Diverse Learners Top Hat Organizer

Article One: Dyslexia Article Two: Neurodiversity

https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002
/trtr.1830
5-17% of kids have it.
Not connected to intelligence, but can affect school
performance.
Affects reading and writing, but is at its heart, a hearing
and rapid memory recall issue.
The longer the instruction, the easier the signals get lost.
Many misconceptions about the disorder in teaching
profession.
Teacher provided accommodations can help lessen issues
faced by students, i.e. differentiated instruction.
Phonology, syntax, orthography, semantics, morphology,
[Literally insert everything we learned in BLE 407.]
Explicit, intentional, systematic multisensory instruction
can help students identify and overcome issues.
https://web-a-ebscohost-
com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
vid=1&sid=77480cb8-e78c-411f-a98a-
c957d549e8f6%40sessionmgr4008
All brains are good.
Normal doesn’t exist.
Different people require different instruction.
Remove negative language.
Focuses on ADHD individuals, which can affect social,
behavior, and intellectual endeavors.
Identifying the areas in which a student excels and which
areas a student is “disabled” in (their words, not mine).

Similarities

Dyslexia requires special consideration as a Neurodiverse brain.

Just because someone is different, doesn’t mean they can’t learn.
Many students with learning issues fall behind and stay behind, either through teacher ignorance or perceived lack of
self-worth. (How many times can you be called stupid before you believe it?)
Many students don’t need “special education” but just need education (and instruction) that is specialized to their
needs.

My Thoughts

Thought 1 (The Personal One):

I was a student in the 90s and early 2000s and had ADHD. I was called everything: a troublemaker, a loudmouth,
intelligent but annoying, unteachable, and many such other things. To my face. As a kid. By teachers. I was never
offered any form of extra help or accommodations and my teachers stuck to the formula of direct instruction and a “if
you fall behind, tough” mentality. As a result, I left high school with a 1.9 GPA and only was able to get into ASU due to
a high SAT score. Because I was so far behind in many areas of academics and study habits, and college professors are
not known for differentiated instruction, I failed out of ASU in 2007. I often wonder what my life would have been like
had I had teachers who cared more, or were taught the skills brought up in these two articles. I was a smart enough
person to succeed, I’ve been a network engineer for the last 13 years and got a 1520 SAT score back in the day, but my
formative years were a mess of getting lost during instruction and having my self-esteem eroded by authority figures
to the point where I failed academically. It is almost cathartic to see how the teaching profession is changing to accept
students for who they are, how to better accommodate them, and I get to be part of it despite what everyone told me
I could or couldn’t do.

Thought 2 (The Academic One):

The 80/5/15 model of achievement is described in that 80% of your students will be just fine with whatever teaching
style, material, etc. you choose. 15% of your students will struggle with things, but will have IEP/504 or other
methodology that you will be aware of and be able to work with. 5% of your students will struggle silently, which can
include not having formal diagnosis of conditions that would qualify them for assistance, not having a severe enough
condition to warrant an IEP/504, a home life that isn't conducive to asking for help, language barriers, and many other
status effects that could cause them difficulties in the classroom. Understanding that this model exists and teaching
through a varying and multisensory approach can help include all types of learners. There is no normal, one-size fits all
approach to teaching, just like there is no normal, one-size fits all type of person. While the dyslexia article focuses on
language skills that work for the dyslexic individual, it brings up tools that can work for all types of language and
communication issues students may face.