Program For Learning Disabilities
Sometimes students have learning difficulties that hinder classroom performance or cause an extra amount of homework time in order to maintain desired grades.
Many of these students have normal or above-normal intelligence with good eyesight and good hearing. Some even make acceptable grades in school and appear to be good readers. Yet, they struggle in one or several areas of school performance.
KHCS offers two distinct programs to help students become independent and efficient classroom learners by solving the root problems rather than using tutorial methods.
National Institute for Learning Disabilities
This program was pioneered in Norfolk Christian Schools in 1973 to help children who learn differently. The NILD philosophy in working with LD students is based upon stimulating areas which are deficient in perceiving and processing information. Rather than learning compensatory techniques, students receive individual, intense educational therapy a few hours each week while mainstreaming in the classroom.
Periodic communication between the classroom teacher and the therapist allows for the sharing of insights and practical suggestions leading to an improved educational program for each student. Parents are expected to be involved by assisting their child at home with specific assignments to enhance the therapy process.
Essential Learning Systems
This program is distributed by International Learning Solutions (ILS) in Bloomington, Illinois. It was developed in 1987. ELS is an interactive, computerized therapeutic approach designed to help students become independent learners.
The ELS program assists students in developing efficient patterns of processing information by stimulating the visual, auditory, and motor pathways in the brain through sight-sound patterns of words. Since this approach works as a learning efficiency program it can help students with learning difficulties in the classroom, including "A" and "B" students that require excessive homework time.
A lab instructor constantly monitors and interacts with the student to ensure that all senses are correctly engaged while speaking and writing. The student is required to be on the program approximately one hour a day, four days a week. Students in this program continue their enrollment in the regular classroom.
What are Learning Disabilities and Perceptional Weaknesses?
Although some students have average to superior ability, they may experience significant difficulties in acquiring listening, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, reasoning or mathematical skills. Difficulties in these areas are often caused by perceptual weaknesses. 'Perception' is the way in which your brain interprets what you see, hear, feel, taste, and touch.
Perceptual weaknesses occur when the brain incorrectly processes the incoming sensory information. One child may be able to read but not understand what he has read, while another child may not have the ability to read at all. Some children have problems with short-term and/or long-term memory. They can be successfully quizzed the night before a test, yet not know the answers the next day. Others have difficulty concentrating or staying on task. The list goes on!
Traditional teaching methods do not always address the problems that struggling students may face. Teachers and parents often think that the students are "lazy" or "not trying."
How are Learning Weaknesses Diagnosed?
Psychological testing to determine student potential is often the first step. Then an educational battery of formal and informal tests is given to determine strengths and weaknesses. These tests provide the necessary data needed to denote the presence of specific learning and perceptual weaknesses.
How Do I Enroll My Child in the Program?
If your child is not already a student at KHCS, you need to fill out an application to the school and go through the admissions process. Upon acceptance to the school, the administrator will refer you to the program coordinator.
If your child is already in the school, you can make an appointment with the coordinator to discuss your concerns. The coordinator will give the necessary information about testing and enrollment in one of the programs.
