Help for the young adult with learning problems is almost nil in the country. Focus is often in catching them young to prevent the discrepancy and help the at risk category. However, there are a large number of adolescents and adults out there who have not been identified. Unfortunately, they have accumulated heavy burdens due to their learning problem and learning styles. These people need, not only the help of special educators, but also adequate help in vocational guidance, counseling to build their battered self-esteem, and understanding from employer and employees.
The young adult however is fully aware of the need for a school completion certificate i.e. a pass in the XII std. examination. Twenty or thirty years ago the pressure on the school completion was almost not there. young adults, especially boys with incomplete schooling often ended up working in the father business. These young people did achieve success in their later lives. Today the picture seems to have changed. An incomplete education often closes the road to progress and show what they are capable of doing. Hence I feel there is a great and urgent need to provide remedial education, to develop a suitable higher secondary education and adult intervention programs to help those with learning disabilities. This is an important as the requirement to catch them young.
The term adolescence come from a Latin word meaning grow up. This period can be described as one with continuous growth changes influenced by social and cultural values from their environment. Does the loving youngster change into a puzzle person? There are specific characteristics which separate them clearly from their childhood. To name a few physical growth, more mobile and functionally more independent, need to show their identity or self, peer influence, sexual maturity, ability to think in the abstract, more interactive, have peer standards improved span of attention and more self-motivation .
These are true to young adults with no learning disabilities. However, our category of student do have all characteristics together with some more hindering factors. These affects the demands placed at this span of one’s life the Ld. young adult like his peer seeks independence and does not want to be different from his peers.
Academic Requirements of this age group
- Obtaining information from written or printer matter.
- Obtaining information from class lectures.
- Examination skills
- Adequate written expression skills
- Being able to work in dependently with no or little feedback.
- Effective cognitive and metacognitive strategies
- Appropriate social interaction
- Motivation to learn
- Vacation and employment requirements
Employment skills
- Reading and writing letters, response to an advertisement.
- Listening, accepting suggestion and criticism.
- Oral language- interview, explaining
- Work independently and accept feedback.
Characteristics of young adults with LD .( Mercer)
Adolescents with learning disabilities enter high school with record of a school failures and learning difficulties. The difficulties may be seen in or more of the following:
- Academic Deficits
- Cognitive and metacognitive deficits
- Deficiencies in learning strategies and study skills
- social interaction Deficits
- Delinquency and learning Disabilities
- Academic Deficits
Academic underachievement is a major characteristic, they may be in middle on a high school level but their reading and writing level will often be in the range of a high third grade to sixth or seventh grade. In math, the average high is around fifth grade. Studies have shown that secondary level students averaged five to seven years below their mental age. Hence, the much talked about discrepancy factor is clearly seen.
The deficit seems to be in the basic skills. The focus at the secondary level is the content acquisition and there is there is no help or guidance to improve student s basic skills. they may show marked improvement with the remedial teacher who helps them with material designed for their basic skills level. However, the same student may fumble badly at their tenth or the secondary level classes. It looks like there is no opportunity to prove what they have acquired. Low grades and failures at content work demoralize them and tend to make them lose they motivation. This could make remedial work to appear insignificant to them. The student at this point could feel it is not worth the effort and success is not for them. It is here the remedial teacher has an important role. The teachers need to boost the morale of the student.
Cognitive and metacognitive deficits
These students may have difficulty in how to use and apply the learned skill to improve their learning They may also show difficulties in reflecting on their thinking process and make decision as how to go about and complete an activity successfully. It is found that the way they approach a task is different from their not learning disabled peers. Often they do not as group information or make mental picture or try verbal preparations.
It has been found that adolescents with LD have delayed or deficit executive functioning where selection and coordination of cent rain like memorization are effected. They also lack in problem solving skills.
Adequate metacognitive skills would indicate –ability to plan, self – question, self-monitor. It is Often seen that these students have difficulty in self-assessment and giving themselves a feedback. This lack of awareness for self-assessment and feedback has to be brought to their notice. They need to be taught to become self-aware. Secondly they also have difficulty in generalization from one learning situation to another and see the relationship and apply the acquired information.
Deficiencies in Learning Strategies and Study Skills
The two terms are closely connected. Most of these student face difficulties in talking a test and study skills. Other major areas of difficulties would be note taking, listening comprehension, monitoring their own mistakes and in scanning a passage while reading. studies have shown that even if the level of the text is within the student basic level i.e. a tenth grade subject material is presented at the student reading level like a third or fourth grade material in history is written at a third grade reading level; the performance may be poor because they may lack strategies to apply the skills they have been taught. If these students are taught methods of how to apply and organize their achievement will show marked improvement.
Social Interaction Deficits
Sometimes these students or young adults are not very popular among their friends. They may have socially unacceptable behavior be less efficient in solving social problems or in predicting them and be less thoughtful about others feelings and thoughts. These poor social skills can be as weary and exhausting as poor academic work.
Delinquency and Learning Disabilities.
Difficulty with Judgement decision making goal setting social perceptions and consequences place the student at a high risk category for delinquency. some exports in the field are of the view that young adult with his sense of failure and frustration tends to adopt aggressive behavior. However, there is no concrete proof relating juvenile delinquency and learning disabilities.
Motivation Deficits
Motivation especially towards academic work, appears to be nil with learning disabled student. what we see in them is an inactive leaner, with helplessness for learning and a lack of intrinsic motivation. These students often do not see the relationship between effort and success They may fail to realize the need to complete the tenth grade, which is very essential in today highly compensative world. They have difficulty in maintaining their commitment to learn they have goals or de finite plans for their failure and also have difficulty in setting and attaining goals.
We can say these students do show a lack of a motivation to most kinds of work. Motivation often is the focus of the program and a great part of time is allotted to this. student in grade 6 to 12 need a program that offer help in planning and implementing of the teaching approach.
Intervention program
The program needs world be: 1. academic remediation 2. Learning strategies, regular course work with supportive instructions, functional living skills, and career- related instruction. The instruction for these could be form special educators, regular class teacher, counselors and vocational educators. Since this is not a homogenous, group the services required would very the student to student.
Intervention
The three major areas for intervention would be skill, content and strategies.
Skill oriented approaches; The student is taught skill that are needed for academic areas in which he is facing difficult. The two are areas are basic skills and study skill.
Basic skills focus reading rate, fluency etc, writing -spelling and sentence structure, and math concepts and facts.
Study skills could involve instruction in organizational and their specific learning problems.
Content- oriented approaches; tutoring in content areas, where the content is presented in a different or modified manner or having alternate courses to lower the difficulty of the content.
The disadvantage- is that we make the student more dependent on others for assistance if they cannot master the skills needed to apply it on their own.
strategy oriented approaches; I intend to skip strategy oriented approaches, for we had the opportunity to hear Mrs. Schindele’s talk.
Alternative and supportive approaches
Motivation
Social development
Essential skills
This is very important for secondary students with severe learning problems. It Is important to teach these skills directly and systematically. often they learn these through trial and error which could be costly and time consuming.
A functional living curriculum Kokaska and Brolin 1985 from Mercer is a s follows;
1.Managing family finances
2.Selecting, managing and maintaining a home
3.Caring or personal needs
4.Family living
5.Buying and preparing food
6.Buying and caring for clothing
7.Engaging in civic activities
8.Using recreation and leisure
9.Getting around
Adults with learning disabilities
Let us look at an adult with learning disabilities. The difficulties often persist and the problem
Seems only larger and complex. This appears to be an area not much probed even in the west.
The problems are seen in employment, independent living and educational situations.
The major deficits are in cognitive areas like attention, memory, expression comprehension and problem solving which is essential for daily life at home and work. A study by Blalock 1982 Mercer has shown adult with learning disabilities have some form of oral language or auditory processing deficit.
Hence we can say that they need in social skills and work habits. In social skills the problem may due to disagreements, misunderstanding, communication and maintaining appropriate appearance. In work, they may slow, unable to cope with job pressure, or have difficulty with following direction and deficits in reading and writing. These problems often lead no job dissatisfaction.
An adult with learning disabilities would need help in one many of the following areas social relationship and skill. Career counseling, building self-confidence, becoming independent, getting and holding a job, reading, spelling, managing money, and organizational skills.
In conclusion I would like to quote from an article ‘The handicap That Had NO Name’ by Dale Brown.
Learning about my problem, changed me from a person who hated herself to someone who likes herself and knows that she is struggling with a real handicap. My problems have not changed but my attitude has.