Focus on Learning Disabilities

By Sheila Marshall, Timmins Learning Centre

Several months ago I was given the opportunity to attend (on behalf of Community Literacy of Ontario) a series of three weekend workshops on Learning Disabilities (LD) facilitated by Pat Hatt. Many of you are already familiar with Pat and probably have her book, Target Literacy, on your bookshelf. Pat is a wonderful resource person and is also very passionate about trying to ensure that learners with learning disabilities receive the help they need to achieve their potential.

Those of us working in literacy also want to see all of our learners achieve and reach their goals. Unfortunately, many of us feel inadequate when teaching adults whom we suspect have learning disabilities. How do we know they have LD? What kind of LD do they have? What strategies work best with different LD? I cannot answer all of these questions in the depth you might like, but I will try to share with you some of the insights I have gained from this training.

Learning Disabilities is a huge topic, and three weekends could not possibly give anyone all the information they require. The workshops covered a number of topics: definitions, assessment, screening, teaching strategies, accommodations, resources, and assistive devices. At the end of this training I came back to my program with two large binders packed with information and resources and the huge task of organizing it into a meaningful package of use to others.