Transcript Slide 1

Strategies for LD Students at the
University Level
Partly adapted from Harvard University and CAST, Inc. April, 2001
Your disability comes with some
strengths, besides being smart:
ADHD
• Enthusiasm and energy
• Imaginative and curious
• Intuitive
• Spontaneous
• Creative
• Good at improvising
• Tolerant and forgiving
Learning Disabled
• Multi-dimensional
• Resourceful and inventive
• Helpful
• Hands-on
• Creative
• Observant and complimentary
• Courageous
STILL –
you cannot be as casual,
random,
last-minute
or loose
as other students…
“optional” (adj.) - left to one's
choice;
not required or mandatory
“NOT optional” (adj.) – there is
no choice in your case.
It is required.
You could… – You have to.
1. Develop a plan for effective
time management
• that includes doing a little work each day
(even when a deadline is not looming) and
also adequate time for rest.
• Those who put in time ahead of deadlines
tended to do better than those who spent
the same amount of time at the last
minute.
Calendars are NOT optional for you
• Keep a single calendar with all relevant due
dates and appointments
• Figure out how to draw up a reasonable time
line for long-term assignments, working
backward from the due date
• Draw up a 168-hour weekly calendar to see
where you can slot study hours
• Do not try to keep a schedule in your head
Know Your Time Needs
• Estimate
– how long it takes you to read 10 pages in each text
– OR how much you can get read in each text in 50
minutes
• Estimate how long it takes you, based on how
many pages it must be, to
– research a paper
– do a first draft
– finish editing and proofreading
Open-ended is NOT an option
• You can’t “play it by ear”
• Build “walls” (in permanent ink, in bold)
around your academic commitments – no
openings, no “gates”
• Build in some totally free time – AFTER you’ve
plotted in your “schoolwork” (the class and its
matching study time)
Procrastination is NOT an option
Procrastination is an inability to
regulate behavior
and control impulses
• The stress and anxiety of procrastination can
hurt your health and even your thinking
• You can get irretrievably behind in cumulative
courses like science, math and French
• You will end up turning in shoddy, last-minute
work because you ran out of time
• Extended deadlines can be addictive and often
don’t produce work that’s much improved
If you’re quite impulsive,
then you’re unable
to protect
one intention
(maybe even a good one!)
from another
It’s like paying off your
Mastercard
with your Visa card…
It does NOT get you out of debt
2. Take care of yourself.
• Develop ways to ensure you get adequate
rest and recreation, that you supplement
dorm food with nutritious food, and that you
are careful about alcohol consumption.
• Find supports that will help you manage the
frustrations of classes and daily life (talk to
friends, talk to professional counselors, get
exercise).
Sleep is NOT optional
• Your body needs physical rest
• Your brain needs mental time-out – it is
actually more active asleep, especially when
dreaming, than when you’re awake watching
TV.
• Sleep makes memory sharper and thinking
bigger and more creative
Exercise is probably NOT optional
• You can benefit from the endorphins released
with exercise
• Students with ADHD need to work off pent-up
energy and restlessness
• Fresh air seems to reduce ADD symptoms
• Regular exercise promotes regular sleep,
WHICH IS NOT OPTIONAL
3. Make connections
• between what you are doing in different
classes and between your classes and
your future plans.
• Ask yourself how what you are doing now
relates to what you want to do next.
Vagueness is NOT optional
•
•
•
•
Be very SPECIFIC about everything
Be very CONCRETE about everything
Be as PRACTICAL about everything as you can
Rely on COMMON SENSE (which isn’t really so
“common” anymore)
• Look for specific, concrete, and practical
APPLICATIONS to everything you study
4. Choose your courses
carefully:
•so that you have a balance of courses that
will be hard and easy for you.
•Mix courses that do and do not require lots
of reading.
5. Talk to others to get
information
•Talk to students who are taking the courses
you are taking, and students who have
taken them.
•Get to know instructors and teaching
assistants and find out what they expect.
Missing class is NOT optional
• You are going to want all the input you can
get, including the professor’s tone of voice,
facial expressions, and body language as well
as what’s been written on the board
• Even if you’re not an auditory learner, you
want to get information through any sense
you can
• Attendance counts! Literally.
6. Find and use mentors.
• Mentors might be academic advisors,
tutors, parents, more experienced friends
who are knowledgeable about college,
career counselors, people in your field of
study, and, of course, your professors.
• Talk to these people and ask them to help
you think about what you can do to be
more effective in reaching your goals.
7. Find and use a supportive
peer group
• Try using study groups to check your
understanding of material and prepare for
exams. If you learn better by listening and
then discussing, this might be your best
study tool.
• Make sure your friends are supportive
when you need to study or do work.
Control the world of friends
• Learn to say NO
• Hang a “do not disturb” sign on your door
• Manage interruptions
– Turn off your cell, Blackberry, computer,…
– Study away from your dorm
• Remind your friends that you need to get
good enough grades in order to stay in
school and hang out with them
8. Have drive and passion
•If possible, find something you really care
about in college and for a career and focus
on it.
•Do not give up when something is hard;
instead, look for additional sources of help to
get you through.
Identify your motivators.
Turn on the momentum
and turn off the inertia
9. Be open to asking for and
receiving help
• Don't be embarrassed when you don't
know something; good instructors don't
expect you to know and understand
everything immediately.
• Ask people for help, and check your
understandings with professors or experts
even if you think you know the material.
Become an expert on assistive
technology
• Kurzweil & Daisy reading software for scanned
material
• Recorded books on CD
• JAWS computer screen reader
• TextHelp Read & Write with speech feedback and
word prediction
• Inspiration for outlining and conceptualizing
papers
• Speech recognition software for your own
computer
10. Take responsibility for
yourself
•Realize you are ultimately responsible for
learning the material, keeping yourself on
track, and making use of available
resources.
•Develop plans for doing your best even
when courses are not well-taught or do not
match your preferred methods of learning.
Spontaneity is NOT your best option –
instead be planned out, predictable,
reliable, regulated – robotic
Organization is NOT optional for you –
it’s an absolute necessity
Structure is NOT optional
• Find structure. It’s everywhere.
• Impose structure, even if it’s just simply
alphabetizing, on everything
• Learn to categorize. Everything.
• Learn to see hierarchies
– Separate main ideas from details
– Find sequences, even if they’re out of order
• Prioritize time, commitments, goals
The more work you have the more
organized you have to be
Looseleaf notebooks ARE optional but
they do have these advantages:
• They allow rearranging and inserting of
handouts, diagrams and articles
• You can put in dividers and pockets
• You can make a M-W-F and a Tue-Thu version
• You can add in your own textbook summaries
• You can lend pages without giving up your
whole notebook
• You can remove and organize just the pages
for the next test
Clutter is NOT optional
• It’s too distracting, even if you swear you can find what
you need
• It can be a cop-out: “I couldn’t find what I need.”
• “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
External organizing can seep into your inner chaos and
start sorting it out.
• Adopt a minimalist approach: cleared off desktops and
shelves, only the most used icons on your computer
desktop, only the materials you need for each class, a
coordinated wardrobe, only friends you really like, only TV shows you actually
enjoy watching, etc.
11. Predict assessments.
Think about what the instructor expects for
each assignment or exam, and check your
predictions with the instructor or others to be
sure you are on track.
IN
HOLD
OUT
Handout
online
IMPORTANCE - IN
I decided rightly which
material was
worth getting
…and might
show up on tests
IMPORTANCE - HOLD
I decided correctly it
was worth keeping…
and will
show up on tests
Try to zero in on what will be asked
and then practice
beforehand
with your books open.
12. Match work to assessments
•Learn the material so that you can do well
on what you will be graded on, in the way
you will be graded on it.
•This may mean skipping part of the reading
if you already understand it, or doing extra
reading or getting extra tutoring if you don't
understand the material even after doing the
assignments.
Handout
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•Memorizing your lecture notes will not be
enough preparation for a test in which you
need to apply what you know
• Think about what you will have to do and
link that to how you decide to prepare.
Repetition is NOT optional
– you might have to:
• READ and reread a chapter 3,4, or 5 times
until it is understood
• RECITE and repeat a list 3,4, or 5 times until it
is memorized
• WRITE and rewrite a paper 3,4, or 5 times
until it is error-free
• WORK and rework a math problem 3,4, or 5
times until it checks out
REPITITION, REPITITION
REPITITION, REPITITION, REPITITION,
REPITITION, REPITITION,
REPITITION,
REPITI….
• Spend more time on the material that is
worth a larger percentage of your grade,
• and spend more time on the material you
understand less (and, therefore, are
probably more anxious about).
MANAGING TEST ANXIETY
Preparing yourself
academically
Start studying early
Stay on top of reading and lecture
Organize your information and
yourself
Cram systematically
Preparing yourself mentally
Find out beforehand the test
focus and format
Rehearse for the test’s questions and
its time of day and duration
Get psyched up, but not psyched
out
Practice relaxation techniques
Handout
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13. Modify your strategies based
on feedback
•Keep asking yourself if you understand the
reading and the lectures as you go through
them.
•Look carefully at what comments you get from
the instructor and what questions you miss on
exams and learn from your mistakes.
WHAT and
WHY
Meeting with
your Prof
Handout
online
KEEP
•Did what you did to prepare help you understand the material in the way you wanted to?
•If not -- or if it took too much time -- think
about how you might prepare differently next
time and try a new way.
Complacency is NOT optional
• Learn from your mistakes and DON’T repeat
them (“Fool me twice, shame on me.”)
• Notice what DOES work (ask yourself “Why?”
“At what time of day?” “With what kind of
material?”) as well as what doesn’t
• Don’t slack off – keep some tension in your
attitude and schedule all semester long.
Managing your disability may require LIFELONG monitoring and self-discipline. Sorry.
Lord, help me to always give
100% to my work:
• 12% on Mondays
• 23% on Tuesdays
• 40% on Wednesdays
• 20% on Thursdays
• 5% on Fridays…
100%