Board Members Address Needs of Those With Learning Disabilities

Candace Braun

Following the Princeton Regional Schools' adoption last month of a set of goals that would address the needs of all students, particularly those with learning disabilities, members of the Board of Education met on Monday to discuss how they intend to improve the learning environment.

"After listening to parents and some of their concerns we realized there may not be a common understanding about what learning disabilities and dyslexia are," said the district's student services administrator, Agnes Golding, at the Board's program committee meeting.

Ms. Golding was asked to prepare a document for district staff detailing the types of existing learning disabilities and identify where teachers should seek help for a particular student.

"This [document] is not meant to address intervention....but what kinds of issues need red flags," she said, noting that while the district is not currently looking to provide specialized classes for those with learning disabilities like dyslexia, it is looking to help students find a specialized staff member who will best fit their needs.

"There are places these kids can go," said Ms. Golding, mentioning language and learning specialists as the main resources.

The district began examining the offerings available for students with learning disabilities this summer following concerns voiced by one Princeton parent, Bill Potter, who has a 14-year-old son with dyslexia. Among several other parents voicing concern at last month's Board meeting over the lack of help their children are receiving was K.P. Weseloh, whose two children are both showing signs of dyslexia.

At Monday's program committee meeting Ms. Weseloh questioned how the district decides a child's needs should be addressed, since her second grade son was placed in a reading recovery program she feels doesn't specifically meet his needs.

"There are so many qualified people in the school....but the system has lost its structure," she said, describing the many channels she had to go through to try to find help for her son.

After speaking with the speech and language teachers at each of the elementary schools, Ms. Golding said: "They all have their favorite ways of looking at these issues and they're all valid, but they're not uniform throughout the district."

Some of the other concerns that need to be examined by the district include finding ways to help learning disabled students whose parents are not involved in their education, as well as determining if some students with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) are actually having trouble paying attention in school because of some undiscovered learning disability, said Ms. Golding.

One way these concerns can be met is through training both specialists and regular staff members to identify learning disabilities in children.

"Training is such an important piece of this whole thing," she said, adding that there are a number of learning disabled children who could be quite successful in the classroom if their teachers knew how to confront their problems.

Charlotte Bialek, chair of the program committee, emphasized that the district needs to come up with a chart that would help guide students through the proper channels when a learning disability has been identified.

"At the high school, the guidance counselor is the best person to go to," said Gary Snyder, PHS principal.

Ms. Bialek added that she would like to see a book of guidelines put together for parents that would assist them in knowing how to identify learning disabilities in their children and what to do in those situations.

The program committee will continue to discuss the district's new goals, which will be tackled over the next three years, at its next meeting on November 14.