design research panel presentation

LEAD: A Club for Children with Learning Disabilities

Hannah GuerinSenior Seminar & Thesis: Section on Social InnovationFaculty: Lara Penin, Jon Jelen, and Eduardo Staszowski

When I was in pre-school both my parents and teachers knew that I had some learning differences, in 4th grade I was tested at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and diagnosed with three Language Learning Disabilities.

The problem with Language Learning Disabilities is that most do not have a name or concrete description like Dyslexia, this makes it more difficult to identify and be aware of students disabilities. Additionally, the fact that students have these disabilities puts them at a disadvantage for being able to speak up. A combination of these problems led me to find an intervention where I could help build students communications skills so that they can make known to their teachers where their problem areas are.

Problem Statement

Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 9th Grade 10th Grade 11th Grade 12th Grade CollegePre-school

1 Out of 5 people in the U.S. has some form of a LD & receive special education. This equals 4.6 million Americans.

U.S. Average LD Timeline

Children with ADHD compose 10-15% of the school age population & 1/2 of the children who receive SPED.

In the U.S. 5% or 4 million of school-aged children in public school are classi�ed as having a LD.

44% Of parents who noticed their child was learning at a slower rate waited a year or more before doing something about it.

35% Of children with LDs drop out of high school.

Only 13% of students with LDs have attended a 4-year post-secondary school within 2 years of leaving high school.

“Students with LDs express more loneliness, feel less integrated in school, and were victimized more often than other students-physically assaulted.-Had their possessions stolen/removed

-Sarbornie (1994)

“LDs have been linked to greater anxiety in children.”

-Magalt & Zak (1984)

“Additional di�culties experienced by depressed children with LDs in the classroom may be due to the stress and frustration caused by their LD.”

-Fristad (1992)

1 In 3 students with LDs drop out of high school versus the 1 in 10 the general population.

“50% Of children under the age of 15 who committed suicide in LA county over a 3yr period had been diagnosed as being learning disabled.”

-Peek (1985)

“Researchers have found that students with LDs, as early as in 3rd grade, have a negative academic self concepts that maybe generalized from low self-views in speci�c academic subjects.”

-Hieber et al., (1982)

“Simple psychological interventions can have a positive e�ect. Teachers can take the time to talk with a student about his/her frustrations or anxiety.”

-LDonline (2009)

“5 Ways where LDs and emotional concerns meet. -LDs may lead to emotional distress -LDs may raise or exacerbate existing emotional concerns-Emotional issues may mask a childs LD-Emotional issues may exacerbate LDs-Conversely, emotional health may enhance the performance of children with LDs.

-LDonline (2009)


Teachers/ parents noticed a LD

Federal testing by the school in spelling and math.

There was a meeting with teachers so that everyone could be one the same page of how Randi learned.

Randi’s mom moved her to a Charter school. This fostered her creative side since it was mostly hands on projects.

Randi stopped asking for extra help because she knew how she learned and how to maneuver around her learning obstacles.

This trick helped Randi when it came to gymnastics when learning

The charter school classrooms were extremely small so that teachers could do one-on-one style teaching.

MCAS accommodations

1st/2nd Grade: Randi’s mom was very involved with her learning disability so that she could advocate for her and help her at home.

Randi carried the Charter school way of learning though high school and college.

Charter school taught her how to speak up for herself

Learning the alphabet everything was backwards especially B’s & D’s

Randi Sylvia’s LD Timelime

“My mom was constantly reassuring me that I wasn’t the only one with these types of problems.”

“I used to write my d’s backwards so when I spelled my name it came out Ranbi... My brother would make fun of me, to this day he calls me Ranbi. I hate it .”

“In gymnastics I couldn’t �gure out my left from my right and other kids would make fun of me.”

“When I can’t �gure out how to put into words what I am thinking... I think that is the most frustrating part of my LD.”

“Sometimes I over think things and get stressed out.”

“I never liked asking my teachers for help because they confused me so I just tried and �gured it out for myself, but this all changed once I went to the Charter school.”

“I really don’t like public speaking because I can’t get the right words for what I am trying to say.”


Lauren was more able to advocate for herself, especially this year going back to college (took two years o�)

Testing was frustrating for Lauren, she knew when she was wrong but she couldn’t change it.

SAT accommodations. She got extra time although she didn’t always need it, took away the stress of time limits.

Got re-test so that she could get out of a required language, she didn’t, ended up taking the class and withdrawing because it was too hard for her.

First test on reading and writing.

Got taken out of Spanish to have an extra resource room.

Lauren had her �rst Federal testing done.

Lauren went back to her high school to get re-tested for collegeLauren’s teachers

and parents noticed that her reading skills were below grade level. She had di�culty reading out loud... The words would get mixed up.

It takes longer for her to process when she reads and writes.

Resource room all throughout high school. She has to work on her advocating skills since it wasn’t as one-on one as elementary school.

Learned that she has Dyslexia, she never knew what her learning disability was all throughout elementary & high school

Continuous Federal Testing Lauren Bagnall’s LD Timeline

“I never saw myself traveling alone or taking as many risks as I have in the past two years.”

“Two years ago I turned a corner where I became more con�dent and doing things I never would have before... I don’t know why this is.”

“During the federal testing I was really stressed and frustrated because it was an all day process.”

“My mom reassured me a lot! She taught me that is was OK to ask for extra help.”

”I thought asking for extra help was a waste of time and it was just easier for me to �gure it out myself.”

“I’m never satis�ed with myself.”

“I am my hardest critic, I’m always ‘beating’ myself up for not understanding certain things.”

“Being called names like SPED did not bother me.”

“I hated group work because I felt behind everyone else, I especially didn’t like group labs which is my favorite subject in school.”

“I hated reading out loud and asking questions in class because I would either mix up words or it would take me longer since I had to sound out some words.”

“My mom always told me I was my worst enemy and to stop being so hard on myself, because at the end of the day I was always trying my hardest and that's all I can do.”


First time my parents and teachers noticed that there was something “o�”.

Teachers thought that I had a hearing problem because I wasn’t able to pronounce letters or words correctly.

I took a Reading test but I still was not diagnosed with my learning disability.

I went to my local pediatrician Dr. Gold�en, he noticed that I had a learning disability and referred my family to Boston’s Children’s Hospital

I had my �rst test and Boston, got diagnosed with 3 language learning disabilities.

SPED teachers helped but most of the time were busy giving their attention to the students that had LD and no motivation to do well in school.

I worked on advocating for myself (speaking up in class when I don’t understand something and getting extra help)

Got re-tested at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“I got taken out of Spanish class to have another resource room where I worked on reading and writing. This was upsetting because I did not want to be “di�erent” than my friends.”

“The worst part of my LD is not being able to communicate what I’m thinking, it gets really frustrating because its right there.”

Teachers came to Boston Children’s Hospital to meet with my doctors to learn how e�ectively teach me in the classroom. i.e. give me the big picture of the project.

Dukes county paid the di�erence of my testing bill.

Tutoring in reading and writing by a teacher. I met with her twice a week for a year and a half.

“College accommodations didn’t really help because what I need more than extra time is a support system.”

“It is frustrating because I’m knowledgeable but I can’t express that to others or at least that's how I feel. ”

Continuous Federal Testing Hannah Guerin’s LD Timeline

It would have helped if advisors took more of an interest in their students to help me throughout college.

“I need constant reassurance from both my teachers and my parents.”

“I need constant reassurance from both my teachers and my parents. “

“In college I turned a corner, I’m now more content with myself and con�dent, which allowed me to take more risks.”

“I’ve always been my hardest critic, I’m always trying to improve but even when I make great strides it still isn’t good enough.”

“I hated taking the federal tests, they were extremely long and stressed me out “

Primary Research: Interview Time Lines

Support Systems & Communication

Over the course of the semester I have gathered primary findings and visually mapped them out. The primary findings are four separate LD timelines that mark educational and emotional process in regards their learning disability. The LD timelines are separated in grey and blue text, the grey indicates important moments in the academic life and the blue indicates significant emotional moments/feelings in dealing with their LDs.

After the four LD timelines were analyzed, it was very apparent that both, strong support systems and communication skills are important for children with learning disabilities in order to be successful in their lives. The three individuals that were mapped specifically had mention that they would not have been as successful if their parents were not as supportive as they were throughout their young lives. For all three individuals their parents were involved in every aspect of their education; whether it meant constantly reassuring them of their strengths and fostering those strengths by putting them in afterschool programs, taking time out of their days to meet with their teachers to get updates on their academic progress, or sitting down with them afterschool to work through difficult homework. It was also imperative for all three individuals to be able to communicate to their teachers and parents on where they need extra help. Lauren, for instance rarely communicated to her teachers what she need help on until she got to college, it was then that she started to feel more confident about asking for help.

” My mother was always by my side helping me through the difficult times of my LD. I knew that if I needed someone she would and still will always be there for me. “

Randi

”Once I started communicating to my teachers about what I needed from them it terms of extra help I definitely saw an improvement in my grades, but I also understood what was going on in class.

“Lauren

Time Line Descriptions & Findings

Secondary Research

My secondary research from articles from various special education journals reconfirmed my findings from my primary research. It is important for students with Language Learning Disabilities to build strong communication skills, especially self-advocacy, since these skills will allow them to speak up with they need help.

My secondary research also concluded that it is important for students with any type of Learning Disability to have a strong support system, whether it is from their teachers, family, or friends. When students with disabilities know that they have constant support it is proven that they are more successful in their academics.

Immediate Benefits1. These children participating in Jumping the Hurdle are addressing certain social components that are lacking in the public schools for children with LLDs2. The children form bonds/friendships with the other children in the club3. The club’s offering is unlike anything else. Both the children and teachers will get benefits that they aren’t able to get in the classroom. 4. The club encourages actively ‘working’ on their LLD5. The club supports good attitudes towards learning and education. 6. The stigma attached to LLDs and even LDs will change with the progression of the club.

This project is a manual for the club Jumping the Hurdle. Jumping the Hurdle is an after-school club for middle school children with language learning disabilities in NYC public schools. The manual will be given to the SPED teachers at annual teacher conferences. From there the SPED would take this club and set it up in their individual schools. The idea with the manual is to help guide the teachers run the club while giving them the room to take things into their own hands and change as they feel necessary. Jumping the Hurdle would run once a week, directly after school, for 3 hours. Jumping the Hurdle would be introduced to the SPED teachers at annual teacher conferences by Hannah Guerin Consulting.

Children’s home

Jumping the Hurdle

NYC public schoolHannah Guerin

Consulting

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Manual

Manual

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System MapProject Benefits

Expert Pitch

Project Description

Interview with Principal of Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School

1. How much does it cost to run an after school program once a week for a year? 2. Do New York City teachers especially SPED attend any annual conferences? Or do they meet regularly? 3. What would be the best way to inform the school of an after school program?4. Would you suggest having an orientation for the participating schools? 5. Do you think the SPED teachers would be able to handle the workload of running the club or is it too much? If so what about teaching assistants?

Open-Ended Interview Questions

The Learning Differently Foundation creates educational toolkits for New York City schools that address specific issues for children with learning disabilities. The first toolkit that Learning Differently provides is the LEAD: A Club for Children with Language Learning Disabilities. The LEAD toolkit contains, a manual, poster, and membership card that will help the special education teachers implement and sustain the LEAD club. The LEAD manual provides a number of activities that the special education teacher can use to build student communication skills. The overall goal of the LEAD club is for the students to use the communication skills they built throughout the activities to create an awareness campaign within their community.

Project Description

System Map

NYC SchoolsLEAD

Learning Differently FoundationGeneric Gov. Grants

Generic Private Grants

Special Gov. Grants

Special Private Grants

CBO’sPTA’s

NYC DOE

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Manuals for club implementation

Permanent information exchange

Funding for the club

Permanent information exchangePermanent information exchange

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LEAD & non-LEAD Families

Permanent information exchange

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School outreach from Learning Differently Foundation

SPED teacher goes over LEAD material with the principal

LEAD Club outreach within the school with sign up posters

SPED staff looks over the sign up posters and organize the LEAD Club

Student goes to the front office to sign up for LEAD Club date & time

Ist day of the LEAD Club!

LEAD Club Set-Up Storyboard

LEAD Club Manual Sketches

Manual Prototype Iteration

design research panel presentation

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