Some students will already know this before coming to LIPA and others will not be aware of this possibility but will experience barriers to their learning and development. It is indicative that a student has a specific learning difficulties/differences if some of the following are present:
- Spelling difficulties
- Telling left from right
- Poor balance
- Saying and reading long words
- Remembering the order of things
- Reversing figures or letters or leaving words out
- Following or remembering instructions
- Confusing phone messages
- Difficulty in organising time
- Difficulty in transferring thoughts onto paper
- Having to read things more than once before it makes sense
- Having to practice skills more often than other people
- Keeping up with what is being said in a group or lecture
- Poor posture and fatigue
- Clumsy gait and movement
- Mistakes when working with numbers
- Poor mental mathematical ability
- Mistakes when calculating with numbers
- Slowness in writing
- Poor standard of handwriting
- Forgetfulness
If you think that you or someone else has a specific learning difficulty:
- Reassure yourself or the other person by knowing that a very high proportion of LIPA students (higher rate than the general population) have a specific learning difficulty and that this can be viewed positively as there is a strong correlation with creativity.
- If you or the other person already knows that you/they have a specific learning difficulty and if they/you have proof from a professional such as an educational psychologist (and must be from when they were 16 years old or older for students on HEFCE funded courses) strong consideration needs to be given to sharing this with other people such as teaching staff, the Student Support Manager and/or your peers so that support can be put into place and that “reasonable adjustments” can be agreed.
- If they/you do not know that they/you have a specific learning difficulty or do not have a suitable report (perhaps the only one that they/you have is from when they were below 16 years old) a new one needs to be obtained – this can be done free of charge to the student through the Student Support Manager.
- Encourage them or yourself to meet with the Student Support Manager who will explain what will happen in terms of obtaining support and in the majority of cases extra funding to pay for this support.
Additional useful information
UK Students on HEFCE funded courses can apply for the Disabled Students' Allowance by completing a form and sending this with proof of their specific learning difficulty to Student Finance England. This will enable them to access non repayable and non-means tested funds that can be spent as follows:
- Equipment such as a computer, printer, recorder etc: Up to £5,161 for the whole course
- Support from people such as study skills tutors, etc: Up to £20,520 per year of the course
- Photocopying, paper, ink-cartridges, books etc: Up to £1,724 per year of the course
The support for non-UK students or students on non-HEFCE funded courses is paid for by LIPA and this can be discussed with the Student Support Manager.
We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to all aspects of student life and this includes our teaching, learning and assessment strategies to make sure that students with specific learning difficulties (and other disabilities) can achieve at the same rate and depth as other students.