"They must understand that you do not know everything about how they learn. The more information they can share about themselves, the greater likelihood that you can improve their individual instruction, and that their reading, writing, and/or math will improve."1

Information to gather

Screening tools can be used to gather information on:
  • Learner's work habits and learning strategies (ability to organize, plan, prioritize, initiate action, self-monitoring)
  • Basic academic skills including writing, reading and math
  • Learner's attention span (ability to listen to questions, stay on track with conversations, level of concentration)
  • Time orientation (punctual with day and time of appointments; ability to handle time limits, tell time, and judge time requirements)
  • Auditory and or visual sequencing (ability to hear sounds in correct order, rephrase hort stories in proper order, organize instructions into an appropriate order, and see and distinguish the order of symbols, words or images)
  • Spatial relationships (ability to understand distance, get from one place to another; space numbers, letters and or words on paper, and perceive distance of objects to prevent collisions)
  • Learner's short-term visual and auditory memory (ability to recall information that is read, repeat and synthesize information that is heard, and sequence events such as employment history)
  • Medical and family history (presence of learning disabilities in family, use of medication to control behaviours, illness during birth)
  • Previous school history
  • Verbal communication skills2

1 Sturomski & Associates (1997). Information Gathering and Diagnostic- Prescriptive Teaching; The Keys to Effective Adult Education. <http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/adult/information_gathering.html>.
2 National Adult Literacy & Learning Disabilities Center (1999). Bridges to Practice: Guidebook 2. National Institute for Literacy. <http://www.nifl.gov/nifl/ld/reports/bridges_pt2.pdf>. & Payne, Nancy. Learning Disabilities & Special Needs Training: Where Do We Go From Here? <http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/adult/ld_and_special_learning_needs.html>.