Start Making Sense
In many ways, Laura is your all-American kid. She's a high school junior who studies English, social studies, and math. She hangs out with friends and talks about "stuff" -- favorite music groups, clothes, who likes who. She's in a couple of clubs. She's bright, articulate, sociable, and popular.
Audrey J. Gorman -- School Library Journal, 7/1/1999
Libraries don't have to be confusing places for kids with reading disabilities
In many ways, Laura is your all-American kid. She's a high school junior who studies English, social studies, and math. She hangs out with friends and talks about "stuff" -- favorite music groups, clothes, who likes who. She's in a couple of clubs. She's bright, articulate, sociable, and popular.
Illustration by Lisa Adams
Audrey J. Gorman is director of Roads to Learning (RTL); The Public Libraries' Learning Disabilities Initiative at the American Library Association. RTL aims to get information on learning disabilities to the public through libraries and to help libraries better serve their communities in this area.
Because of her obvious intelligence and expressiveness, it comes as a surprise to people that Laura* doesn't read very well. She stumbles a lot, loses her place, loses the meaning of a passage. Written tests must be read aloud to her, and she has to take them away from distractions. To keep up with her class, she listens to books on tape with a variable speed tape recorder and follows along in the print version.
Laura has a learning disability -- dyslexia -- that makes her life more complicated than the average high school student's. And she is not alone. One out of seven people in the U.S., or 15 percent of the population, have learning disabilities (LD). Eighty percent of these people have reading disabilities. The social and economic toll of these problems is staggering. The emotional effects are devastating. Put yourself in Laura's shoes and imagine what it's like to have people think you're dumb or just not trying. Or think how you'd feel being a parent who can't read to your child.
Fortunately, researchers have made great strides in understanding the neurological bases of reading disabilities and in finding ways to detect them early. For example, we now know that a key difference in people with reading disabilities is how the brain processes the basic sounds of language. We know that young children who have trouble with rhyming games may struggle later with reading. And we're learning more about effective intervention. But word of these advances isn't getting out to the people who could use it most: teachers, administrators, and parents. Indeed, Laura is eloquent about the frustration she feels in trying to learn from teachers who don't seem to understand her problem.
What can librarians do? A lot, actually. In a 1995 Roper-Starch national survey, 51 percent of the public said they would go to their public libraries for information about learning disabilities. Yet both a formal survey and informal inquiries by Roads to Learning: The Public Libraries' Learning Disabilities Initiative at the American Library Association, indicate that many libraries around the country have inadequate, aging materials and few specific services. It seems that many school library media specialists are unaware of the desperate need for information felt by parents of children with LD. And most librarians are surprised when they discover how many people in their communities have learning disabilities and that LD is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Of course, library staff are not diagnosticians. Since learning disabilities are "hidden disabilities," we couldn't be if we tried. But all types of libraries can be friendly places for answers. We can also act in ways that make libraries more accessible not only for people with learning disabilities but for the whole community or school. I'd like to introduce you to a couple of places that try to do just that and also offer a short primer on reading disabilities and the latest research.
A Difference in the Brain
In dyslexia, the most common reading disability, researchers have concluded that neurological differences interfere with the brain's ability to process the units of sound called "phonemes." Spoken words are made up of these individual pieces of sound, produced so quickly that we don't hear or experience them as separate. But the brain does, and uses that information when we unconsciously analyze and understand speech. Without the ability to manipulate phonemes, a person cannot break words into sound segments. For example, she wouldn't be able to listen to the word "bat," slice the "b" off, add "c," and tell you that the result is "cat." She also couldn't give you words that rhyme with "bat" and "cat." Note that these exercises involve spoken, not written, language.
Those with dyslexia don't have a vision or hearing problem. Put crudely, their brains are wired differently, which means there's a difference in the way they process sensory information.
In technical terms, those with dyslexia lack "phonological awareness" -- the ability to do the "cat" and "bat" exercise mentioned above. Without this awareness, doing phonics -- linking spoken language sounds to an alphabet -- is nearly impossible. Sounding out words is exhausting for these children, and they have little energy left for understanding the meaning of words, especially when they're deciphered slowly and sometimes inaccurately.
Fluent, automatic reading -- where sounds, letters, and words are rapidly, unconsciously processed -- is a futile dream. As one child said, "If you ride a bike too slow, you fall off."
Researchers now know how to detect these problems early and are learning more about intervening effectively. We've found, for instance, that language games and activities -- rhyming, finger plays, nursery rhymes -- help all preschool children learn to read and can help identify children at risk for reading problems. To develop phonemic awareness, a parent or teacher might play deleted phoneme games: "What sound do you hear in A«meet' that is missing in A«eat'"? Or they can challenge the child to find the odd word out: "What word starts with a different sound: bag, nine, beach, bike?" As William Ellis, the late executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities observed: "Activities of this kind can be fun and interesting to all children. To those for whom increased phonemic awareness is essential, they are a godsend."
Yet even if phonemic awareness is perfectly taught, some children will still struggle with reading comprehension and other aspects of language. Thanks to tools such as functional magnetic resonance imagery -- which lets us actually watch the brain at work -- researchers are now working to pinpoint the locations of these problems in the brain. They are also working with dyslexic children to test the effect on the brain of various interventions.
The Multisensory Approach
One of the best approaches we now have for working with learning-disabled kids involves what's called multisensory learning. That's the practice at the Lab School of Washington, DC, a KA±12 school for children with LD. There, educators take into account the variety of learning styles we all have, plus the differences in the ways that children with LD process information. The basic approach is to present things in as many ways as possible, through as many senses as can reasonably be engaged in a task. If a child doesn't process written language from a page easily, he or she might also learn the content in spoken form, through hands-on manipulation of models, or even through dance.
Difficulties in processing can be expressive as well as receptive. That is, a child or an adult may have trouble translating ideas into speech or writing. That's why at the Lab School, and in many multisensory classrooms, quick oral answers or written reports aren't the only ways for students to show what they know. Instead, they might demonstrate their knowledge of Roman cities by creating a detailed model with properly placed forum, marketplace, and baths. A group project on the Roaring Twenties might have text, but it might also have film clips and sound.
Library research at the Lab School is no different. "Many of the students need visuals or sound to help them understand concepts," says librarian Evelyn Novins. The key is to think about engaging as many senses as possible. Then, she says, you increase your chances of "hitting the right channel." This is a good approach for ordinary differences in learning styles, but it's essential for people with learning disabilities.
Students typically come to the Lab School library singly or in groups of two or three. According to Novins, it's not only easier to work with students in small groups, it also helps her see what they are and are not understanding. Novins tries to tailor materials to students' individual needs. So if a strong visual learner is studying The Glass Menagerie, she might recommend a video of the play. Her library also has an extensive collection of encyclopedias and art gallery tours on CD-ROM, as well as extensive picture files on topics such as immigration or the Depression.
As a reading specialist as well as a librarian, Novins believes in using audiotapes, especially the four-track, variable-speed kind, right along with printed books. "For kids with dyslexia, the tapes can make a real difference," she says, explaining that they allow students to slow down and hear a word pronounced as they read it on the page.
In keeping with the school's philosophy of learners as creators, the library collection includes books written by students and the room is decorated with their artwork. Pointing to a three-foot "wild thing" straight from Sendak, Novins says, "The boy who made that is seven. He finds it hard to use the library, but he comes in every day to see his creation, full of pride and accomplishment."
Conquering the Public Library
Novins's efforts to find materials that fit her students' needs and abilities led to an ongoing partnership with the Palisades Branch of the District of Columbia Public Library.
Students from the Lab School started going to the branch in small groups with Novins and another teacher or two. They learned research skills to help with current projects, including how to use InfoTrac and the online catalog. They also received specific instructions on how to use an encyclopedia index, something many kids find confusing and LD students even more so. The library staff concentrated on one-on-one help, much like the kind ideally given to any child with a question. Librarian Cindy Martin did booktalks, which, according to Novins, often encourage kids who are poor readers to read at least part of a book. And, of course, the kids got help choosing books to take out.
In the process, the staff learned more about relating to kids with LD. They learned to slow down and take their time, to break up a long string of directions into smaller bits. They began to speak more clearly. And, says Martin, they learned to show students exactly where the books are located on the shelves, rather than send them off in any direction or just point.
Young people with LD, bright as they are, generally need somewhat easier stuff than you'd expect given their age and other accomplishments, or they need more time to do things or with a librarian. For reasons that aren't clear, they often prefer nonfiction to fiction, and they prefer multimedia to plain text. Some will never read plain text for pleasure, because they don't, and never will, find it fun.
Martin says that much of what the staff learned is useful in making the library experience better for all users. "It really taught us all to slow down a little bit and pay attention to what the children are absorbing," Martin recalls.
An LD Collection
Libraries can be intimidating to people with LD, for whom reading is often a source of frustration and humiliation. It's also often hard for parents of learning disabled children to find the information they need.
That's why Kathie Matsil, director of youth services at the Meriden (CT) Public Library, started developing learning-disability services a few years ago, with a $5,000 grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Over time, Matsil has built a collection to answer parents' questions, no matter what their kids' needs. Just inside the children's room, the collection sits on a modest set of shelves called the Learning Diversity Resource Center. It offers materials on child development, behavioral issues, disabilities, even planning for college and other post-secondary activities. There are also materials for young readers, such as picture books for children with dyslexia. Though many items focus on learning disabilities, there's not a separate LD section.
"It saves people from feeling embarrassed," Matsil explains. "Many people are concerned about having their child labeled, especially if they are still in denial about a disability. Denial is usually part of the process they go through."
Matsil says that word of mouth about the collection has drawn residents not only from Meriden but from surrounding towns. And recently, other area libraries have contacted her to start similar collections of their own.
Matsil said building the LD collection made her and her staff even more aware of tailoring their assistance to individual needs. That means recommending not only books but videos or books on tape, and providing things like software that can read aloud what's printed on the screen. "I'd like to feel we've always done this, but we're probably more aware of what to ask sometimes, especially if someone is thumbing through the books on tape," she says.
Other libraries, such as San Francisco Public, provide a flatbed scanner and a computer with optical character recognition software and a voice synthesizer, which, together, can actually read books to users.
What Can You Do?
It might seem overwhelming for a librarian without a background in learning disabilities to try to better serve this population. But the fact is, you don't need to be an expert. In some cases, you just need to rethink your approach ever so slightly. Mostly, it's a matter of doing what good librarians do naturally: helping all kinds of people find the information they need.
The key is being aware of learning disabilities and how they can manifest themselves. For example, says Evelyn Novins, children with LD sometimes don't behave in ways appropriate to the library. Instead of assuming the child is misbehaving, a librarian should approach the child inquisitively, to get a better idea of what's really going on. Children with LD "do want knowledge," Novins explains. "They just have difficulty getting it in traditional ways." Matsil says librarians simply need to be more sensitive and "not assume a kid is being lazy just because he wants to listen to a book on tape."
So what can librarians do for kids like Laura?
We can offer reading tutoring, using research-based approaches, as well as literacy tutoring for families. We can make sure our information and referral files contain information about national and local LD organizations. We can be more conscious about using rhyming games and other proven pre-reading activities in sessions with preschoolers. We can re-examine how we do booktalks or reference interviews, with a mind toward including multimedia formats. Purchasing more audiotapes that can be used along with print would help kids with print disabilities and possibly lure a few reluctant readers.
After all, is the point of reading mostly to exercise decoding skills? Of course not. There are ways librarians can help children -- all children, including those with LD -- stretch their minds and fly to new realms on the wings of a finely crafted story. My friend Laura has some ideas she'd be glad to share.
*Laura is an actual high school student whom I met in Illinois. But in order to offer a portrait of dyslexic students generally, she is presented here as a composite character
InformationLearning Disability Resources
Focuses on how LD affects children's abilities, self-esteem, school success, friendships, and future prospects. Examines legal rights.
Lavoie, Richard. Understanding Learning Disabilities: How Difficult Can This Be? PBS Video. 1989. Video and booklet. $49.95. To order: 800-344-3337.
Experience the frustration, anxiety, and tension that children with learning disabilities face in their daily lives.
LD Online. www.ldonline.org.
WETA, Washington, DC
The first stop on the Web to learn about LD.
Olivier, Carolyn and Rosemary F. Bowler. Learning to Learn. Simon & Schuster. 1996. Pap. $12. ISBN 0-684-80990-7
Guidelines for creating education programs tailored to the needs and abilities of individuals.
Top 20 LD Resources for Libraries.
Roads to Learning at ALA. For a copy of the list or a full LD Resources for Libraries packet, contact RTL at (800) 545-2433 ext. 4027; agorman@ala.org.
Organizations
International Dyslexia Association
(formerly Orton Dyslexia Society)
8600 Lasalle Road
Chester Building, Suite 382
Baltimore, MD 21286
(410) 296-0232 or (800) 222-3123
fax 410-321-5069; info@interdys.org www.interdys.org
Learning Disabilities Association of America
4156 Library Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
(412) 341-1515 or (412) 341-8077
fax 412-344-0224; www.ldanatl.org
National Center for Learning Disabilities
381 Park Avenue South, Suite 1401
New York, NY 10016
(888) 575-7373; (212) 545-7510;
fax 212-545-9665; www.ncld.org
Schwab Foundation for Learning
1650 South Amphlett Blvd. Suite 300
San Mateo, CA 94402-2508
(800) 230-0988; (650) 655-2410;
fax: 650-655-2411;
www.schwablearning.org
For Books on Tape
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542
(202) 707-5100 fax: (202) 707-0712
TDD: 202-707-0744
www.loc.gov/nls
Each state also has at least one Talking Book Library or Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped that is part of the NLS network.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
20 Roszel Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
(800) 221-4792 or (609) 452-0606
fax: 609-987-8116; custserv@rfbd.org
