Helping All Learners Achieve Success on Their Own Terms

An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) attempts to not only identify areas of challenge for a student—fine motor skills, language development, reading and comprehension, written and verbal language skills, social interaction, etc.—but to also put a mechanism in place to address those challenges. While the intentions behind an IEP are good, much work remains to be done. Curriculum itself must be personalized in order to truly meet the needs of students with learning disabilities. Curriculum itself must be personalized in order to truly meet the needs of students with learning disabilities. Let's consider a few of the challenges that children with learning difficulties traditionally face and discuss how changes in practice might better serve their needs. For a very content-intense or verbose subject like earth science, geography or history, simple comprehension is not enough; students must memorize many facts and be able to effectively recall them, frequently and in the correct sequence. This may come naturally to many kids, but for those with learning difficulties, this is certainly a challenge. If memorized, those facts will quickly be forgotten after a test or quiz, and the child may never use them.