A personal note on a serious topic: ADD and learning
A very high portion of creative artists suffer from issues that can effect performance in conventional learning settings. To make things worse, we're often made to feel stupid, especially those of us who don't do well in mainstream learning environments. The result is two fold: even though our creativity should be taken as a gift, we're labeled as failures from the get go. Second, many of us suffer from traumatic and psychosomatic mental illnesses as a result of "consequences" and punishments of our underperformance.
First, some good news: As you've probably read over and over on websites, in magazine artists, maybe on the therapist's sofa, so of the greatest innovators in history have also been unconventional learners. Second, many schools (as well as work environments) are finally catching on to the fact that not all people learn the same and are begining to offer accomodation. While sometimes its best not to be too public about an LD , there are actually laws to protect you, including in academic and test taking settings. Here is one resource that discusses them. Here is an example of ETS (administrators of the SAT, GRE and TOEIC) discussing their own accomodation policies.
As for my basic advice:
In regard to learner accomodation, my teaching reflects my own experiences with a severe LD as well as eventual academic successes. The basic principle of my teaching is to understand that different people learn in different ways, and a good teacher embraces not only learner diversity, but learning style diversity as well. This is one of the key benefits of my modular based learning system.
How Modular Based Learning works for students with learning issues
Some people with ADD and learning disabilities are incredible at figuring things out on their own, but very poor at benefiting from real time teaching, especially those that involve "listen and summarize" or "watch and copy" type learning. This is not so much that the student cannot learn, but rather a student such as myself may need time to absorb things. Once it sinks in; however, a student with ADD may end up processing the information in creative and analytical ways most other students could never even begin to imagine. (This is why we are frequently labelled "gifted underachievers", because many of us are indeed gifted.)
The advantage of modular learning is that it allows you the extra time to absorb what you learn. Instead of being lectured, told to copy, then chastised for getting it wrong, information is presented to you on your own terms, then you take time to work on it on your own terms and come back to me when you're ready.
As I see it, key skills in working with ADD students are:
Two key principles related to this are:
These are the general principles of my teaching. If you'd like to try it out, I hope you'll consider becoming a student of mine. Although my main focus in music teaching, I also offer academic tutoring as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Eddie Landsberg
First, some good news: As you've probably read over and over on websites, in magazine artists, maybe on the therapist's sofa, so of the greatest innovators in history have also been unconventional learners. Second, many schools (as well as work environments) are finally catching on to the fact that not all people learn the same and are begining to offer accomodation. While sometimes its best not to be too public about an LD , there are actually laws to protect you, including in academic and test taking settings. Here is one resource that discusses them. Here is an example of ETS (administrators of the SAT, GRE and TOEIC) discussing their own accomodation policies.
As for my basic advice:
- Get a formal diagnosis from a medical doctor. Don't self diagnose.
- Know your rights relative to your work and academic setting.
- Engage in constant self improvement, constantly building on your life management skills. Your goal should be to manage your deficits while maximizing your strengths. (Learning how to do this will be a lifelong process.)
In regard to learner accomodation, my teaching reflects my own experiences with a severe LD as well as eventual academic successes. The basic principle of my teaching is to understand that different people learn in different ways, and a good teacher embraces not only learner diversity, but learning style diversity as well. This is one of the key benefits of my modular based learning system.
How Modular Based Learning works for students with learning issues
Some people with ADD and learning disabilities are incredible at figuring things out on their own, but very poor at benefiting from real time teaching, especially those that involve "listen and summarize" or "watch and copy" type learning. This is not so much that the student cannot learn, but rather a student such as myself may need time to absorb things. Once it sinks in; however, a student with ADD may end up processing the information in creative and analytical ways most other students could never even begin to imagine. (This is why we are frequently labelled "gifted underachievers", because many of us are indeed gifted.)
The advantage of modular learning is that it allows you the extra time to absorb what you learn. Instead of being lectured, told to copy, then chastised for getting it wrong, information is presented to you on your own terms, then you take time to work on it on your own terms and come back to me when you're ready.
As I see it, key skills in working with ADD students are:
- Compartmentalizing tasks. (Breaking stuff down into clear and accomplishable tasks.)
- Setting clear goals.
- Motifvating the student to reach them.
Two key principles related to this are:
- Not overwhelming the student with a bombardment of useless information.
- Not teaching in such a concrete way that the student doesn't have time to experiment, play with and absorb concepts being taught.
These are the general principles of my teaching. If you'd like to try it out, I hope you'll consider becoming a student of mine. Although my main focus in music teaching, I also offer academic tutoring as well. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Eddie Landsberg
Teaching and Tutoring Services
Although my primary focus is music teaching, I have also had over 20 years of experience teaching a wide variety of courses ranging from EFL to language arts and global students to learners of all ages. Despite my own challenges, I eventually graduated from College with a 3.47 GPA and am currently working on my graduate studies at Rutgers. If you feel that I might be able to help you out in areas other than music (including prep for the reading and writing sections of popularly administered exams such as the SAT and GRE) please feel free to register for a demo lesson.
