Learning Disability and Response-Ability

Pedagogy Oct 2015

Learning Disability and Response-Ability

Steven J. Corbett

Abstract

This article offers readers a case study of a course-based tutoring partnership that frames and enhances the focus on the stories of three participants—two with learning disabilities. The first part engages arguments involving connections between learning-disabled and typical basic writing students to ask the important question: should learning-disabled students receive more institutionally sanctioned time, attention, and pedagogical care than mainstream students, especially if they are also in basic writing courses? I offer course-based tutoring and peer review and response groups as loci for exploring that query. In the article’s second part, I narrate the sorts of ethical choices that emerged as I began to focus on the participants in this study. I describe the interactions of the participants as they worked together, and with other students, in two peer review and response sessions. The article’s third part provides a more intimate gaze into the backgrounds and experiences of all three participants, offering readers a sense of just how compelling and unexpected the participant stories proved to be, behind the scenes and beyond the classroom. The article concludes with some thoughts on how this poignant experience with two students with learning disabilities taught us all the value of what it means to struggle, to persevere, and to make the most of what “others” of all backgrounds and abilities have to offer.

Journal: Pedagogy
Published: 2015-10-01
DOI: 10.1215/15314200-2917041
Open Access: Closed
Topics: disability studies

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

Baker et al. (2021)

Feature: Transforming the Feedback Paradigm: A Qualitative Study Examining a St…

Teaching English in the Two-Year College
Horn (2019)

The Role of Empathy in Teaching and Tutoring Students with Learning Disabilities

Pedagogy

Cites in this index (1)

Harris (1992)

Collaboration Is Not Collaboration Is Not Collaboration: Writing Center Tutoria…

College Composition and Communication

Also cites 5 works outside this index ↓

Barber-Fendley (2004)

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College Composition and Communication ↗
Greenbaum (2010)

“Nurturing Difference: The Autistic Student in Professional Writing Programs.”

Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning ↗
Johnston Nancy Doyle Tina . 2011. “Inclusive Teaching: Perspectives of Students with Disabilities.”Open Words…

↗
Mossman (2002)

“Visible Disability in the College Classroom.”

College English ↗
Spigelman (2005)

On Location: Theory and Practice in Classroom-Based Writing Tutoring

↗

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