ADULT LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Adult Learners with Special Needs: Are Their Needs Being Met? Samuel M. Levinson

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Abstract This literature review focuses on adult learners with special needs, specifically the processes and teaching methods used, as well as the success rates for these adult learners. The investigation sought to answer questions surrounding adult learners with special needs, with an emphasis on teaching techniques and whether or not these students are meeting their goals with the proper accommodations for learning-disabled students. In order to answer these questions, articles with information on the topic were researched and referenced. The hope of the investigation is to discover this information related to student success or failure, and what actions should be taken to improve education for these students. Of the articles researched, it was determined that measures are being taken by those in education to accommodate learners with disabilities. However, at times the wrong accommodations were presented, thus the students with disabilities did not receive the proper educational opportunities. In order to properly classify students with disabilities, it was found that meta-analysis was helpful in finding results that would help these students to receive the benefits needed for success. The education of teachers on this topic of students with disabilities was also found to be a factor, so that they will know how to help such students. Other problems that were found include a lack of role models and misinformation on disabled students. Overall, it was found that teacher efforts may not be enough without properly classifying students in the correct programs and classes. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on recognizing the students with disabilities, and finding the proper accommodations, due to the correct classification.

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Adult Learners with Special Needs All adult learners should have the same quality education. For this study, one goal is to discover the success rates in teaching adult learners with special needs, and in addition to this exploring the methods used by instructors. Part of this will involve learning if adult learners with special needs are meeting their goals. It may also be of interest to investigate if any specific fields of study, such as math and science, as it relates adult learners, if students with disabilities have the same opportunities to meet educational goals. It would be beneficial to discover a sample of various special needs conditions, and techniques that educators use to assist students with meeting their goals. Background and Rationale Low expectations for students with disabilities have limited this population from achieving post-secondary education in fields such as science, engineering, and mathematics. The lack of role models and access to individualized support systems has contributed to failure and minimal opportunities to reach goals for these adult learners (Dunn, Rabren, Taylor, & Dotson, 2012). These are unacceptable results for this population, therefore, the goal is to provide information from a variety of sources in order to answer questions and hopefully present solutions. The information found from this study will hopefully provide information that will offer input on how to better accommodate adult learners with disabilities. Through research, questions involving this population will be answered. Research-based planning can help the student to meet goals (Dunn et al., 2012), and for this research, the articles explored will be used to clarify this topic, including what should be done to correct issues that are not allowing students with disabilities to have equality as learners. One important question to answer is that of are the students with and without disabilities equally represented?

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Research Method This topic is researched using a variety of resources, to provide credible results that are supported by academic findings. If the adult learners with disabilities are not meeting their goals, and if they are not learning, then what strategies should be developed by instructors? If students are not accommodated, what are the reasons for this lack of assistance? Are there specific ways of obtaining results that will help to identify students who need assistance, and how can these students receive the proper assistance as opposed to the wrong solution? Those with special needs have a challenge in learning, and this is addressed in the investigation, in order to have a more equal society and to assist students with disabilities in learning. Perhaps in the future students will be better accommodated and they will be helped to have a greater understanding of the material they seek to learn. The answers to questions regarding adult learners with special needs were found using scholarly articles. The purpose of the investigation was to find information as it related to these adult learners. Results Underrepresented Dunn et al. (2012) in their study on students with disabilities and careers came to the conclusion that adult learners with disabilities have been underrepresented for years. The reason for this includes expectations for the students, limits in the proper exposure to the prerequisites for later classes, less than adequate support, and role models for students are not available. So it seems that there is evidence that the students are not receiving what they need and this lack of accommodation should be addressed. Further analysis may lead to questions regarding what may be changed in order to help the students. In addition to this, this may extend to whether or not this possible lack of accommodation also extends to four-year colleges.

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According to Weis et al. (2013), it is described that students who attend a four-year college and who have disabilities were in the normal range for problems associated with taking classes. Those who had disabilities were researched, and their behaviors and success rates were compared to students without disabilities and it was found that most of the students that met the criteria of class work were diagnosed with learning disabilities in childhood. So those in college, seeking a four-year degree, if they have a disability that is related to math or science, what should these students do? One question would be, how will these students receive accommodations? One helpful area is the mention of a STEM program (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) that transitions students into higher learning (Dunn et al., 2012). So it seems that some progress is made in this area, to help students meet goals. However, changes will still need to be made to have greater equality and more opportunities for these students. For Dunn et al. (2012) and Weis et al. (2013), insight is offered, and it is found that by combining this information, a clear picture is formed. In contrast to the STEM program that is used to help students, and contrary to areas where students receive accommodations, is the information presented by Weis et al. (2013) as it is implied that a lower percentage of students with disabilities showed low ability and achievement scores, and this may be due to misclassification of these students. Therefore, it is possible that these students did not receive fair and equal opportunities. The students may have been placed in the wrong area of their college. In order to help the students, they must be placed in the right programs and classified correctly. Those who have misclassified the students may believe they are helping them, but without the right classification, the students will still be at a disadvantage. According to Weis et al. (2013), student test scores were below average. In addition to this, the students may benefit more from an improved individualized program.

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Perhaps the students did not receive the adequate support that they needed. These students may have potential, but they could have been placed in classes that they were not yet ready for. Instead of these students failing to meet standards, they may be in need of taking prerequisite classes. This would help the student to learn, and in time they would be prepared. The requirements for the college that is studied by Weis et al. (2013) would need to change how students with learning disabilities are classified. Dunn et al. (2012) and Weis et al. (2013) have indicated that although a school may make an attempt to help students with disabilities, that there is still more progress to be made. This may be in the form of classifying students correctly so they will receive the help that they need to meet their goals, and also on giving the students the needed attention and allowing them to have the role models they need. An answer to this may be to provide a greater determination for the instructors, and to continue to specialize in how to teach students based on an individual level. One of the goals is to equal the landscape of learning for these students as much as possible. This may include spending more time with students with disabilities and creating new classes and programs to teach them. The students may be brought to the same level of learning overtime, and progress will be made, if instructors may better understand how the students learn. It may take time and many new approaches, but eventually the students may find academic success. Not every student with a disability is falling behind compared to students who are not disabled; however, the percentage of those who do require additional assistance should be the priority. There should not be any missed opportunities for student improvement; therefore, new programs and classes for these students may need to be introduced in learning situations with lower scores relating to disabled students. For students who are unable to succeed based on a physical or mental disability, there must be perseverance for both the student and instructor. This may be

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part of avoiding stereotypes, and realizing that all students have potential to learn, regardless of their disability. Giving the student the needed support and finding new ways to teach them is one of most important elements of this topic. Stereotyping For adult learners seeking college education, those with disabilities are not always given choices equal to students without disabilities (Hart et al., 2004). This is not necessarily the fault of the student, as they have not been given the opportunity for participation. The programs that are the most inclusive are new, with fewer individual students served. In addition to this, there is a greater collaboration between educational agencies, community colleges, and high schools. The findings of Hart et al. (2004) suggest that the many programs studied have accommodations for students with learning disabilities, with the newer programs featuring more accommodations. For this study, it would seem that the mindset is based on helping students with disabilities to meet their goals. It is an improvement to have more programs for these students; however, these must be the correct programs. One way of discovering whether or not these programs are helping students, is through studying test results. Taymans (2011) explained that a subset of individuals in an adult education program have learning disabilities that may or may not be diagnosed. The individuals are affected by these learning disabilities, and if it is noticed they may receive the assistance they need to meet their goals. It is partly the responsibility of those working in education to realize these disabilities, and to action or make suggestions in regards to how to assist the students. Without a diagnosed learning disability, the student is at a disadvantage and they are unable to reach their full learning potential. It is explained by Taymans (2011) that noticing the disabilities is essential, and after the disabilities are identified, the educational institution must reach a

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conclusion on how to best help these students. This is a part of the process of helping the students to have the same opportunities of all students. To further elaborate on this, Taymans (2011) discussed defining these learning disabilities, in order to specifically help the students. This is related to the implications of adult education programs, as well as the purpose of the programs, and whether or not the students are successful. This would be a good direction for higher education programs, in that effort is placed into finding the suitable programs and classes for learning-disabled students. By using specialized tests to find results indicating a student has a learning disability, this will assist in assuring that a student receives the proper accommodations. On the topic of tests and analysis of students with learning disabilities, Swanson (2011) explained that those who were in a meta-analysis and were examined based on their cognitive, academic, and behavioral performances had varying results. With some of these results showing participants with reading disabilities, this would allow students to receive the assistance they need sooner, and they could be placed in the correct learning programs that best help the student. Swanson (2011) showed that low range scores as it relates to reading implied that those with reading disabilities vary greatly from the results of analyzed factors, and that these are persistent across the age of the participants. This study of analysis is productive to assuring that students with disabilities receive the proper accommodations, in that the study used the results to reach conclusions about learners. In addition to this, the study has statistics based on various measured academic areas, such as reading, science, and math. These results are productive for students with disabilities, because the results of an analysis are assisting in classifying an age group of learners who, based on the results of an analysis, seem to have a reading disability. So by using all of the data collected from the meta-analysis, those who teach students with reading disabilities may have a greater chance of focusing on the students with disabilities, as opposed to

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those who do not have disabilities. Therefore, an instructor would know of the areas that a student is struggling with, by viewing the results on an analysis, in order to assist the students in learning. Most importantly, the results of the meta-analysis may be used as a tool to learn about the individual students with disabilities. This information would be useful to instructors in determining which students have a learning disability, and the specific assistance the student needs. Another benefit to the results of an analysis is that it may assist the instructor in classifying students with the correct program. This is one of the most important factors, in that it takes the proper classification to find the program that would best assist the student. Analysis results for individual students and also based on the scores of tests are valuable in reaching correct conclusions. The student may be better understood, and from there the instructor will know the student on an individual basis, so that they may know how to create a more personalized learning experience.

Discussion Based on the various resources for the literature reviews, it may be concluded that many institutions are taking measures to accommodate students with learning disabilities. Dunn et al. (2012) found that students with a lack of support and role models may not be successful in learning. Finding this support is important for the students, therefore, the goal becomes discovering how to help them. It may be compared to the Dunn et al. (2012) findings, that Weis et al. (2013) focused on what a learning institute may be doing in regards to science, technology, English, and Math, as these are academic areas that everyone (with or without learning disabilities) will need to have an understanding of. It is helpful for students with learning disabilities if they have instructors who are working to assure that the important fields, such as

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math and science, are available to them. Weis et al. (2013) also tell of problems for students based on possible misclassification. Therefore, we know that some of the students with disabilities have learning problems related to improper education. Some instructors may not have the information that is valuable to working with students with learning disabilities. This leads back to the information found by Weis et al. (2013) in that instructors have misclassified students and they do not know how to properly teach them. This classification information information may be found from the meta-analysis of the students, as found by Swanson (2011). Metaanalysis is used to show areas where there is need for improvement, with areas that should be a focus of specialized learning (Swanson, 2011). It would seem that progress can be made in properly teaching students with learning disabilities by classifying the students based on their own needs, and this would be based on the type of learning disability they have. In addition to this, students must be able to participate in the classroom. Enrollment in the class that is more personalized for the student may be one way of encouraging learning and participation. Hart et al. (2013) elaborated on this concept, in that, for example if the students seek higher education at a community college they may have a better opportunity if it is an institution inclined to be responsive to those with learning disabilities. For students who are not successful, this may be due to stereotypes surrounding students with disabilities, or perhaps these students are in classrooms that do not know how to properly accommodate and engage the students. This references Swanson (2011), as meta-analysis may be a good method of finding areas that a student needs to improve. The necessary changes in programs and accommodations for disabled students would then need to be made before the student enters college, and there should be a focus on inclusive higher education. The findings by Hart et al. (2013) would seem to indicate that improvements are being made in the programs, with more opportunities available for

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learning disabled students compared to past years. As for identifying the specific learning disability, Taymans (2011) had a focus on defining these disabilities. By learning of areas of weakness through an analysis (Swanson, 2011) and defining what they are (Taymans, 2011) it may be helpful to teachers in giving the students the appropriate attention. It is essential that students with disabilities obtain a degree in higher education, as it is important as it relates to reaching life goals. Swanson (2011) addresses how an instructor may further assist students with learning disabilities. For example, there may be an exploration using meta-analysis, and the results of the analysis may help to discover the students who have a reading disability. By reviewing all of these findings, it may be stated that the problems associated with students with learning disabilities (as it relates to higher education institutes not property meeting their needs) have been defined. These may not be all the problems, however, it is known that the problems of misclassification, a lack of participation, and also a lack of role models creates a situation where students are not able to meet goals. As a way to benefit the students, they should be tested through an analysis of their abilities. This will help to properly classify the students based on their strengths and weaknesses, so they will be placed in the correct programs. In addition to this, part of helping students with disabilities may be in the form of understanding the student on an individual level. This may be found by placing the student in the correct program. If the program is not correct for the student, then a new program may be created, based on an analysis of what does and does not work. Therefore, with the student problems defined, and the possible solutions established for helping students, progress can be in assuring students with learning disabilities have what they need for academic success.

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References Bleske-Rechek, A., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. (2004). Meeting the educational needs of special populations: Advanced placements role in developing exceptional human capitol. Eau Claire, WI: Department of Psychology, University of WisconsinEau Claire. Dunn, C. Rabren, K. S.; Taylor, S. L., & Dotson, C. K. (2012). Assisting students with high-incidence disabilities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Intervention in School and Clinic,48(1),47-54. Hart, D., Mele-McCarthy, J., Pasternack, R. H., & Zimbrich, K., Parker, D. R. (2004). Community College; A pathway to success for youth with learning, cognitive, and intellectual disabilities in secondary settings. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, Division on Developmental Disabilities. Pitt, V. & Curtin, M. (2010). Integration versus segregation: The experiences of a group of disabled students moving from mainstream school into special needs further education. Philadelphia, PA: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. Swanson, H. L. (2011). Adults with reading disabilities: converting a meta-analysis to practice. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45(1), 17-30. , Taymans, J. M. (2011). Legal and definitional issues affecting the identification and education of adults with specific learning disabilities in adult education programs. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 5-16. George Washington University, Washington DC, USA Weis, R., Speridakos, E. C., & Ludwig, K.. (2013). Community college students with learning disabilities: Evidence of impairment, possible misclassification, and a documentation for disconnect. Journal of Learning Disabilities.