This overview was developed with information from

Bridges to Practice: A Research-based Guide for Literacy Practitioners Serving Adults with Learning Disabilities

and the LLA/LVA Learning Disabilities Training Guide

his publication was funded through a grant from the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) to Laubach Literacy Action and Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. The information that it contains is based upon work supported by the NIFL under Grant No. X257 B70003. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the values of the NIFL.

The contents of this document are not official statements of Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc. and Laubach Literacy Action. Legal information is included as examples and must be reviewed by qualified legal counsel for compliance and applicable federal and state laws.

This document may be reproduced for use by adult literacy programs. It may not be sold or included as a part of any print, video, or electronic product that will be sold unless written permission is obtained in advance from Laubach Literacy Action 1320 Jamesville Avenue, Syracuse, NY, 13210, or Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc., P. O. Box 6506, Syracuse, NY, 13217.

ProLiteracy Information Center

Tools and Resources for Individualizing Curriculum:

Keys to Success (TRICKS)

Literacy Volunteers of America-New York State

Based on Bridges to Practice: A Research-based Guide for Literacy Practitioners Serving Adults with Learning Disabilities

Basic Information for the Leader:

This is intended as follow-up training to the Learning Disabilities Overview, designed specifically for volunteer literacy tutors and staff in New York. This section was designed with input from practitioners from the six pilot sites that were originally selected by Literacy Volunteers of America-New York State for training throughout the state. The following questions were posed to representatives of the pilot sites to help determine what content to include in the training.

  1. How does the tutor help the adult learner determine areas of study?
  2. How does the tutor develop instructional plans and select and create appropriate materials?
  3. How can the tutor modify instruction?
  4. How can the tutor and the adult learner ensure that the characteristics of the instruction are effective and appropriate?
  5. How can the tutor and the adult learner assess and acknowledge progress?

The training addresses each question, but not in-depth, due to time constraints. The information in this section provides a foundation for other learning that tutors/teachers will want to pursue as they incorporate the 12 characteristics of good instruction into their work.

This script with learning tasks and package of handouts and transparencies provides structured and connected, informative, explicit, and scaffolded instruction. Your job is to follow the script that is printed with bold comic sans fontand facilitate the learning tasks so participants can do something with the material being presented. Remember Malcolm Knowles—80% DO. Place each learning task on the overhead projector, read it out loud, and leave it within view for the duration of the task. This allows participants to refer back to the directions for the task.

In training about learning disabilities (LD), the most important thing you must do is to model the behaviors you wish to see in our tutors at the end of the workshop. This includes modeling direct instruction. You do not assume anything as you teach. And you follow as closely as possible the 12 characteristics of LD-appropriate instruction:

  • Structured
  • Connected
  • Informative
  • Explicit
  • Direct
  • Scaffolded
  • Intensive
  • Process Sensitive
  • Accommodating
  • Evaluated
  • Generalizable
  • Enduring

For every overhead you use, there is a corresponding handout in the participant’s package. The handout packet should also contain other relevant pages from the Bridges to Practice books, available on the National Institute for Literacy’s Web site at .

WHO
Who are the participants?
  • Primary audience: tutors, tutor trainers, and teachers working with adult students in adult literacy programs
  • Also appropriate for interested program directors and board members
  • Anticipated number of participants is 20 persons
WHY
Why this training?

This follow-up training is designed to provide tools and resources needed for individualizing curriculum for tutors/teachers that work with adult students with learning disabilities/characteristics of learning disabilities.

WHEN

When is the training?

This three-hour in-service can be in the afternoon, following the overview, or presented as a separate in-service depending on the needs of the affiliate.

WHERE
Where is the training?

The training should be in a comfortable room, handicapped accessible, with seating suitable for large and small group work. The room should be equipped with an overhead projector and easel with permission to post paper charts on walls.

WHAT
What is the content to be learned?
  • Characteristics of LD-appropriate instruction
  • Methods to determine areas of study
  • Strategies to modify instruction
  • Appropriate instructional materials and accommodations/adaptations
  • Method the tutor/teacher and adult learner can use to evaluate and acknowledge progress

WHAT FOR

What are the achievement-based learning objectives?

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Analyze characteristics of effective instruction
  • Use a method to determine areas of study in partnership with the adult learner
  • Brainstorm strategies to modify instruction
  • Review selection standards and choose appropriate instructional materials and accommodations/adaptations
  • Describe a method the tutor/teacher and the adult learner can use to assess and acknowledge progress

HOW

How is the training presented, including the learning tasks?

1.Introduce yourself and explain this workshop.10 minutes

A trainer must always spend a few minutes establishing his/her credibility. The participants need to know who you are and why you are qualified to conduct the training. This is an important part of the training.

(Show Overhead 1: Welcome)

“My name is ______. I am interested in learning disabilities from a personal stance because ______(give any example from your family or friends or your teaching or tutoring experience), but I have also been trained in this area. I am a ______with Literacy Volunteers of ______, and I am a member of the tutor trainers’ group that has received instruction in learning disabilities through the Bridges to Practice project that is sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy. I want to share my knowledge with you because this is so important to the work we do. For many years, one of the most common requests from tutors and literacy programs across the country has been for information about working with adults who have learning disabilities or who may have the characteristics of learning disabilities.”

“Please note that you have received a packet of materials that we will be referring to throughout the workshop. For each of the information areas and activities we use, we are attempting to model a method of teaching that we hope your tutors will adopt. The one way, which we all know we should try to teach, is a conscious use of VAKT methods so that we reach all learners through their strongest modality. VAKT stands for visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. That is, our learners need to be able to see the material, hear the material, touch something that is connected to the lesson, and do something that requires a movement or activity that will help the learner remember the material. You will hear me speak; you will see the overhead and have the information in your packet. We will do several activities during the workshop, and we will provide opportunities for you to touch things that are related to this learning. Not all of these techniques may be necessary for you to learn, but your neighbor may need them, and our learners may need them, so we will include them all.”

“In your packet, please turn to page two. Read the objectives for this workshop while I read them from this graphic organizer.”

(ShowOverhead 2: Tools and Resources for Individualizing Curriculum: Keys to Success (TRICKS).)

“At the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

  • Analyze characteristics of effective instruction
  • Use a method to determine areas of study in partnership with the adult learner
  • Brainstorm strategies to modify instruction
  • Review selection standards and choose appropriate instructional materials and accommodations/adaptations
  • Describe a method the tutor/teacher and the adult learner can use to assess and acknowledge progress”

Learning Task #1: Warm-up10 minutes

“Our first learning task is a warm up to get to know each other and identify what qualities we think are important when working with adults who may have a learning disability”

“In pairs, introduce yourselves, and identify a quality that you believe is useful in working with adults with LD. Write the quality on a sticky note, and place it on the chart in front of the room. Please write large enough so the sticky notes can be read from a distance.”

Review the qualities, and keep them posted for duration of training.

  1. Characteristics of LD-appropriate Instruction30 minutes

[Reference Bridges to Practice, Guidebook 4, pages 41-49.]

(Show Overhead 3: Characteristics of LD-appropriate Instruction.)

List the 12 characteristics on a flipchart in the front of the room.

  • Structured—systematically teaching information that has been chunked into manageable parts
  • Connected—showing the learner how information in and among units and lessons are linked to the learning process and to learner goals
  • Informative—informing the learner how the learning process works, what is expected during the instructional situation, and how the learner can improve learning and performance
  • Explicit—providing detailed explanations and models to the learner about how to approach, think about, perform, and evaluate learning and performance
  • Direct—beginning with tutor/instructor leadership and control in initial stages of information acquisition and following with monitoring of the learner’s performance as the learner assumes control
  • Scaffolded—frequent using of connected questions and collaboratively constructed explanations to create a context for learning based on the learner’s prior knowledge
  • Intensive—helping learners maintain a high degree of attention and response during instructional sessions that are frequently scheduled
  • Process-sensitive—reshaping activities within the instructional sequence to take into consideration various cognitive barriers that might inhibit learning
  • Accommodating—providing specific and general adaptations that are legally required to reduce or eliminate the impact of a learning disability on successful learning and performance
  • Evaluated—adapting instruction based on an assessment of the learner’s progress and the learner’s response to previous attempts at instruction
  • Generalizable—using activities before, during, and after information has been mastered both to ensure continued application of the information and to increase the learner’s success outside of the literacy setting
  • Enduring—acknowledging and committing the time necessary to ensure that learners master the information and use it to increase their successes in life

Learning Task #2: LD-appropriate Instruction

“Here is our learning task on LD-appropriate Instruction.”

“Individually, review the material on Characteristics of LD-appropriate Instruction on page three in your handout packet. Place colored dots (stickers) next to the two characteristics with which you are most familiar and two different colored dots (stickers) next to the two characteristics with which you are least familiar. In the large group, notice the five characteristics with which we are most familiar (those five receiving most votes), and the five characteristics with which we are least familiar (those five receiving least votes). Discuss in detail the five characteristics with which we are least familiar.”

  1. Determine Areas of Study in Partnership with the Adult Learner

15 minutes

[Reference Bridges to Practice, Guidebook 3, pages 39-42.]

“A good method for involving the learner in developing the instructional plan is a questioning format between the learner and instructor/tutor. The idea being conveyed in the Bridges material—and supported in effective adult learning practice—is one of a constant dialogue with the learner regarding goal-setting, instructional planning, learning, and evaluation. In this process, the learner is truly involved in his/her learning.”

(Show Overhead 4: Cycle for Assessment, Planning and Instruction for Adults with Learning Disabilities.)

“The Steps on this graphic organizer describe a method or cycle for Assessment, Planning and Instruction.

  1. Gather appropriate information regarding the learner as recommended in the first meeting between tutor and learner from tutor training.
  2. Organize the information in a way the learner can relate, such as using a visual graphic organizer or index cards to help organize their goals.
  3. Draft a learner profile that approaches learning for the learner from a strengths/challenges perspective.

Involve the Learner in this method or cycle for assessment, planning, and instruction.

  1. Share gathered information, including test results, with the learner.
  2. Develop the learner profile of learning strengths and weaknesses with the learner.
  3. Evaluate the learner profile with the learner, prioritizing objectives, setting timeline, deciding on accommodation or intervention strategies.”

Have participants share their experiences with learner involvement in instructional planning, as time permits.

  1. Review Strategies to Modify Instruction30 minutes

[Reference Bridges to Practice, Guidebook 3, pages 11-22]

(Show Overhead 5: Five Curricular Options in Working with Adults with LD.)

“Definitions of curriculum vary widely because of alternative perceptions held by theorists about the nature and organization of education. A general definition: the vehicle for bringing about behavioral changes in learners as a result of planned activities/materials in an educational environment.”

Review the five curricular options and explain from information below. (The curricular options activity cards are included in back pocket of your manual).

“For the next learning task, we need to count off by fives and get into groups. You will have approximately ten minutes to complete the activity and five minutes for each group to report back. Here is your learning task.”

Learning Task #3: Curricular Options

“In small groups, review the curricular option card assigned to your group. Complete the instructions given on your card. We will hear all.”

Five Curricular Options in Working with Adults with LD

  1. Basic Skills—These are fundamental academic skills, i.e., word decoding, syllabication, or math calculation functions:
  • reading—phonological awareness, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension
  • mathematics—language, symbols, concepts, and strategies
  • writing—mechanics, structure, and meaning

In small group, brainstorm at least two instructional strategies for each skill. Share with the large group.

  1. Learning Strategies—This means the learner’s approach to a task, specifically how a learner plans, executes, and evaluates performance.
  2. Learning strategies relate to acquiring, storing, understanding, and expressing information.
  3. A good learning strategy will provide an efficient and effective step-taking approach to completing a task. We all use them!

In the small group, brainstorm a list of learning strategies to share with the large group.

  1. Critical Content—Instruction in critical content requires that you sort through the conceptual information of a particular life skill, select the most important concepts and supporting information, and then help the adult acquire the information.

In the small group, choose two “critical content” areas from the following list: get a CDL, pass the GED, register to vote, order from a restaurant menu, get a job, find transportation, find childcare. Create a list of concepts and information important to learning that specific “critical content” area. Share with the large group.

  1. Social Skills—This involves teaching adults how to interact with others appropriately, i.e., teamwork, problem solving, interpersonal skills, oral communication, and listening. Adults with learning disabilities often have difficulty learning and using social skills. Difficulties with short-term memory, attention, expressive and receptive communication, and an inability to interpret facial expressions or gestures may predispose adults with learning disabilities to poor social skills.

In the small group, brainstorm “social skills” areas that adults with learning disabilities might work on. Choose two social skill areas and tell the large group how you would approach them with an adult learner.

  1. Self-Advocacy—This involves teaching information that will help learners make decisions, set and attain goals, communicate rights, take responsibility, apply skills and knowledge in daily lives, link with support services. It may include:
  2. understanding the learner’s disability (ies)
  3. learner’s legal rights and responsibilities
  4. ways to request accommodations

In the small group, review items a, b, and c above. Brainstorm how you would teach information related to each item. Share these with the large group.

[Trainer Note: There is an additional activity called curricular options case scenarios. Instructions and scenarios are included in this manual. You may want to review one scenario and brainstorm with the large group, or do the entire activity if time allows. This activity could also be used as a follow up in-service].

  1. Review Instructional Materials, Adaptations and Accommodations 45 minutes

[For standards, reference Bridges to Practice, Guidebook 3, pages 43-50; for Adaptations and Accommodations, reference Bridges to Practice, Guidebook 4, pages 12-19]

This next learning task and series of overheads gives information on adaptations, accommodations, instructional materials, and strategies—specifically phonological awareness and use of a graphic organizer. (The selection standards handout is included in the packet for future use, but there is no overhead or learning task related to the standards in this design due to time constraints. This is a piece you may want to include in a follow-up in-service).