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Whatever Works: Teaching Adults With Learning Difficulties In Adult Basic Education Programs: A Dissertation, Susan Noyes Spear

Educational Studies Dissertations

Research indicates that significant numbers of adult learners who attend adult basic education (ABE) programs have learning difficulties and/or learning disabilities. However, most ABE teachers have not been trained to teach students with these complex learning needs. This qualitative study, conducted through an interpretivist/constructivist lens, used in-depth individual interviews to garner the voices and experiences of ten ABE teachers as they described how they identify and manage the learning needs of their students. Results showed that ABE teachers described their practice in terms of how they identified their students' learning difficulties; their perceptions of their identity and role as an …

The Quest For A Meaningful “Special Education”: The Educational Journeys Of Nine Students With Learning Disabilities From An Inaccessible Learning Environment To One That Enabled Them To Learn, Amy E. Ballin

Educational Studies Dissertations

This ethnographic case study follows the educational journeys of nine students with learning disabilities who with luck and parental advocacy attend a school designed to address their disability. The researcher explores the role of cultures, both within and outside the school, and examines some of the effects of the social construction of special education on student learning.

This study draws no conclusions regarding the connections between the cultures at the school and the student’s success. However it does highlight the perspective of students, parents, and teachers, noting the ways in which they describe how and why this school environment allowed …