Factors That Influence Students' Success - Research Paper Example

Problems in School: Factors That Influence Students’ Success What could limit or diminish the capacity for students to learn and achieve at their highest levels? What are some early signs of learning disabilities? Further, what prevention measures or techniques or activities can be used to overcome or resolve problems or barriers to learning? Many children have learning disabilities, have undiagnosed but obvious problems related to dyslexia when reading, and are slow to process information. Some students also suffer from a short-term memory deficit which makes learning new information difficult. Students having learning disabilities is not an uncommon occurrence. There are many students in the schools in the United States who have learning disabilities, which should be recognized by the school counselor and taken into account by the special education team working within the schools. Learning disabilities can greatly affect students’ ability to learn and achieve at their highest levels. Various disabilities, including children who have time-constraints, anxiety, embarrassment, and are slow to process, as well as those who have other disabilities, may be at a disadvantage. Students who have visual or hearing impairments may similarly be at a loss. They too must have an education that is comparable to other students’ education, but this comes at a price. Students must have the same access to all of the materials that non-disabled students do in order to succeed. Disabled students must not be treated like they are second-class citizens. In order to ensure that this is the case, disabled students’ IEP’s should be given first priority when a teacher develops his or her lesson plans. Disabled students should always be included in the overall lesson plan and be given the least restrictive learning environment, as dictated by law. A disability can limit a student’s capacity to learn at his or her highest levels because there are barriers to his or her success. He or she must overcome several hurdles just to be able to keep up with other students. Students have difficulty learning when their ability to function is hindered somehow. For example, students with visual difficulties may have trouble seeing their assignments properly. Students with hearing problems may mishear the teacher. Also, they may not hear important instructions such as on a quiz or test. Students with time-constraints disabilities may need more time to complete tasks. As such, it may be difficult for them to work under time pressure that other students don’t have difficulties with, basically because they are relatively normal. Students with embarrassment issues may be too shy to finish a quiz or test late, and thus will hand in unfinished work. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make sure that these students also have the same shot at receiving a good grade as those without embarrassment. Students who have anxiety should be placed in a relaxed atmosphere and be allowed to try to complete quizzes and tests in an atmosphere that is non-threatening. Likewise, students who have difficulty processing information should be given more time on quizzes and tests in order to fully understand everything that is being presented to them. Early learning signs of learning disabilities should be diagnosed quickly so that students can get the help they need. Teachers should refer students to the appropriate counseling professionals in the school should they notice that students are having trouble with the material, either because they can’t hear, see, or have an otherwise impending difficulty of some sort. There is not any good reason why a student can’t turn in assignments—unless, however, if that student is having trouble in school due to an undiagnosed disability. In that case, something must be done right away to counteract the effects of the student’s disability on his or her performance. Rick LaVoie, in his video F.A.T. City Workshop, describes the fact that educators must do things differently when it comes to learning disabled students. Students with multiple problems are the rule not the exception. Since some students suffer from undiagnosed dyslexia, their difficulties with reading are immense. LaVoie offered a picture in the video with the lowercase letter “d” showing how a dyslexic student reads his or her book. He turned the letter over to make it a “b” and then turned it upside down to make it a letter “p.” If this wasn’t confusing enough, he also showed how letters on the page would appear to a learning disabled student, having the letters range from very high to very low on multiple lines, making it difficult if not impossible to read. In the case of some students, if they follow the pattern of an individual who is dyslexic, their brains will rely heavily on long-term memory and not functional tasks. The normal brain, however, deals with sensory information and with sight. This would seriously affect how students responded to reading tasks, and proper accommodations would have to be made so that reading activities stressed similar and dissimilar events (compare and contrast) and the use of opposites. Such accommodations would be geared towards the part of the brain being utilized. Some learning disabled students are also slow to process information. Rick LaVoie, in F.A.T. City Worshop, had a segment where was also a picture of a cow shown where the student could not figure out what the animal was. The example was supposed to show that the perception of the learning disabled student would not be to properly identify an object that was vague in presentation. Many young learners, like students LaVoie talks about, will need special care and attention, and personal tutoring, not given to other students. Learning disabled students need someone who will go over their assignments with them at a pace they can handle. According to Juntunen et. al. (2001), “Approximately 11% of children 6 to 19 years of age…were overweight and obese” (pp. 18). Students’ health can affect how they score on tests and quizzes, as well as affect their general overall studiousness. So, what can be done to prevent and/or help students who have disabilities? The best step is early detection. According to Hallahan (2000), accommodations include more time for tests, oral tests and quizzes, and having a modified grading scale. Students with visual difficulties should have their tests and quizzes written in large print. They should also have appropriate devices available to them in order to make print bigger. Students with hearing problems may ask for the teacher to repeat things he or she has said in order to make sure they do not mishear. Also, the teacher should speak louder for students who have hearing problems. Students with time-constraints disabilities will need more time to complete tasks. Time pressure situations should not be an issue. Students with time constraints should not have to worry that their time is going to run out to complete a quiz or test. Students with time-constraints should be able to complete tests and quizzes on their own time and not be disturbed. Students with embarrassment issues may be given a special place in the classroom where they can work undisturbed. It is the teacher’s responsibility to make sure that embarrassment students are not unduly embarrassed about their performance on assessments. Students who have anxiety should be placed in a non-threatening atmosphere where they can complete their assessments in peace. Additionally, students who have difficulty processing information should be allowed more time on assessments so that they can comprehend all of the material. Special education students may, but do not always, have learning disabilities. These students may also have undiagnosed dyslexia. Finally, these students struggle with processing information. It is hoped that with the help of educators at their schools, IEP’s will be developed to help them, as well as other measures that can be taken into account in order to make their learning experiences more palatable. REFERENCES Hallahan, D. (2000). Exceptional learners: introduction to special education. USA: Allyn and Bacon. Juntunen, C., and Atkinson, D.R. (2001). Counseling across the lifespan: prevention and treatment. USA: Sage Publications. Read More