Learning Strategies for Adults : Compensations for Learning Disabilities [Paperback]

Sandra C. Crux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1991

An invaluable handbook of concise and detailed learning strategies intended both for teachers of adults and for adult or young adult students to help achieve more effective instruction and/or learning. Of special interest is HELP (Holistic Educational Literacy Process), an informal assessment tool designed to improve ability to diagnose and program for problems. Whether you are a lecturer in a college or university, a trainer in a factory, a manager of an office, or a teacher of general interest classes, the learning strategies outlined in this book will improve your practice. Techniques are provided to improve skills in diagnosis and programming, goal setting, time management, reading comprehension and fluency, note taking, written language, and library and study skills.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The author brings the experience of many years of teaching at the elementary through postsecondary levels to bear on the problem of how best to teach adults who have learning problems. Most educators of adults fall into the role with little formal training, and even those with training often find little time to conduct lengthy assessments of learning difficulties. Crux comes to the rescue with an amazingly promising little book based on her own system of assessment and adaptive education, called HELP (Holistic Educational Literacy Process). She outlines an eight-step process for identifying areas of weakness in reading, writing, oral and written communication and abstract reasoning. The process is designed to be interactive, nonthreatening, and directly applicable to choosing specific supports and instructional strategies. Her "compensatory strategies" are grouped under four chapter headings: Environmental Supports and Study Strategies; Goal Setting and Time Management; Reading Fluency and Comprehension; and Note taking and Written Language. This book represents an effective blend of theory and practice. Crux recommends a system that should work in many of the situations in which adult educators find themselves--situations involving learners who seem unable to learn but who are not sufficiently handicapped to warrant special testing. -- Social Sciences

This book is a welcome addition to the small collection of resource books geared toward remediation of the adult with learning disabilities. There are many books that deal with remediation of the child who has learning disabilities. However, it has been my experience as a special educator, to find that books focusing on the needs and ways of compensation for adults have been overlooked. Crux offers valuable strategies that include mnemonic devices, multisensory organizers, and technical supports, to name a few, and she has compiled them in one well-organized handbook.

The book has numerous visual aids such as charts, sample note-taking sheets, and imagery organizers. I found the strategy "HELP" to be particularly useful to students with serious reading comprehension problems. Although it is a means of assessment, I preferred to use HELP during tutoring sessions when I could spend a good deal of time with my adult learners. Also valuable are the descriptions and examples of course outlines which set goals, help students to know what is expected of them, and assist with organizing for the semester, particularly important for the learning disabled individual who needs structure. Crux's model outlines are particularly helpful because they are clear and easy to follow. This book is an excellent resource for all instructors, but it is particularly helpful for those who are unfamiliar with methods for teaching adults with learning disabilities. -- North York Metropolitan Association for Developmental Education

This book is written from the author's experience, training and teaching at all levels of the educational enterprise, and from that ultimate of tempering effects, her experience as a parent of a son striving for his potential. It is written for adult education practitioners who lack specific training in learning difficulties but who have responsibilities for basic skill training, vocational retraining, and institutional support services, as well as for higher education faculty and staff at all levels.

What is immediately obvious is its unpretentious and clean organization. In Chapter 1, some background is provided about learning and the adult, with a slant towards the learning disabled--those with honest reasons for difficulties but with the potential to profit from educational opportunities. The assessment of students by the use of informal techniques is covered in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 addresses the issues of environmental supports and study techniques designed to help compensate for learning-related deficits. The author provides a useful matrix of difficulties encountered, crossed with strategies and supports for learners and classroom methods for trainers and teachers. There is a lot of nuts-and-bolts discussion about test taking, course management and organization, and instruction support. The suggestions are then amplified in Chapter 4. I was struck by the eminent sense of it all and was reminded of that old clinical adage, "Good remediation is essentially good teaching." The final part of the book deals with literacy skills. Chapter 5 addresses reading fluency and comprehension. It emphasizes the interactive model and avoids the extremes of "top-down" and "bottom-up" advocates. Similarly with note taking there are welcome ideas on what might be done and what might work, especially with the academically fragile.

I obviously liked this book. While it is no substitute for professional training, it provides a useful contemporary approach to assisting those with learning difficulties. Most of the suggestions and applications would be of benefit to all because they are simply effective teaching techniques. I recommend the book as interesting professional reading. -- Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education

About the Author

Sandra Crux has taught at all levels of the educational system from elementary to college, and is now an adult learning and assessment consultant in private practice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wall & Emerson, Inc. (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1895131049
• ISBN-13: 978-1895131048
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,640,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)