I realized you might want to know why I think I can offer advice for kids with learning differences. My son was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age. We all scrambled to find ways to help him learn. He’s a priest and studied in Rome. Things worked out. At the last high school where I taught, I had two classes of Chemistry where kids with ADD, ADHD, autism, behavioral disorders, emotional disorders, etc were all thrown into Conceptional Chemistry. I had these classes for many years. Most of the kids were assigned to case managers, Special Ed teachers who kept track of their studies and progression. I worked with team teachers, too. Some students had an aide. Many of the kids who didn’t have a defined learning difference spoke English as a second language or were reading at a third grade level. Was this a circus? Sometimes. What did I do? I learned how to make accommodations. I talked to everyone! Through trial and error, I learned the kids do much better with hands-on labs or activities. They completed and competed in Science Fair in groups. The best reader read labs out loud. The kid with the best handwriting recorded labs. A few labs or activities were just to hard. We scrapped them. I taught the names of the equipment, reviewed, and immediately tested before the names would leak out of their brains. I created templates to use for lab reports. My experience working with a wide variety of kids with learning differences helped me devise a number of strategies. I’ll share them with you.
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