Background
Sandra was in her 40s and had severe dyslexia. She had concealed her
literacy problems over a long period. She was lacking in confidence in
taking on study but was focused and strongly motivated, and prepared to
persevere with the difficulties she would encounter.
A further part of Sandra's reason for enrolling in the course had been
because she wanted to take on apprentices in her retail business and she
wanted to find out something about their study experiences. She was studying
with a social sciences faculty.
Interaction with Sandra
On the second day of testing for entry to the course, Sandra was in tears
and told the lecturer that she could not do it. At that point she disclosed
that she had dyslexia and had extreme difficulties with reading and writing.
The lecturer explained to Sandra that there were many alternative ways of
presenting her work that did not have to involve reading and writing, such
as by oral work, discussion, cassette tapes or preparation of videos. Sandra
decided to stay and give the course a try.
The lecturer allowed Sandra to tape all her classes; and made tapes of
the various course readings for Sandra. The lecturer also arranged for other
students to do taping for her. Sandra’s friends also undertook to help with
this.
The lecturer gave Sandra a list of simpler, user-friendly texts for her
to use. She also recommended that Sandra make use of the video section of
the library.
Sandra had never used a computer and the lecturer offered to assist her
to learn how to do this. The lecturer provided her with information and
Sandra followed it up privately.
This proved to be very successful and from that time on Sandra made great
progress. After an initial period of coming to terms with using the computer
she was able to write. This gave her tremendous confidence and marked a
turning point in her study.
Resources used
The lecturer provided a tape recorder so that all classroom interaction
could be taped for Sandra when she first started the course. A video camera
was also provided for her to make videos for her assessment.
Assessment
The lecturer allowed Sandra to make videos on set topics or aspects of
the course which other students covered in written form. Sandra showed the
videos and then discussed the video topics with the lecturer.
Sandra was able to do interviews for her assessment and also presented
her work orally. She was allowed extended time for exams.
The lecturer emphasised that while she was prepared to make modifications
to the form of Sandra’s presentations, her standards were stringent and no
compromises were made regarding the content.
Reasons for Sandra's success
Sandra's attitude played a large part in her success. She was flexible,
persistent and committed to the course. She was also friendly and interacted
well with other students, her maturity being a positive factor in this.
The flexibility of the course was also important in that it enabled
Sandra initially to demonstrate her capacities through methods that did not
depend on literacy. This enabled her to achieve and gave her the confidence
to persist with the course.
Lecturer comments/observations
The lecturer believed that the other students benefited from Sandra's
presence in the class, especially those who had similar difficulties due to
deprived educational backgrounds. Sandra's success in the face of adversity
made her an inspiration to other students.
Sandra preferred that other lecturers were not told about her disability.
During the second year of her course, which consisted of full degree
subjects, she was competent with the computer and it was not necessary for
attention to be drawn to her disability.