When big kids don't learn: Contextual modifications and intervention strategies for age 8–18 at-risk students

Abstract

Some students are neurologically wired to cope with the cognitive, linguistic and memory demands of classroom communication interactions; others are not. Educators are in a position not only to help these students learn to compensate for deficit areas, but to create learning contexts in which they and the students help each other monitor the quality and content of instructional interactions. This paper: (a) reviews the subtle but significant warning signs that students show when school language seems like a foreign language; (b) discusses the ways in which educators can engage in ‘meta-instruction’ to ensure that the classroom offers comprehensible input to students; (c) describes instructional theories and methodologies to which language specialists (e.g. English as a second language teachers, speech pathologists) subscribe; and (d) discusses metaskills that students can learn to facilitate acculturation to school and the language-learning demands therein. Discussion will be focused on the students in the age range of 8–18 years and personal experiences of the author, who has ‘a dyslexic brain’, will be shared as examples of the types of difficulties encountered and coping strategies adopted.

Key Words:

• adolescents
• language disorder
• intervention
• metalinguistics
• school-age children