The most common type of disability among students registered with DRS is learning disability. Each learning disability affects disparate aspects of cognitive processing, and each student with a learning disability will encounter a unique set of challenges. Faculty who understand some of the functional limitations that a student with a learning disability may face can structure their courses to provide options that allow students with a learning disability to work around their own limitations.
What is a Learning Disability?“Learning disabilities” is a general term that refers to a variety of significant deficits in the capacity to process information – as, for example, problems understanding written or spoken symbolic communication (words, numbers, signs) or expressing one’s own ideas (in words, numbers, or signs). A student with a learning disability may experience problems in one or more main areas, but not in others. For instance, many students with dyslexia have difficulty decoding text, but not spoken words; an individual with dysgraphia may not be able to write legibly by hand but may express herself in writing on a computer more effectively.
Individuals with a learning disability have average to far-above-average intelligence. Their processing difficulties have a neurological basis; they are not due to developmental disorders, lack of effort, substandard elementary education, or any other cultural or environmental factor (although any of these may also be operating). Learning disabilities can also be found together with a disability of another type, whether it be ADHD, mental illness, or a motor/perceptual disability.
Potential challenges, strengths, and strategies
The impacts of learning disabilities differ from one individual student to the next, and it is important to discuss these impacts with any student who self-identifies as having a learning disability. By the time they enter college, many students with a learning disability have already developed strategies that capitalize on their learning strengths and minimize the effects of their disability. Faculty can remove barriers to the success of such students by making sure they have options, whenever possible, that incorporate their strengths.
For instance, a student who has a print-related disability may have excellent aural comprehension; having the textbook available in recorded form will make the book accessible for learning. Likewise, a student who struggles to encode thoughts into writing may be skilled at using dictation software that renders speech as text. Activities and assignments that allow for the use of that software remove the barrier represented by the requirement to write.
The table below lists some of the issues that may affect whether a student with a learning disability can fulfill his/her potential in your course. The second column offers a variety of strategies that can help to remove barriers to learning and well-being for a student with a learning disability.
Beside many of the strategies are the letters “UDL” highlighted in yellow. This indicates that the strategy is consistent with Universal Design for Learning. The instructor implements the strategy for the whole class, so that not only the student with a disability benefits from it. This also assures that a student with a disability is not singled out or identified as needing special provisions.