Learning strategies
Students with learning disabilities will find that these tips help them cope. All students who are in transition from integrated studies in one classroom with one or few teachers to distinct subject classes with several teachers will find these suggestions helpful. Use an agenda book or a small lined calendar book to organize your time and list your homework and assignments.
• Sit near the front, close to the teacher and away from the distractions out the windows.
• Use an expanding file folder or one large binder with dividers and a three-hole punch to organize handouts and homework papers in subject categories.
• Enrol in classes to acquire skills in computer use, particularly keyboarding and word processing. Computer programs offer real help for students with learning disabilities in writing and mathematics.
• Consider acquiring a home computer and word processing software for use in writing and research. A laptop computer would allow a teen with a learning disability to take notes during classes or at the library.
• Learn to use the spell checker in the word-processing program on the computer; if you don't have a computer, check out the usefulness of a hand-held spell checker or dictionary.
• If handwriting is a problem and you don't have a computer, ask a friend who takes good notes if you can photocopy them.
• Use a highlighting pen to emphasize the main ideas in photocopies of materials or in the textbooks that you own.
• Tape-record classes or dictate your notes about the research you've been doing so that you can input them later.
• Try to enrol in classes with teachers who adapt their instructional style to the needs of their students.
• Focus on developing skills in self-evaluation and self-editing.
• Write information in notebooks in a way that reflects your personal learning style. Arrange material in hierarchical format with headings and subheadings, using ruled note paper; use blank note paper to sketch out some kinds of information graphically.
• Colour-code your notebooks to help you organize them and to find them quickly in your locker.
• Keep a vocabulary notebook to list the words you most often misuse or misspell (for example, who's, whose) and note details or examples of their proper use.
• Learn the techniques of brainstorming and outlining plans for a project before beginning your first draft of a writing assignment. Be prepared to edit, get a peer review, and revise what you write through two to six more drafts before printing out the final version.
• Use stick-on notes or tabs to mark book pages temporarily during research; use them to write brief notes to be consolidated later.
• When studying a textbook or reference book, read a section of text at least three times.
1. Get an overview of the topic by reading the headings, skimming the body of text, looking at the graphics and captions, reading any summaries, and noting your questions.
2. Read the text a second time, concentrating fully and keeping in mind your initial questions and any study guide questions already provided for you.
3. With the third reading, try to answer all your own questions during homework.
• Take 5- to 10-minute breaks every 45 minutes or hour to stretch your whole body.
• Ask your teachers for help when you need it.
