Supporting LD’s with the “home-team”
Right now in Toronto, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are thousands of students who are physically and virtually “absent” from school. Students with a learning disability, twice exceptional profile, or ADHD are at higher right to disengage from their schooling in a home-based learning environment. For students and caregivers reading this, I first want you to start from a place of grace and patience. The pandemic has exposed a lot of vulnerabilities in our society, and access to education is one of them. For the young person who has a learning challenge that affects their motivation and focus, their educational job just got exponentially harder without any additional supports. Give yourselves a pat on the back for taking up the challenge of learning in the pandemic era.
There are a lot of best practices out there and I’d encourage you to continue past this blog to learn more. One practice that I want to highlight in this post is reframing home-based learning to “home-team learning”. At school, the student with a learning challenge would (ideally) have access to additional supports such as more time on tests, a specialized class (i.e. GLE), modified assignments, one-on-one help, and so on. The school and teachers provided a team behind these tools that encouraged the student to use the above tools and move through the curriculum.
With the pandemic students, teachers and parents are recreating the team and the tools to support successful learning. A major part of these new plans need the “home-team” approach. What was once done in the school is now re-imagined on the home front. This means family members collaborating with the student on what is needed to put in useful supports. Start with a needs assessment.
Ask questions like:
-what supports existed before that don’t exist in this context (i.e. library tutoring)?
-can the student engage in learning without encouragement or reminder?
-are there powerful distractions that interfere with learning?
Then move into questions that generate solutions and opportunities:
-what opportunities exist now (i.e. greater flexibility around timing of work)?
-what/who could we pull in to help (i.e. tutor, school work dedicated space/computer)?
-what kind of regular planning is needed (i.e. daily “to do” list, weekly planning session on Sunday evening)?
-what are some special rewards for engaging in these new approaches (i.e. a game, meal choices)?
You’ll notice that the above happen in the context of a family conversation. This kind of planful meeting is new to a lot of families. Start small, focus on one or two questions from the needs assessment, with the goal of understanding your student’s perspective. Praise every step they take towards collaboration. Consider adding pizza to the mix, that could help too.
Good luck