Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Billy Danze]

I have a handful of students who clearly have learning disabilities. They twitch, blink a lot, can't sit still at all, can't remember much even if it's VERY basic and we go over it a million times, and just seem completely spaced out. I'm at an academy and these students have been repeatedly held from advancing to the next level, as if studying more is really what they need. After doing the same workbooks and lessons over and over at a very basic level isn't helping, it's pretty clear that something is wrong.

So, does anyone know anything about diagnosing learning disabilities here? Is it something that doesn't happen because they just think you need to "study harder"? Any thoughts or information on the topic would be appreciated.

[SeoulNate]

Parents often dont want to be told about their children's learning disabilities here.

When i first got here 3 years ago i was in shock because of this. After teaching in the states where it is more or less illegal to NOT report if you believe a child has a learning disability it was really hard to just say nothing when i was 100% sure that a particular student I was teaching had Autism.

I was told that the social stigma of a child who has a learning disability will carry over to the family (because Koreans believe that the family must have dont something wrong to make the kid that way)

Because of this you cant tell parents here that their child is abnormal. They freak out and blame it on everything and everyone, including your school.

The best thing you can do is just smile and try and help the student when they are in your class. And cross your fingers that Korean society will open up to these very real problems in the near future.

[winterfall]

I've got more than a handful, about 20% of my school: ADHD, ADD, blind, deaf, mute, mentally challenged (Varying degrees), and crippled.

No the parents know. Everyone knows. Korea society is extremely discriminatory to the disabled. They see them as border-line sub-human. The way the parents see it, its better to pretend they're like everyone else. Out of courtesy everyone does the same.

There's special schools for them funded by the government. But parents don't want to send them there because of the stigma. By sending them to mainstream schools they look the same as everyone else, at least on 'Paper'. Doing it this way they actually have a better shot at a quote, unquote 'Normal Life'

Do what you can for them but, understand that they're just being pushed through the system. Protect them from the other student's bullying. And if your really feel like you need to teach them. Don't assume they know English. You'll have to start with the alphabet or focus on a very few select words

[fugitive chicken]

Yeah, there isn't much you can do in the way of diagnosing and treating it here when parents refuse to believe their child is different. The best thing you can do is just be extremely patient with them and teach them at their level, however low it may be. Or do what their PS teachers do and just let them pass through the system.

I spent 6 months observing/teaching in a self-contained 4-6 grade classroom with a wide range of disabilities and a few of them could barely add much less read. Depending on how severe their disability is, just be patient and don't expect them to excel as fast as your average student. Have realistic goals for their level. For example if they recognize letter sounds, praise that to death and motivate them to try putting 2 sounds together. It's a slow slow slow process, but kind of cool when you give them that kind of attention when most adults just pass them off as unteachable.

[Steve_Rogers2008]

sad fact is there isn't much a teacher, from ANOTHER country, can do to help these kids. the home room or other teachers must be aware on some level, but the question of whether the culture even looks at it as a severe problems constantly is in the background.

I had one boy in the 4th grade who had some sort of problem. but I had no diagnostic tools to rate him at.

It's not the foreign teacher of all who needs to rank and categorize such things. Until the system gets more in touch with the problem, it will remain.

[Milwaukiedave]

I'm going to unfortunately echo what others are saying. I've seen disabled students in both public schools and universities. The parents won't do much to help their kids because it is stigmatized. As someone who grew up with a learning disability and graduated from college (despite being told by one teacher that I'd never go to college), I see potential in some of these kids if they would just get the help they need.

Recently I had a student in my freshman English class that had severe problems and I tried to contact his department, but it was pretty difficult to find someone who would talk to me about him. I knew early on that he was not going to pass the class and there was not much I could do. As a foreigner teacher, we are not given the same recognition as a regular teacher.

[nstick13]

This thread is a relief. My heart goes out to these students.

I'm at a middle school, and the middle school DOES have a special education department. I believe that students go there for some classes (though I'm not exactly sure). They still end up in my English classes, though. And, by middle school, even the low-level students know a decent chunk of English. So these poor girls are just left behind.

The frustrating fact they end up in English classes when they barely can add or struggle with Korean reminds of the fact that all my students MUST be taught the same lesson, even though they're broken up into classes based on level.

Makes me wonder--do all the students take the same math class (we also, apparently, have level-based math classes, though I don't know what that means exactly)?

Love your students, protect them from the bullies, and be as kind and including as is possible.

[jvalmer]

[AsiaESLbound]

Yep, it's sad. They are just sat down to do nothing, but then pressured and ostracized when it comes final exam time. Only does my co-teachers put pressure on them when it comes to practicing to pass the final exam. The whole class finds it a downer that they have a downer who will pull the class and school average scores down.

Why wait until final exam time to try to teach them and pressure them to do something? It only makes the issue worse.

Many of my special student's are special because they are only half Korean. Because they are half Korean, they can't fit in and are perpetually mute or can't perform due to depression, no self esteem, and a lack of support. I'm noticing many special needs students are not retarded in the classical sense, but simply can't fit in so they don't get any benefit out of school and life.

I understand American schools are now mainstreaming special needs students. That can't be good. I remember when I went to school, not only were the mentally challenged in the small trailer classroom out back, the poorest kids were in there with them too for they couldn't fit into mainstream classes due to ostracism over being disadvantaged such as not being able to afford supplies, school lunch, and sporting equipment. Some of those poor kids grew up in LD classes to become hard working highly successful adults while many in mainstream classes flopped in and out of prison after they dropped out of school in the 9th or 10th grade. Others had their parents just supporting them well into adult life. Most went on to raise kids and work low waged jobs in any circumstance.

[some waygug-in]

I think there is some research somewhere that says mainstreaming them is better for them in the long run.


I'm too lazy to look it up, but I remember talking about it in psychology class years ago.


I'm not saying I agree with it, by the way.

[BetsyNY]

Mainstreaming doesn't mean pretending the problems don't exist. This is very sad to me.

[ddeubel]

For what it's worth, here is an old article I published a long time ago on the topic of language acquisition problems and learning disabilities. Though for the ESL context, it has some practical pointers and good references for further reading. Article . I comment more about it in an old blog post

I really think that the best us foreign teachers can do is to teach everyone. Create community and acceptance. Sometimes our objectives have to be other than language learning and more about the affective domain and also the Confucian concept of "Hongik Ingan" or "the whole person". If you can get other students accepting those with disabilities and working together...you've done a great thing.

I think many are confused about what a "learning disability" is. A learning disability isn't something you can "see". It is a perceptual problem and not one of personality disorder or socializing/emotional difficulties. Attention disorders and autism, both talked about above, are definitely not learning disabilities.

If you ever get a chance, watch Rick Lavoie's outstanding "F.A.T." workshop video. For teaching language - you'll learn more in that half hour than in 200 hours of a TEFL course. Learning disabilities result from individual differences in cognitive functioning and processing ability. About 1 in 3 of the kids in your class, have a learning disability (however mild). They don't learn effectively in the traditional way of teaching. Their brain is bewildered and they can't keep up with the processing demands of that learning environment. Teach them differently and bingo! - they learn and enjoy school.

Learning disabilities in the majority of cases are a result of "school" and poor instruction that doesn't focus on teaching "how to learn" and strategies. Doesn't provide modifications of content or supports for learning and doesn't provide enough time and repetition for mastery. Language teachers could learn a lot from special educators.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[Senior]

I only have a few kids with major behavioral/learning issues. Most are actually pretty sharp, but just act up because they don't care/have learned as much as they care about English.

My biggest problem is that is seems that , probably, 40% are functionally blind. They don't do the work because, simply they can't see the board.

[chellovek]

Most of my kids are total mongs. Just plough on through it, man.

[southernman]

I've also got a few students with learning disabilities in each class and in one of my 5th grade classes all of the boys have learning disabilities.

I actually worked in a special needs department at a Highschool back home for a term as a social work student and have worked with heaps of special needs kids over the years.

I actually like the fact that children with special needs are mainstreamed here. I obviously have a severe issues with the social stigma in this country for such children.

However, I have found that the vast majority of my students with learning disabilities actually do surprisingly well in English class. I had one young boy with Down's Syndrome who I used to work with before school and sometimes after my classes who loved English.

My pet theory as to why these students do better in English than in other subjects. Is because western teachers probably show more empathy and kindness towards these students than some Korean teachers do. The previous sentence doesn't include the Korean special needs teachers.

All you can do in the classroom is encourage them as much as you can, include them in everything and make sure they are not getting picked on by the other students.

As long as they're enjoying themselves in the classroom without causing disruption I'm happy and contented. By treating them with respect and courtesy I'm hopefully making one or two of their fellow students start to do the same