Perhaps the thing that drives me most to help children who have learning issues has been growing up in a family of highly creative and extremely successful people who suffered immeasurably throughout their lives from learning disabilities and ADD/HD. Growing up in such an atmosphere of struggle, frustration and emotional fall-out led me to a very early commitment to helping to preempt such damage in other children. Since many of the children who are being referred to me are dysgraphic and have organizational problems, I have become particularly interested in raising awareness about this under-represented group of children who have mild non-verbal learning disorders. Because these children have good verbal skills their difficulties do not qualify them for the same kind of help as children who have lanaguage disorders.
Ever since I started my teacher training at age 19, I have been fascinated by what causes school failure and in ascertaining how to help children remain whole as learners. As I worked as a classroom teacher for the Inner London Education Authority in the 60s, I combined an open classroom approach with one-room-school tactics by giving children an early morning phonics lesson every day; the children sat on the floor with personal hardboard 'slates' as we did sound symbol correspondence. I used parents fully to give hear children read on a daily basis as part of a whole language approach. When I came to the U.S. in 1976 I attended Teachers College (Columbia University), I combined anthropology with remedial reading to further explore my question about why so many children have such a negative experience in the early years of school.
My graduate studies required me to type my papers (on an electric typewriter). When I was 22, I had taken a 10-lesson "sight and sound" touch-typing course. I had never used it but even then I had an intuition that the keyboard would be a liberator and a learning tool for L.D. students. I had not touched the keyboard for fifteen years when I started writing my papers; I was thrilled and fascinated by the automatic retrieval I experienced. How could anything be so easy after so long-- it was a great feeling (I still get a high when I see my students experience this feeling). It was a magical moment and the experience of my fingers responding to my tumbling thoughts with no effort had a strong effect on me. From then on I struggled with my writing because a fundamental part of my difficulty with written expression had been removed. What was then revealed to me (although always obvious to my teachers and mother) was my difficulty with organization and sequencing. To cut a long story short -- nearly 20 years of self-tutoring and editors-- acquiring and using Macintosh with its graphical word processor was one of the most empowering things in my life.
For the past twelve years, I have used the Macintosh with students in Harlem with disadvantaged children and in my private teaching practice. I have learned new software as I have needed it for specific tasks, and as a consequence I have become knowledgeable about how computers operate; but I could not have done this without experienced people to call upon. In the past few years I have devoted myself to my private practice in order to develop productivity tools (StudentWorks©), research software, and to self-publish my keyboarding method (KeyBoard Coach).
As I have learned to use the computer to run my small business and personal affairs, I have seen how it can support student productivity for schoolwork in ways that parallel the way it supports me as an adult -- perhaps because I share some of the same difficulties with writing and organization. In fact I use the same programs for students that I use for myself - Inspiration for semantic mapping, More and ClarisWorks for outlining and FileMaker Pro data basing, etc. A database is a great way to build a collection of vocabulary words or to collect notes or bibliography data being designed to sort, organize and print reports that have a professional feel that reflects upon the user and impresses teachers. Word-processing is of course the most obvious support for students with writing difficulty or simply to enrich and extend the quality of writing product.
By using specific interests and needs as a springboard, children can be encouraged to use the computer as a versatile tool. Many productivity programs can be used for a great deal more than the adult work tasks for which they were designed.. Word processors, graphics and desktop publishing software, databases an spreadsheets will not only permit children to produce in more effective ways. but also develop higher level thinking skills an creative problem solving.
I am committed to helping parents and teachers learn alongside children. When I teach my keyboarding method, I am often teaching basic computer skills and this is a entry vehicle for people who are nervous of the new technology. There can be a wonderful synergy in a parent/child or teacher/child collaboration around the computer. It is a terrific esteem builder for children to feel that they are more adept at this revered tool especially if they experience failure in school subjects. While the child brings an intuitive understanding, the adult can show how to follow directions, keep records or make suggestions for doing an effective search.
Parents who send their children to me have recognized the importance of adequate instruction in basic skills. Unfortunately, most schools either do not understand this or do not have the resources to train teachers. Even schools that have exciting and highly developed multi-media programs do not value basic instruction in keyboarding and word processors. Usually, students are given an edutainment keyboarding program with little attention to correct fingering and some basic word processing. One of the dangers of an easy-to-use interface such as Windows and Macintosh is that it is all too easy to leave students to work it out for themselves. Only when skills are taught within the ongoing real classroom use will students become 'power users'.
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© Elspeth Sladden 1997