Welcome to Chapter Four

Although this is the final look into the "World of Screening Tools", it is not the final journey with our learners. In fact, the title of this chapter best captures the goal of this chapter; screening is really the beginning of the assessment journey. Learners are encouraged to be active travelers on this journey of discovery.

Chapter Four addresses ways to make more in-depth discoveries during the journey. The clues, hunches and initial insights that were gathered through the initial screening and informal conversations with learners will be investigated further to achieve clarity and a greater depth of knowledge of potential learning barriers. The tools highlighted in this chapter represent the 'bridge' that practitioners and learners cross to go from the initial screening to a more in-depth investigation of the assessment process. Crossing the 'bridge' facilitates the merging of screening and assessment.

Helpful tips as we continue our journey

Keep in the mind the following tips to determine the difference between potential learning disabilities, general lack of knowledge and/or intellectual challenges:

• Has the adult's problem persisted over time? If the adult is learning or improving language skills (for example an ESL student), errors in his/her oral language skills will improve over a period of time. If the adult has a potential learning disability, his/her skills will not improve without appropriate strategies.
• Has the problem resisted normal instruction? If the adult has received explicit instruction in the problem area and still does not improve, a learning disability is the likely cause.
• Does the problem interfere with the adult's learning progress? Can he/she write sentences, but has difficulty organizing his or her thoughts into a paragraph? The process of producing a product is often the biggest challenge. In this case, a learning disability is the likely cause.
• Does the adult show a clear pattern of strengths and weaknesses? Does the adult have good oral skills but poor written skills? If there is a discrepancy between skill areas, a learning disability is most likely evident.
• Is there an irregular pattern of success? Does the adult seem to "get it" one day and not the next? If yes, a short-term memory disability may be present. In most cases, with the integration of various mnemonic strategies, the adult can help manage his or her learning disability.