“Other difficulties”– characteristics Potential strategies
  • Don’t focus on a task for an appropriate length of time.
  • Can’t seem to get things done.
  • Do better with short tasks.
  • Help learners break tasks into manageable chunks.
  • Teach and model time management techniques.
  • Don’t know where to begin tasks or how to proceed.
  • Don’t work within time limits, failing to meet deadlines.
  • Have difficulty prioritizing tasks.
  • Workspace and personal space are messy.
  • Model effective action planning – involve learners right from the beginning in assessment and training plan development.
  • Begin with small realistic projects to practise and model.
  • Encourage learners to refer to their plan and check off each task as it is completed.
  • Encourage them to stop and think.
  • Utilize mnemonics to help remember steps to effective planning.
  • Omit or substitute elements when copying information from one place to another, as in invoices or schedules.
  • Often confuse left from right and up from down.
  • Help learners recognize and understand why they are having this challenge.
  • Encourage them to double-check work and make note of words or numbers that they often miscopy.
  • Get them to stop and think before acting.
  • Avoid jobs requiring manipulation of small items.
  • Become frustrated when putting together toys for children.
  • Help learners break down tasks into smaller chunks.
  • Encourage a break in an activity when they become frustrated.
  • Stand too close to people when conversing.
  • Don’t perceive situations accurately.
  • May laugh when something serious is happening.
  • Do not seem to know how to act and what to say to people in specific social situations and may withdraw.
  • Discuss undesired behaviour with learners.
  • Work on role-playing and discuss appropriate behaviour in certain situations.
  • Help learners become aware of their behaviour – this is the first and most critical step.
  • Demonstrate over-reliance on others for assistance or fail to ask for help.
  • Blame external factors for lack of success.
  • Don’t set personal goals.
  • Provide modelling and teach goal setting.
  • Actively involve learners in the learning process by encouraging selfassessments.
  • Involve another learner who has experienced similar challenges but has learned to work with them.

Mathematics characteristics Potential strategies
  • Use a calculator or count on fingers for answers to simple problems, for example 2 x 5.
  • Make use of regularities in the number system such as 2, 5, l0s.
  • Show short cuts to memorizing the multiplication table, i.e. 2 x 5 = 10 then 5 x 2 = 10.
  • Build on existing knowledge and work from what learners know: 2 x 6 = 12 then 3 x 6 = 12 + 6 = 18.
  • Encourage them to use the calculator but help them build their estimating skills, so that they can recognize if they made an error inputting the numbers when the answer seems incorrect on the calculator.
  • Provide practice frequently but in small doses (two 15-minute sessions per day).
  • Have them chart their progress.