MU RESEARCHER HELPS MAKE GED TEST ACCESSIBLE TO ADULTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- If you are older than 25, you may have missed being diagnosed with a condition that has already altered your life, making you more frustrated and less successful than if you had been identified and helped in your early school years.
This is a message that thousands of adults with learning disabilities need to hear because unfortunately, 1974 was the first year learning disabilities were formally recognized. Individuals with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence, but without accommodations they don't generally excel in employment, education or life situations at the same level as their peers. They can be successful, though, and there is help available for the estimated 20 percent of adults who have the condition.
A top researcher in the field, James Koller has dedicated his 25-year career to diagnosing, treating and creating awareness for the condition. A professor of educational and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Education, he has been tapped by the General Educational Development Testing Service of the American Council on Education to help them reach out to more adults with unidentified learning disabilities in an effort to help them become more successful.
Over the past year, Koller has assisted the GEDTS with developing their first National Disabilities Advisory Committee. With Koller as its chair, the committee has begun meeting to advise GEDTS on how to best reach adults with learning disabilities and offer them the accommodations needed to successfully test for a high school diploma.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that you are not going to get to first base without a high school diploma. The GED administers the only nationally recognized high school equivalency test, and the fact that there are 50 million adults nationwide without a diploma shows what a national problem this is," Koller said. "If we can reach more adults and help them access the education they need, we can make a difference in so many lives."
GEDTS administers the test to more than 800,000 adults each year. The committee will help GEDTS develop policies for accommodating learning disabilities, training for GED administrators and strategies to encourage adults with previously unidentified learning disabilities to take the tests. Often, the only thing adults with learning disabilities need in order to level the playing field is a tape recorder, extended time or a private room free of distractions.
"We asked Dr. Koller to develop the committee because he is a leading expert in the field. He not only has the information, but he can explain it clearly and apply it to our needs," said Fred Edwards, director of partner outreach for GEDTS.
"We want to get rid of the barriers to getting a GED. If you have the ability, you should have the opportunity to demonstrate it," said Joan Auchter, GEDTS executive director. "This standing panel will keep GEDTS on the cutting edge so that as breakthroughs in learning disability research come across the horizon, we can incorporate them into our model."
In addition to teaching and researching at MU, Koller is the founder and former director of the MU Assessment and Consultation Clinic and the Neurology and Pediatrics Psychological Clinics. He is a Missouri State Psychological Consultant in Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for the Missouri Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and he serves on several national task forces to establish state disability standards. He also was recently named a fellow of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities.
-30-
EDITOR'S NOTE: More information about learning disabilities and the GED test are attached.
Facts About Learning Disabilities
"¢ Definition: a processing disorder of the central nervous system that causes a deficit in one or more of the following: attention, reasoning, processing, memory, communication, reading, writing, spelling, calculation, coordination, social competence and emotional maturity.
"¢ Individuals with learning disabilities have average or above average intelligence, but they don't excel in employment, education or life situations at the same level as their peers.
"¢ Learning disabilities are the fastest growing impediment to employment today.
"¢ Adults with learning disabilities are the largest group at risk for dropping out of school and work.
"¢ An estimated 15 percent of the current work force is learning disabled, but they don't know it.
"¢ The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 50-80 percent of students enrolled in adult basic education programs have a learning disability.
"¢ Some adults with learning disabilities may:
"¢"¢ read well but not write well, or write well but not read well; or be adept at mathematical problem-solving, but not at adding, subtracting, dividing or multiplying
"¢"¢ be able to learn information presented in one way, but not in another;
"¢"¢ misinterpret language, have poor comprehension of what is said;
"¢"¢ have difficulty with social skills, may misinterpret social cues;
"¢"¢ be able to explain things orally, but not in writing;
"¢"¢ have difficulty completing job applications correctly;
"¢"¢ confuse right and left, up and down;
"¢"¢ have additional emotional problems like depression or other anxiety disorders;
"¢"¢ have difficulty following directions, especially multiple directions; and
"¢"¢ be poorly coordinated.
"¢ There are no cures for learning disabilities; adults with learning disabilities often must use coping mechanisms throughout their lifetime.
"¢ Many successful people have had learning disabilities, including Albert Einstein, Ludwig von Beethoven, Leonardo daVinci, Hans Christian Anderson, Louis Pasteur, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Robin Williams, Cher, Tom Cruise and Walt Disney.
Facts About the GED Test
"¢ The General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service develops and administers the GED Tests to more than 800,000 adults each year in the United States and other countries.
"¢ GED graduates include: Bill Cosby, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, Delaware's Lt. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner and U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell.
"¢ About one out of every seven people who receive high school diplomas each year earns that diploma by passing the GED tests.
"¢About 68 percent of GED test-takers plan to enter a college, university or trade, technical or business school during the next year.
"¢ The average age of people taking the GED tests is 24.4.
"¢ More than 95 percent of employers nationwide employ GED graduates on the same basis as high school graduates in terms of hiring, salary and opportunity for advancement.
Contact: Teressa Tignor Gilbreth, Senior Information Specialist, News Bureau, University of Missouri-Columbia, (573) 882-9144; [email protected]
RSS