 What we know:
 The lower end of the “Bell Curve”
 Not performing at grade level
 75% of their peers achieve at a faster rate
 Measured mental abilities fall between 70 – 85
 Do not qualify for special education services
 What else do we know:
 Prone to be immature in interpersonal relationships
 Have difficulties following multi-step directions
 Do not develop long term goals
 Tend to live in the present only
 Tend to have a poor self image due to awareness that
they don’t keep up
 Work on all tasks slowly but can be methodical
 Do not have strategies for problem solving or decision
making
 Also:
 They do well with manipulative or hands-on tasks
 Can perform repetitive tasks well
 Can master skills when broken into steps
 Perform learned occupations with no comparable
difference to their peers
 The problem is:
 Slow learners need help but special education is not the
answer.
 Testing is not the answer
 Setting higher achievement standards and goals is not
the answer
 How do we help them succeed?
 We start with finding out where they are and what
skills they currently possess.
 You see this coming:
 Strengths and weaknesses
 The strengths tend not to lie in academics.
 The weaknesses tend not to lie in physical, emotional
or cultural limitations.
 So, poor academics but they may be good at:
 Physically: Sports, extracurricular, behaviors
 Emotionally: Social, outgoing, popular, happy
 Culturally: community identity, family, religious
 The limitations of Slow Learners for the classroom
teacher and support staff involve the fact that
 Slow learners simply do not possess enough fund,
range and depth of general knowledge to enhance new
learning.
 To learn new information we must be able to relate it
to previous information or reference material.
What happens:
1. Referral for special education due to a lack of
academic achievement.
2. Evaluation results indicate the student is not
performing within the expected range.
3. The student is determined to be ineligible for special
education services.
4. The child is referred for another evaluation or some
other attempt to obtain support services is initiated.
How do we help the identified Slow learner student.
Differentiate between the slow learner and the
reluctant learner who is unmotivated, resistive,
passive aggressive and uncooperative.
2. Introduce more information, not less. They will
never improve if the pace is slowed too much.
3. Keep the information bits and bytes small.
1.
4. Associate physical and manipulative activities with
academics and homework.
5. Teach organization strategies.
6. Teach content, not process, very little information
will be generalized.
7. Rote learning works best but is seen as boring and
aversive, so use computers, flash cards and review,
review, review.
Techniques that work involve:
1. Word drills
2. Response cards
3. Sentence repetition
4. Phonic drills
5. Audio taped words
6. Word definition drills
General interventions that should always be applied to
improve learning with the slow learner involve:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Reduce distractions, audible and visual.
Promote attentiveness.
Keep assignments short.
Repeat work assignments in various forms.
Provide variation in assignments.
6. Give more hands on assignments
7. Keep tests short and use oral tests when possible.
8. Have test errors redone correctly.
9. Avoid the cooperative or competitive method.
10. Use mapping and graphic organizers.
11. Help the student become proficient with note taking.
Slow learners want to learn
But, have trouble making the process work for them.
And yet, we are on the advent of change, for those
struggling with
Math – we have calculators, not slide rules
Knowledge base – we have computer search engines, not
encyclopedias
Reading – we have audio books
Writing – we have Microsoft Word.
And best of all
For meetings, we have
Power Point !!
Alan Haskvitz , “Helping Your Slow-Learning Child”
Steven Shaw, PhD, “Slow Learners: Life and Education
on the Wrong Side of the Bell Curve”