father help him get around campus. He

also helped to connect his fellow students together.

“Ray is very dedicated to mathematics and is 100 percent devoted to

all of his academics,” says John Ryan, a professor of mathematics in

the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University

of Arkansas and Raymond’s doctoral adviser in mathematics. “I'm very  impressed by his abilities. I have given him some very challenging

things to do, and he’s always proven that he’s up to the challenge. He is  one of the top students we've had".

Ryan says another thing that has impressed him about Raymond is his

sense of leadership. “Although he is the youngest one in the group, he

has been sending emails to the other three Ph.D. students, encouraging

them to meet and interact and talk about the work that they’re doing,”

he says. “It’s brilliant.” (A Life Full of Learning, 2014).

 In Teaching students with Learning Disabilities in the On-line

Classroom by Rob Kelly (2010), I learned that there are advantages to

the on-line environment for some students with Learning disabilities.

Some of the learning disabilities discussed in this article include

dyslexia, expressive language disorder, reading processing disability,

and attention deficit disorder. This article pointed out how there are

times when a student with a learning disability finds the on-line

environment a relief as it hides a disability that may be obvious in a

classroom environment.

     In terms of another example of a role of the educator, may be to

learn how to access how these students are doing, by keeping up with

communication, and gauging by the answers of the students if they

have a learning disability and how to best support them.

Another insight I had was how an instructor's role can be to match

students with learning disabilities with a suitable peer.

Also, in terms of use of technology with the students, the instructor's

role can be to learn a wide range of assistive technologies, or at least

know where to refer a student with a learning disability with in the

institution.

b. Trends:

 Trends that I am aware of in my field of Adults with Disabilities, is

around advances in technology for augmented communication and is

Accessibility.

For augmented communication, the term often used is Augmentative

and Alternate Communication  (ACC). For example, I work with a

young adult who attends a post secondary institution. She is non-verbal

and has severe Cerebral Palsy, and she has recently been provided the

opportunity to use a communication device called "EyeGaze". Here is a

short video that illustrates it being used: Eyegaze technology

 It is essentially a computer that is mounted on her mobile wheelchair.

When she gazes on a pre-programmed statement or letter, the computer

detects what she gazes on and then it speaks the words. She has a

support worker beside her when she is in class and the school has made

accommodations so that she can attend. This amazing technology has

made it possible for this young woman to attend post secondary

education and to feel like she is contributing like everyone else.

The use of Kindle's and I Pad's are increasing as well, for those with a

range of disabilities.

As for accessibility, trends that I am witnessing are around the

awareness of how much more we can do to make spaces more

accessible to people with mobility challenges. For example, the local

high school has put new railings in for a young adult who has visual

impairment. Ramps, and railings in bathrooms are also seen more in

educational institutions.

 I am preparing to address these trends by putting time and effort

into researching advances made in this area. When I am in an

educational setting, I can prepare by asking the instructors and

administrators, how they are accommodating adult learners with

cognitive and physical disabilities. As an instructor, I can prepare by

learning what accommodations are needed for my students and find

ways to support their learning.

 Lastly, I can prepare by continuing to challenge my own thinking

and beliefs around what it means to have a disability, and be aware of any judgements or assumptions I may have that could negatively

influence my own instructing.  

c. Web-Conference:

     Reflect on the Web-Conference experience. How was it? What was

one thing I learned about from my learning partner?

The Web conference was a very positive learning experience. The format of "teaching" the other what we had learned from our articles was excellent practice and we both appreciated the opportunity to discuss and share using Skype. My learning partner was engaged in the Web conference, by asking questions and offering feedback and finding parallels in his learning. For example, we both discovered that we were both using the technology in our work that we were learning about, such as Skype, White boards, and social media.

One thing I learned from my learning partner was that his work requires him to personalize his instructing to each student and their respective needs. Adult learners come with full lives and schedules and needs, and he finds that he can't teach generically. I realized that that is an important aspect to instructing adults, regardless of what is being taught.