Chris Harper can learn; he just needs to do it a little differently.

As a sophomore at Penn, he was found to have poor audiovisual motor integration--a learning disability. "If you showed me three pictures in squares, and then two minutes later asked me to draw the pictures, the way I'd remember it I'd mix up the pictures, draw things that weren't there," said Harper, who, as a member of the Class of 1996, graduated with a degree in entrepreneurial management. In July, he'll start a job where he'll be teaching interactive computer programs to executives.

"People equate learning disabled with information on intelligence," said Liz Droz, who works at Penn's counseling center. "They think learning-disabled people aren't smart. Tests have shown that people with learning disabilities are average and above average in intelligence."

Harper completed his freshman year with a 2.2 GPA. That was a shock for him. He had gone to a small high school in Chicago, where he interacted regularly with his teachers. They knew that he was smart and that he understood what they taught him.

When his grades weren't initially what he hoped for at Penn, Harper chalked it up to freshman blues. "Freshman year is a tough year--getting used to Penn, being away from home," he explained. "I thought a lot of it was emotional, and I wasn't as prepared as I could have been."

He resolved to work harder as a sophomore and he did--but the results were the same. "I was completely frustrated," he recalled. After all, he tutored friends in his dorm in economics.

Harper went to Penn's Learning Resource Center (LRC) for help. Droz suggested that he be tested for a learning disability. Once he found out he had one, Harper began working with Cathy Luna, a Ph.D. student at the Graduate School of Education who works part-time helping students with learning disabilities.

"Cathy was great," Harper said. She suggested that when studying, Harper read a chapter, then make notes immediately on what he had read. Later on, he was found to have a test anxiety. He asked professors for extra time on tests, and received it.

Using the new study methods, Harper increased his GPA to 3.2 for the first semester of his junior year. And the former Penn track captain--and winner of the 200-meter dash four years in a row at the Ivy League Meet--earned GPAs of 3.6 and 3.2, respectively, during his last two semesters at the University.

Luna oversees 10 volunteers who help students with learning disabilities. Luna's own Ph.D. research is related to this work, and the LRC will have to find a replacement for her when she graduates.

Harper's problem is not uncommon at Penn. According to Alice Nagle, coordinator of the Program for Students with Disabilities, "There's been a dramatic increase in the past three years. In 1994, there were 104 [students identified with a disability]. In 1995, it was 148. And this year, it is 178."

Nagle suspects that students with learning disabilities who manage to do well in high school or undergraduate classes suddenly find themselves struggling in college or in graduate or professional programs. They then are tested and identified as having a learning disability--hence the increasing numbers. "But there are a great many who probably have one and don't know it," she added.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that "reasonable accommodations" be made for students with learning disabilities, "but that's vague," said Myrna Cohen, director of the LRC.

A student with learning disabilities may ask for more time to take a test. Some students are aided by other students who volunteer as notetakers. And since some disabilities make it easier to learn by "hearing" rather than reading, some students may record lectures and purchase books on tape.

Professors are required to make adjustments for students with learning disabilities. Luna said it's important for students to "take the time to talk about how to communicate their learning style, explain to a professor what type of test [allows them to] show what they know."

At the request of the council of undergraduate deans, Provost Stanley Chodorow set up a committee of faculty and staff to suggest guidelines about providing accommodations for students with learning disabilities. The report, which was turned in last week, deals with matters such as creating guidelines for the assessment of learning disabilities.

Kathleen McCauley, an assistant professor of nursing, taught a student with a learning disability. McCauley had to consider if the disability would affect the student's work to a point where patients might be endangered. (She teaches clinical practices, which involves "lots of reading" and working with nurses in hospital settings.)

Certain accommodations were made: The student got one-on-one instruction at a hospital--the usual ratio is one-to-eight. There was a "mock" crisis drill, in which a mannequin was substituted for a patient, and several other crises were simulated to test the student's ability.

"She needed to prove to me she could do it," said McCauley, whose husband has a learning disability.

Working with the student led McCauley to a realization: "I believe we need to give students a chance. We have a responsibility. There are lots of things the University can do."

By the way, the student did pass McCauley's course. She also recently passed her nursing-board certification test.

Return to Compass Features for May 21/28, 1996