How do I help an adult with LDs find an expert tutor?
January 13, 2009 3:04 PM Subscribe
I need help finding free expert literacy tutoring for an LD adult learner in Charlotte, NC, or a grant source for an adult learning center there.
I don't just need a community literacy volunteer. I need someone who has been trained to work with adult learners with learning disabilities, and can work intensely with a learner. OR I need a grant source that might pay such an expert to help a struggling learner.
The backstory:
I used to work with a Charlotte adult literacy center, teaching an adult learner I will call Delores.
Delores was in her 60s and totally illiterate, a second-grade dropout from a low-income family. We worked together for months with very little progress.
I raised money for Delores to be tested for learning disabilities. I was told by the tester (an expert in LDs and special needs education) that Delores probably had significant learning disabilities.
He recommended that someone work with her several times a week, not just once a week as we had been doing. He also recommended that she work with someone who had experience with learning disabilities, and acknowledged that even with help, she might never learn to read.
His recommendation has so far proven impossible. Delores is beyond being helped by even the most gifted and persistent community volunteer, but has no money to pay for professional help. She is falling through the cracks.
People who have expertise want money she and I don’t have. I asked the local college for volunteers from the education department, no luck.
I wrote a grant to pay for an LD professional to come to the adult learning center and work with Delores and the center’s other LD learners. The adult learning center did not offer me much help in applying for grants for its under-served learners (Delores is not the only one with this problem, and my contact at the center said others need the same help). I'm not even sure they did anything with my grant letter. No luck.
I have now moved to another city several hours away, making it even harder to help. Delores still gets help from community volunteers, and has made next to no progress.
There is no budget for any help for Delores, at least not until I am out of college.
I am aware that Delores might never learn to read, but it’s still not certain that that’s the case. She deserves time with a real LD professional before anyone writes her off.
So here’s what I want to know:
Is there something I’m not thinking of to get Delores help, or get the Charlotte adult literacy center the funds it needs to pay someone teach its most challenged learners to read?
Is there another Charlotte-area organization to ask or talk to about learning help from someone who really knows how to teach LD adult learners?
Are there grants/organizations you know of that could fund the learning center in a way that would help Delores (i.e. paying for a professional who is experienced with working with LD adult learners)?
And does anyone have any stories -- good or bad -- about an adult learner who struggled to learn to read through learning disability and disadvantage? What’s happening out there with other dedicated adult learners in a long-term struggle? I want to know.
Is there anything else I should know to help Delores?
Thanks for your time!
I don't just need a community literacy volunteer. I need someone who has been trained to work with adult learners with learning disabilities, and can work intensely with a learner. OR I need a grant source that might pay such an expert to help a struggling learner.
The backstory:
I used to work with a Charlotte adult literacy center, teaching an adult learner I will call Delores.
Delores was in her 60s and totally illiterate, a second-grade dropout from a low-income family. We worked together for months with very little progress.
I raised money for Delores to be tested for learning disabilities. I was told by the tester (an expert in LDs and special needs education) that Delores probably had significant learning disabilities.
He recommended that someone work with her several times a week, not just once a week as we had been doing. He also recommended that she work with someone who had experience with learning disabilities, and acknowledged that even with help, she might never learn to read.
His recommendation has so far proven impossible. Delores is beyond being helped by even the most gifted and persistent community volunteer, but has no money to pay for professional help. She is falling through the cracks.
People who have expertise want money she and I don’t have. I asked the local college for volunteers from the education department, no luck.
I wrote a grant to pay for an LD professional to come to the adult learning center and work with Delores and the center’s other LD learners. The adult learning center did not offer me much help in applying for grants for its under-served learners (Delores is not the only one with this problem, and my contact at the center said others need the same help). I'm not even sure they did anything with my grant letter. No luck.
I have now moved to another city several hours away, making it even harder to help. Delores still gets help from community volunteers, and has made next to no progress.
There is no budget for any help for Delores, at least not until I am out of college.
I am aware that Delores might never learn to read, but it’s still not certain that that’s the case. She deserves time with a real LD professional before anyone writes her off.
So here’s what I want to know:
Is there something I’m not thinking of to get Delores help, or get the Charlotte adult literacy center the funds it needs to pay someone teach its most challenged learners to read?
Is there another Charlotte-area organization to ask or talk to about learning help from someone who really knows how to teach LD adult learners?
Are there grants/organizations you know of that could fund the learning center in a way that would help Delores (i.e. paying for a professional who is experienced with working with LD adult learners)?
And does anyone have any stories -- good or bad -- about an adult learner who struggled to learn to read through learning disability and disadvantage? What’s happening out there with other dedicated adult learners in a long-term struggle? I want to know.
Is there anything else I should know to help Delores?
Thanks for your time!
Jennifer, the organization that comes to mind first to help fund the literacy center is Foundation for the Carolinas. They have an extensive grant program that focuses primarily on the Charlotte region. Grants can also be made through donor-advised funds by individuals and families. Hopefully their website could be some help. You might also see if you can identify the person who's coordinating the Impact Fund at FFTC. It's a program for emerging philanthropists (young donors). Impact Fund teams provide seed money for small projects and are a bit more streamlined and personal in their review process.
I'm hoping Jaie might pop in here. She works at the library, I think, and may know of some resources through the library system that could help Delores directly.
This is a very kind thing you're trying to do.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:57 PM on January 13, 2009
I'm hoping Jaie might pop in here. She works at the library, I think, and may know of some resources through the library system that could help Delores directly.
This is a very kind thing you're trying to do.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:57 PM on January 13, 2009
In my state there's an agency that's supposed to serve as a clearinghouse for literacy programs / resources. Here's North Carolina's -- maybe they can help? If you haven't tried them already...
posted by lillygog at 8:37 AM on January 14, 2009
posted by lillygog at 8:37 AM on January 14, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pammeke at 3:16 PM on January 13, 2009