There are plenty of things that can be done to help deal with learning disabilities – at school, at work, at home, and in relationships. In the links below, you can find some essential information about what helps.
Just as the stress of learning disabilities can affect a family, it can also have a big impact on other important relationships.. Dating,and long-term relationships involve subtle communications and negotiations , so an LD that affects communication is certainly going to have an impact. Organisational issues can make living together, sharing expenses and planning difficult. Attention and focus difficulties can leave one or both partners feel ignored or unimportant.
Self-knowledge is, again, the key to this. A loving partner can deal much more easily with a difficult character trait if they can understand, talk about, and help with it. All partnerships work through balancing strengths and weaknesses, and if both people can be honest and clear about these from the start, unpleasant surprises can be avoided.
Relationships are never easy, and there isn’t anyone out there who’s “perfect” (ie. has no “issues”.) We all have to work to blend lives and families, and people with LDs are no different. But a positive union is a powerful thing, so give it a strong start by being positive, honest and solution-focussed about your LDs – and the rest of what makes you unique.
Coping with LDs at work involves the use of compensatory strategies as well.
First of all, it is important to find a job that fits with your strengths. Working in a job where you run into your weak areas most of every day is possible, but it will always be a struggle. One of the advantages of completing school is being able (within limits of course) to avoid the areas that cause you the most trouble. The program Job-Fit was developed to help people with LDs figure out what type of job would work best for them. Select this link to read more about Job-Fit.
Just as in school, you can figure out what strategies work best for you in order to compensate for your weak areas. Sometimes the strategies you used in school are useful at work as well, but you might also need to develop some new ones. For this you might need to get help from a workplace counselor or other professional who understands LDs.
You are entitled to accommodations in the workplace for your LDs, as long as the accommodations allow you to do the job effectively, and they don’t cost the company so much that they affect its survival (or health and safety). This is called ‘undue hardship’ under the Human Rights Code. Most accommodations for LDs are not that expensive. Select this link to read more about Human Rights provisions in employment.
In order to access workplace accommodations, you are required to inform your employer of your needs and cooperate in obtaining any necessary professional advice. This is called disclosure, and it is a difficult issue. Some people with LDs prefer to informally explain what things help them to be a more effective worker, e.g “I work best in a quiet environment” or “I can remember instructions better if they are written down”. If supervisors or co-workers are not cooperating, however, it might be necessary to disclose. Your can read more about disclosure and possible workplace accommodations in the following articles.
Whether or not you disclose your LDs at work, it is very important that you understand your strengths and needs, and that you can explain these to others. You might want to practice this with someone you trust.
Schools at all levels offer assistance of various kinds to people with learning disabilities. These include everything from help with organisation, alternate lesson deliveries, scribing, note-taking and alternative forms of testing.
There is a growing trend towards offering individualized education in Ontario’s public school classrooms. This, in addition to the early identification and intervention programs, will ensure that struggling students are noticed and assisted without delay. For more on this, please see the Web Based Teaching Tool section on this site.
School services for students with LDs are improving greatly; however, because LDs are a relatively recently understood phenomenon, not every teacher or other school staff will have this understanding. Again, understanding your own LDs and knowing what helps you will be invaluable in this situation, so that you can explain how you learn and what you need.
Schools can offer accommodations for learning styles and disabilities at their discretion; however, a process is also in place whereby an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is developed for a student.
Another level above that is an IPRC process, which formally identifies a student’s right to a special education program and an IEP.
At college or university, there are offices for students with disabilities, now often called Accessibility Services, where arrangements can be made for accommodations and other supports such as learning strategies. Documentation of the learning disabilities is usually required for these services.
Learning disabilities can have a large impact on a person’s home-life as well. Social difficulties, hyperactivity, disorganisation and communication-issues can all affect a family, as can the stress that people bring home when their days at work or school are difficult. Additionally, having one member of a family who requires more help can leave other siblings feeling ignored; and having a child who struggles is a stressor on any marriage.
In order for families to weather these issues, the first step is ensuring that all members understand and recognize the effects of LDs/ADHD. Speaking openly (and courteously) about the issues, rather than pretending they are not there, can go a long way to decreasing a family’s stress.
Family counselling is an option worth exploring. When all members are equally stressed, having an outsider guide discussions may be the best option. It is important to remember that all members of a family are affected by the struggles of a single member, and so the stress of all members must be considered. When a family can work through hard times in a healthy, productive way, they can forge an even deeper bond.
Families can also do much to help with developing solid and effective compensatory strategies, since they know the person with LDs best. Group problem-solving around compensation can help a family member feel supported and confident, giving him or her more confidence to try the compensations at school. It also allows the person with the LDs the chance to practice their skills and strategies in a safe environment.
What is Assistive Technology?
Assistive (or Adaptive) Technology (AT) is the term used to describe all of the tools, products, and devices – from the simplest to the most complex – that can make a particular function easier or possible to perform . Some assistive technologies include screen readers, alternative keyboards, head pointing devices, voice recognition software, and screen magnification software.
Who Uses AT?
Often AT devices and products are designed in order to assist a particular group of individuals with specific disabilities. People who are blind or have low vision will often use screen reader software to help them read written text. People with physical disabilities, which render them unable to use a traditional keyboard, might instead use a foot pedal or mouth tube and switch in order to carry out functions on a computer.
What Type of AT Do People With Learning Disabilities Use?
Because learning disabilities affect the way we take in and process information, the most common types of AT used by people with learning disabilities are focused around reading, language, organisational skills, and processing information. Some examples are:
- Screen Reading Software
Screen reading software will read the text that appears on a computer screen to the user. Screen reading software is particularly useful for individuals with dyslexia, but is also used for people who are auditory learners. - Speech/Voice Recognition Software
Speech/Voice recognition software also sometimes referred to as speech-to-text software will convert the spoken word into text on a page, or into computer commands (i.e. opening files, or navigating software applications) via a microphone. Speech recognition software is particularly useful for individuals who have written expressive difficulties and difficulty using keyboards to navigate software applications.Note: Voice recognition technology is improving all the time, but there is a bit of a learning curve involved with this technology. Voice recognition software trains itself to recognize the individual speech patterns of its users. The more the software is used the better it becomes at recognizing the user’s voice. Because of this required time investment, patience is needed when you initially begin using such a program.
- Word prediction Software
Word prediction software will present possible words that a user is looking for while typing text, which the user can select with a mouse click. The software will also predict the next possible word based on frequency of usage and context. This technology is particularly useful for individuals with difficulty spelling, and for people who have difficulty typing. - Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software will convert paper based text into electronic text for use with screen readers. A scanner is needed to scan materials from book or other paper-based text. The OCR will then recognize the letter shapes through imaging analysis and convert them to electronic text. This technology is particularly useful for individuals who cannot access printed materials due to low vision or processing deficits. - Visual Organizers
Visual Organizers are used to present ideas, concepts, information, and related concepts in the form of charts, tables, graphs, flowcharts, and diagrams. This technology is particularly useful for individuals who have difficulty processing, analyzing, and comprehending text-based information but is also used for people who are visual learners. - Electronic Organizers
Electronic or digital organizers are hardware devices or software used for time management and resource organisation. This technology is particularly useful for individuals who have difficulty with time management and organisation, and is also used by people who are tactile learners and prefer opportunities where they can actually do something physically with the information they are to learn.
Learning disabilities are complicated, but helping isn’t. Simple compensatory strategies can make all the difference in the world, as can technology, practice, empathy, patience, and understanding. Central to ALL of these methods is self-knowledge: if you understand your LDs and your strengths, you can ask for effective assistance, explain yourself, and help others understand your needs.
Compensatory strategies are simply ways to use your strengths – we all have them – to compensate for your weaknesses (we all have them!). If, for example, you have trouble interpreting spoken language, you may ask a teacher if there are materials you could read in preparation for a lecture, or instead of the lecture. If reading takes so much energy that you don’t learn well while you read, you could listen to the audio book, or do an exam out loud.
There are possible compensations for any sort of LDs, because all people with LDs have strengths as well. Some compensations may require some imagination, and many will require the understanding of others; but most people respond well to clear requests for assistance.
Practice: Some LDs may make certain areas of learning extremely difficult, but generally, weaknesses can be addressed to some degree through exercise. In addition to anything else you do to compensate for and address your learning difficulties, practice what you find difficult.
Technology: There are some fantastically helpful technologies available, ranging from free to expensive. Screen-Readers will read internet pages and documents out loud. Voice-recognition software can type what you speak.