Not explicitly stated but perhaps not that hidden away in my previous
response was, why is anyone telling students they only have 10 sessions?
And making them fret that this is all that they will get. We as know
anxiety, when confronted by the prospect of undertaking a written
assignment, is a significant issue for those with SpLd, why add to that?
Needs assessment reports have always contained a number (that was in the
last email). I assume you haven't just been recommending specialist
study skills sessions for each week of the academic year and for the
full duration of the course for all the students you have been
assessing. Or when / if you have been recommending a specific figure or
time period informing the student that this may well be their lot, so
use it wisely. unless of course the Study Skills Tutor can make a case
for more. And I believe SLC have also stated that more than 10
sessions can be recommended if a sound case can be made by the DSA
Assessor.
Bryan Jones,
Manager, Disability Support Services
& North London Regional Access Centre,
Middlesex University
Tel: 020 8411 5366
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amanda Kent
Sent: 31 October 2008 08:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 10 hour rule for dyslexic support
Bryan,
I understood John Conway's point to be that students were interpreting
the
phrasing of NARs which describe the SLC-10 as meaning that there was a
numerical limit on the number of sessions. The NAR is a means of
communicating assessment of need outcomes to the student through
writing,
a method of communication that some of them may find problematic for
disability-related reasons. With one main administrative body on the
horizon
there is opportunity to create some sort of standard wording or baseline
explanation in Plain English. Presumably this would be an issue to go to
SLC as
some form of feedback but in the meantime, there's a risk that students
aka
customers will be adversely affected.
To evidence need is a sound approach to practice and audit; if the SLC
want
to place a checkpoint in at 10 that's up to them. It has the advantage
of
providing a sense of equal treatment (whereas the current situation is,
as you
describe- centres and LAs having different methods of quantification).
However, whether 10 sessions (or less) is an appropriate estimate for
most
students seems to me to be irrelevant within the wider context of an
individual
needs assessment. Some students will require more (such is the effect of
individual difference on the formation of need). If one 'beyond 10
student'
gets the impression that they are limited to 10 and modifies their
behaviour
accordingly, then that is one too many students adversely affected by
the
wording of reports fashioned by admin change.
Amanda
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