How to support students with learning disabilities

Assess your student & find their learning style

The first thing to recognise is that no two students are the same. Therefore, make sure to recognise your student’s learning style. This will be one of the most important ways to help support a student with learning difficulties. One way to identify the student’s learning style is to figure out if they are struggling, what they are struggling with. For example, they may be struggling with memory, speech or understanding so make sure in order to support the student to target their weaknesses. Make sure to teach your students with learning disabilities new content in a way that suits their desired learning style. Some students with learning difficulties may benefit from having very routine and similarly planned lessons each week whereas some may benefit from different style sessions each week so keep that in mind. Supporting students with learning disabilities is difficult but hopefully this will help.

Making Adjustments

One very important thing when tutoring and support students with learning disabilities is making sure you adjust. For example, most students with learning difficulties will have extra time in the exam. Therefore, make sure you factor this is when you are setting time limits for past paper questions and other activities etc. I know that this may seem very simple, but it can be forgotten so just keep it in the front of your mind. Also, ask about other adjustments that they may have and make sure to factor this into the lessons. For example, they may need breaks in the tutoring session so just make sure to communicate with the student beforehand.

Communication & Monitoring

In order to support a student with learning disabilities it’s crucial to ask how they are finding the lessons and teaching. Although do not forget that this is important to ask all students whether they have learning disabilities or not. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, make sure you have good communication as this is a very important way to offer support.

Patience & Thinking on your feet

Some other ways to support students with learning difficulties is to take your time and stay patient. It may take students with learning difficulties longer to understand and learn certain concepts, so patience is key! If a student does not understand a concept, try and teach it in a different style/way. For example, if you were using a PowerPoint to teach content maybe use quizzes etc instead. Try different ways to teach the same concepts. Use different ways to repeat the same information if a student is struggling to learn the content. Repetition can be very crucial in some students.

Confidence Building

Furthermore, make sure to give your students lots of praise. This allows them to see the progress they have made in the session. Make sure to support them and keep building their confidence with continued praise and congratulations – positive reinforcement and feedback is key!