<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">HI FOB listers-- I am honored and grateful to have been invited to host this discussion JUST before the demise of FOB, which has been an invaluable, quality resource for adult education for many years. <br>
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Let me first add to Julie's opening remarks by putting to rest a rumor that I do NOT believe in LD in ESOL learners. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Not only have I helped many college ESOL learners obtain an LD diagnosis so they could be accommodated in school as English-speaking peers with LD were, but I have also studied the issue of dyslexia as it is being investigated in many languages and cultures. Every culture and language has poor readers--and neuroscience confirms that the brains of a small percentage of the population do indeed have more trouble assigning sounds to symbols rapidly enough for fluent reading than others. <br>
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It IS true, however, that I believe that MOST of the ESOL learners who struggle in adult ESOL programs do so for reasons OTHER than the impact of LD. <br>
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My shift away from a focus on LD in adult ESOL has to do with several factors: <br>
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**The primary one is that there are many significant issues that cause adult ESOL learners to struggle. We cannot even begin to suspect LD until those issues have been adequately addressed (That is what the article and the one from two years ago discuss). The article following my latest in FOB is from a school in Washington, DC, where these issues have been addressed more and more systematically--and as a result, the number of students suspected of having LD has dropped dramatically. <br>
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**Another factor that has moved me away from LD in adult ESOL is the identification issue-- for reasons I will elaborate on if asked, it is essentially impossible to do direct testing for LD on an adult from another culture and language background using methods currently employed in the US. <br>
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**Add to this the fact that even my well-educated, very acculturated college ESL students had real problems accepting the notion of LD and diagnosis by a doctor. The construct as we know it doesn't really translate --only dyslexia is now widely internationally accepted as a real learning difficulty. Other things we call LD are often seen as just slow or unacceptable learning in other cultures, and being so identified is shameful. Thus I would seriously question the benefit to the learner-- which is always the reason teachers and others want them identified--when the learner may be deeply upset by the prospect of being officially labeled as a struggling learner. ( I KNOW some of you will chime in with examples of learners who WERE happy to be identified, but generally it is not the case.)<br>
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**A third factor is the simple reality that there isn't any "special ed" in adult ESOL-- even if learners were identified with very specific learning needs, they would still be in the same ESOL programs taught by the same teachers. In other words, the expense and stress of identification would not change the learning situation most likely, except in places where qualified tutors might be able to help. <br>
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I have found it infinitely more effective to help teachers and programs address the factors discussed in my article and broaden the ways that learners can access learning, reframe success and refocus goals. <br>
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I look forward to hearing your questions and comments on the article or other issues related to struggling ESOL learners. Each day this week, I will discuss one aspect of the factors mentioned in the article and how addressing that can alleviate learning struggles for many learners. <br>
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Robin <br>
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