Sze, Susan. "MISLABELED READING AND LEARNING DISABILITIES: ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT FOR READING DIFFICULTIES IN STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES." College Student Journal 43.4 (2009): 1015-1019. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.
Suzan Sze uses this academic article to dissect the relationship between reading and learning disabilities, and how mislabeling occurs. Students with LD (learning disabilities) are not lost in the academic world, by participating in reading programs, students can read at or above their grade level. Too often are physically disabled students labeled with LD because “they did not perform on the general assessment due to a biological factor” (Sze). I think those managing a museum should take factors like this into account in creating an exhibit, so that those with disabilities can access and understand what they are seeing.
Sze has goals to improve the way educators treat those with LD so that they may succeed and progress in their reading comprehension. When a student affected with LD is held back in school, they are not further being helped to succeed, only being set up for more failure. Students need to be guided by teachers and parents to get involved in a program; while this process is not easy because according to Sze,
The work load may be double for a student with LD because first they have to work on retaining the information, then figure out the assignment, and finally complete the task when a typical student just has to read the instructions and complete the task,
I agree taking steps like these will aid in a successful future for the participants (Sze). Perhaps using scientific museums as a medium to interest kids with LD, teachers can facilitate better teaching strategies by being surrounded in a thought provoking environment.
According to dictionary.com, a learning disability is defined as, “any disorder that interferes with an individual's ability to learn […] and are thought to be caused by difficulties in processing and integrating information.” Students with LD are at an automatic disadvantage compared to masses of unaffected students; therefore require extra work in teaching them the skills other students possess. My best friend has had LD for as long as I have known him, and he still struggles with them today as a college student, however, due to his hard work and dedication in after school programs he is earning a college degree! While learning new material does not come to him as fast as a normal student, he is able to perform at the same level of expectations by taking extra time to study and read. One can use his/her own LD as an excuse for not being as successful as gifted student, or they can make the extra effort and succeed by working hard and dedicating their time to their goals.
Sze states that students affected by LD have trouble reading works and understanding their meaning, does this mean they are unable to make sense of what they hear? I do not think so, so by incorporating LED displays with speakers to explain an exhibit visually and auditorily, scientists have a better chance to reach the disabled audience. While making a student with LD enroll and actively participate in a program sounds relatively easy, there will always be students who are embarrassed of their situation and will not take the program seriously, that being said, is there a procedure or way to make these types of programs appeal and be relevant to learning disabled students? More information on how to persuade a student to enroll in their program would be beneficial to those reading this article.
Hi Paul:
ReplyDeleteI'll be responding to both of your extended bibliography entries, along with your in-class freewrite, here.
I appreciate the strength of the sources you've been able to find, even as they take different approaches to your topic area. Werrett provides an interesting look at the intersections between the sciences, the arts, and history. At the same time, Sze discusses the challenges faced by learners with LD and you interestingly extend this discussion into a consideration for museums. These two articles address vastly different topics, but I think that's useful and productive for the exploratory research you're doing now.
As time goes on, you'll probably want to find sources that are clustered around a particular topic-area. Eg, the historical reach of science or the facilitative role museums play in learning. From what I can tell about your interests (mostly from the in-class freewrite) I'm wondering if the former might be a more productive track? Looking at how places such as the Discovery Center intersect with the broader importance (or lack of) our culture places on science could potentially be fascinating.
Keep up the good work!
THANK YOU! I will continue to refine my work to create a solid thesis for the final Unit 1 project.
ReplyDelete1. Your MLA work-cited is written very well and in the correct manor. So good job on that part of it. I didn't see anything in it that you could really inprove on. Haha
ReplyDelete2.Prompt Two- You start off very strong and you keep going in that direction, good job. You break all your information down and give it a good overview of what you think about your article. I really didn't see anything that you did wrong or anything like that, so pretty much you did a good job. Haha
Prompt Three- From your response, it seems to me that you got a lot of good information and you were able to break it down into terms that were easy to understand. I really thought it was cool that you brought up your friend having LD and that with a little extra hard work and studying, someone with LD can acheive anything that someone without LD could. All throughout this response you did a good job with all the information and your thoughts on what you got out of the autor's writing. So, yet again I really didn't see anything you could improve on, you do a great job.
Prompt Four- You followed the requirements very well that are on the unit one sheet. Your questions/responses were very well written and went very well with your writing earlier. The only thing I thought you could do to improve on it was maybe have a few more question. But, other that that you did a very good job all throughout your writing.
3. Once again, you did a great job with the quotations in your writing and you did a good job at stating what you got out of the quotation and what your perspective was on the author's thoughts throughout her writing.
4. Dude you do a very good job all throughout your bibiography and I really have a hard time at finding things you can improve on, simply because you do such a good job. I like it though, because it makes my job easy. Haha. Good Job!!