July 26, 1999
"We're concerned about students who are failing. We want to find things we can do to help them succeed," says Donald D. Deshler, one of four principal researchers on this project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The renewable grant provides $700,000 annually for five years.
The KU researchers will be looking at the high-school setting itself to identify what makes students with learning disablities vulnerable to failure. Learning barriers for these students could include the amount of material presented, the organization and presentation of educational material, social factors in a school and a teen's home life.
"Learning involves a strong emotional effect," Deshler says, noting that factors that may seem unrelated to the classroom, such as being engaged socially with peers and having a home life supportive of education, can affect learning.
The KU team -- Deshler, Jean Schumaker, Janis Bulgren and Keith Lenz -- want to develop methods to help teachers recognize how students with learning disabilities learn and how to engage those students in wanting to learn.
"Learning is not something a teacher can do for a student," Deshler says.
"The term 'learning disability' is complex and may involve educational, psychological, neurological and medical needs," Deshler says.
Diagnosis of a learning disability is not a simple matter for parents, teachers or medical professionals, Deshler emphasizes. Students with learning disabilities typically have significant ability or capacity to do many things well but they may process information differently.
Deshler is director and Schumaker, associate director, of KU's Center for Research on Learning. Established about 20 years ago, the center serves as a parent organization for four research institutes: the Institute for Research in Learning Disabilities, the Institute for Adult Studies; the Advanced Learning Technologies Alliance and the Institute for Research on Organizational Learning.
Contact: Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853 or e-mail mjdunlap@ukans.edu