The Assessment Of Children With Learning Problems

Abstract

A model clinical program has been designed to help the many children who are having difficulty learning in the regular classroom. The goal is to help the teacher respond more effectively to the variety of needs within the classroom. In a demonstration, the teacher observes those children whom she has first identified as having difficulties and then described on a Teacher Report Form. The examiner utilizes specific strategies in interaction with the child to solve the child's problem in accomplishing a given task. The teacher sees how the child may be assisted in learning how to cope with difficulties. She may recognize the strategies demonstrated as being within her own repertoire and as those she was exposed to in the Teacher Report Form. The consultant aids the teacher in applying the strategies in the context of what she would like to see the child accomplish, thereby making the teacher more aware of her own competence in helping the child. The consultant also helps the teacher to generalize the strategies she uses with a specific child to her interactions with other children within the classroom. The clinical program thus works as an in-service teacher training program, with communication of a limited but expanding number of problem-solving strategies that may be applied to a multitude of educational tasks.