What to do if you a suspect a student has a Learning Disability
Often students enter the Writing Center with papers that are written
so poorly that it leads the tutor to automatically assume that there is
a possibility of a learning disability in writing. As likely as it may seem
at first, most often these students have simply not put enough effort into
thier paper or just did not like the assignment. A true learning disability
can only be detected once the tutor is able to fully understand how that
student writes. Often this takes several visits including a review of verity
of different papers.
Although there are very few writing tutors who are certified to label students
as learning disabled, there are many signs which can set off red flags signaling
a problem. A tutor should have some idea of what to look out for, and know
the basic symptoms of a learning disorder. Once the tutor notices a characteristic
of a learning disorder, he or she should observe several different samples
of the student's writing and check for patterns. The individual who would
know the most about a student's writing is the student himself. By asking
the student where he has had trouble in the past, a tutor can gain a better
understanding of how to deal with the problem. Having an understanding of
the student's writing abilities can help a tutor determine whether or not
there is a need for concern.
Quite often a tutor might be confused if a student who appears to be very
intelligent comes in with papers that show severe signs of a learning disability
in writing. Often people with learning disabilities are categorized as either
dumb, retarded or stupid. Some question the likelihood a learning disabled
student making it into college in the first place. According to Julie Neff,
"Often learning disabled students who come to college score in the
above average range of the standard IQ tests and have finely honed skills
for compensating for and adapting to their particular disability" (Neff,
82). A student might be very intelligent but at the same time poses a disability.
Writing tutors should not rule anyone out of having a learning disability
until they have had enough experience with the student to fully understand
their writing.
Once a tutor feels that there is a good chance the student has a disability,
the Writing Center Director should be notified. One of the worse approaches
a tutor can take it to tell the student outright that they might have a
learning disability. Tutors are not professionally trained to certify someone
as disabled and therefore should avoid even mentioning the topic to a student.
To a student, this information might seem like an insult if it is coming
from a peer tutor. Although most Writing Center Directors can not certify
a student as disabled, they can point the student in the right direction
for professional help.