Dear Margaret, 

It would be interesting to note some of the specifics of the issues that he
encounters, so to respond more specifically. Happy to speak off-list
tomorrow. Can report a summary to this list, if needs be.  There may well be
different modes of dissociation disrupting his ability to sustain a coherent
and cumulative relation to his learning at different moments. The thread of
coherence to be found, in as much as this is possible, will require
attention to what he says about it, although there is also some basic online
information that may assist you to begin to 'read' it and so to work with
it. 

At a more general level, and in relation to your subject area, one is likely
to encounter obstacles in the function of sequencing, as an effect of
ordering, temporal as well as logical. This ordering is dispersed  by what
can be best described as a centrifugal effect of trauma. There is also a
centripetal effect of trauma, in as much as it is at the centre of the
dissociated subject's 'orbit'; where trauma is massive, the subject
diffuses, disperses and becomes ephemeral. It is this centripetal effect -
being tied/identified to the trauma - that the strivings of the subject aim
to escape, ie to resist its ordering, through the dissociation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centripetal_force 

On the centripetal side, we can think of it this way:
All Roads Lead to Rome
All Roads Lead to Trauma 
His associations that are problem
Learning requires opening and allowing of associations. 

The question, then, is how to enable him to access association without
encountering trauma, which then has to be defended against by dissociation.
I don't know the answer to this question. I don't even know if it is
possible in countable time frame...it depends on what resources he has
available at this time. 

Educationally, one way to approach this could be to point him to exercises
that invoke void(s), so that he can create windows within which he think and
construct. 
Tactile exercises - for grounding in neutral spaces: 
Try a set of clear scientific dice may provide an object for pacifying
conceptual meditation/fascination
 http://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice/157/Clear-Gem-7-Dice-Polyset
Becoming familiar with their dimensions through touch is invaluable, as is
what it offers to visual perspective. 

Learning to Crotchet and/or to tie knots, which may enable him to 'float'
associations without having to use concrete meaning of his experience
(trauma) as a base;
For example, like learning to count in bases other than 10. 

Does he have DSA funding for mentoring support?
Either this or some other means of support is likely to be necessary  for
the process of anchoring him to a bearable continuity. 
As in science, for there to be movements, changes, developments, there must
also be a constant - this is a constant, otherwise, the subject loses their
point of identity, their point of perspective, the point from which they
read the phenomena. (Inertial point of reference).

Best, 

PG
Penny Georgiou
Access 1st
Needs Assessment, Advice, Training and Support
For Disabled Students in Higher Education
http://www.Access-1st.co.uk 
Tel: 020 7222 4877
Mob: 07708791880

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margaret MacDougall
Sent: 24 March 2014 19:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Learners in higher education with dissociative disorder

Hello

I would be interested to hear from list members who have experience of 
teaching students of higher education who have dissociative disorder.   
I am currently offering statistical support to a student who has declared to
me that he has this disorder.  The learning context is one where students
are expected to take a more self-directed approach to learning than this
learner is currently exhibiting. It would be good to receive a few words of
wisdom from those with the relevant specialist knowledge.

Thanks in advance

Best wishes

Margaret

--
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Dr Margaret MacDougall
Medical Statistician and Researcher in Education Centre for Population
Health Sciences College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Teviot Place
Edinburgh EH8 9AG

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