This presentation was used as the basis for a workshop with faculty who advise social work Master's students.

1. ADVISING THESIS STUDENTS
WHO HAVE LEARNING ISSUES
© Mary Beth Averill, LICSW, Ph.D.

2. Presented
February 7, 2009
Smith College School for Social Work
Spring Research Advisors’ Meeting

3. Introduction
• Liminality
• Professionalization
• Evidence-based practice

4. Introduction (cont.)
• Processing differences
– How advisee takes information into the brain
– How advisee handles information in the brain
– How advisee handles information output

5. Introduction (cont.)
• Huge project
• Isolation-real or perceived
• Anxiety and comparisons
• A lot to handle

6. What we will cover today
• Why we are having this workshop
– Case examples
– Red flags
• Research Advising as teaching
• Strategies to use with advisees with
learning issues
• Tools
• Putting it all together

7. And how we will do that
• Slide show/lecture
• Experiential exercises
• Discussion
• Demonstrations
• Q&A
• Handouts
• Other resources

8. Laser-like case examples

9. Red flags
• Your red flags

10. Red flags
• Your red flags
• Advisee doesn’t contact you the first week of
placement
• Advisee misses the proposal deadline
• Advisee misses the LR chapter deadline
• Advisee hasn’t given you a draft of the HSR
application by mid December
• Advisee drops out of sight (doesn’t
call, doesn’t write)

11. Research Advising is Teaching
• Understand what students take with them
from Research Methods class
• Become educated about ADD/LD
• Think about all the ways students acquire
information
• Ask advisee about learning style early on
• Ask advisee what kinds of help she needs
– Who could help you with that?

12. Types of learners
• Visual learners
• Auditory learners
• Read-write learners
• Kinesthetic learners

13. Visual learners
• Characteristics
– Fast talkers
– Exhibit impatience
– Tendency to interrupt
– Use words and phrases that evoke images
– Learn by seeing and visualizing

14. Auditory learners
• Characteristics
– Speak slowly
– Tend to be natural listeners
– Think in a linear manner
– Prefer to have things explained verbally rather
than reading written information
– Learn by listening and verbalizing

15. Read-write learners
• Characteristics
– Prefer information to be displayed in
writing, such as a list of ideas or instructions
– Emphasize text-based input and output
– Enjoy reading and writing

16. Kinesthetic learners
• Characteristics
– Tend to be the slowest talkers of all
– Tend to be slow to make decisions
– Use all their senses to engage in learning
– Learn by doing and by solving real life problems
– Like a hands-on approach
– Learn by doing

17. What kind of learner are you?
• You may have parts of each of the types,
but pick the one you most identify with.
• Go stand with others in that group.
• Discuss
– Strategies for working with this kind of learner
– What types of learners are the most difficult
for you to advise?
(learning types modified from Friedman, 2008)

18. What did you notice from doing this
exercise?
Discuss strategies.
These learning styles apply to everyone,
not just people with special learning
issues.

19. What’s going on for people with
ADD?
• Executive functioning is impaired in 6 areas:
– Activation: organizing, prioritizing, and activating
to work
– Focus: focusing, sustaining, and shifting attention
to tasks
– Effort: regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and
processing speed

20. Executive functioning impairment (cont.)
Emotion: managing frustration and
modulating emotion
Memory: utilizing working memory
and accessing recall
Action: monitoring and self-regulating
action
from Brown (2005, p. 22)

21. Other learning disabilities
Impairments in
• Language systems
• Spatial and sequential ordering systems
• Motor systems
• Higher thinking systems
• Social thinking systems
(see Levine, A mind at a time)

22. Other issues
• Physical disabilities
– Hearing
– Sight
– Energy
• Undiagnosed

23. What works
Initially
• Ask about learning style or issues
• Diagnosis
• Contact
– Start early in September (or at end of summer
session)
– Frequent contacts
– You may need to initiate more at first
– You may need more than 3 meetings
– Don’t take on too much in any one meeting
• Ask advisees to use style manual and grad school
guidelines format from the start

24. What works (cont.)
• Write from the start (17, 64, 157)
– Every day, 15-30 minutes
– Writing journal (―My new best friend‖)
• Date
• Time
• What you did (phrase)
• Where to start tomorrow
• Other
– Check in with someone on a regular basis

25. What works (cont.)
As the first semester continues
• Set intermediate deadlines and help advisee work
back
– For proposals due in the fall, what are the steps to
take to meet the deadline? When will your advisee
have to do each of these steps?
– What will the student need to do to submit her HSR
by the deadline?
• Break big projects down into very small, really
doable pieces
• See the big picture: spread out on a wall, large
table, large bulletin board

26. What works (cont.)
• Find a really good model
• Get advisee to find different models for
different parts of the thesis
• Agenda setting for meetings
– ask advisees about their agendas every time at
beginning of meeting
– this gives them a better sense of control and
more buy in
• At end of meeting with advisee, have the
advisee make a list of next steps.

27. What works (cont.)
• Get the student to be very specific about
what she will do and when. Use SMART
goals (Specific, Measurable, Action
oriented, Realistic , Time-lined).
• Ask your advisee to email you the list
• Stick to deadlines
• Give positive feedback at every step along
the way

28. What works (cont.)
• Work from a plan
– regular outline
– Post it note outlines
– Webs
– Topic Sentence outline
– What are the ideas you want to cover in this
chapter?
• Putting a lot of thought into data collection
instrument up front makes the data analysis
much easier than if there is not adequate
thought

29. What works (cont.)
• Resources
– Books about ADD and/or LD
– Books: grammar, literature reviews, APA
– Handouts
– Online resources
• Outside help
– Editor
– Proofreader
– Writing coach
– testing

30. What else can help?
• Group meetings
– use bridge line instead of speaker phone
• Working with others, if not with you
• Get info in through senses: color coding, tactile
(literally cut and paste), auditory (talk things out
with a tape running in the background), grounding
(change position, walk before writing, write
standing up, etc.)
• Repeat info/directions in a variety of ways
• Build in exercise
• Low stakes writing—zero drafts

31. When problems arise
• Try to see problems from advisee’s point of
view & verbalize it
• Watch for anxiety and shame
• Write letters to advisees who miss deadlines
• Paper trail is important
• Check in with faculty field advisor
• Plan for an easy month when final project is
due.

32. Particularly about the thesis
• A clearly thought out, well articulated
statement of purpose is essential
• Be aware that you may have to explain things
that you see as givens:
– How to write a clear statement of purpose
– What goes in each chapter
– Parts of a sentence
– Verb tenses
– How to find out prior research
– Primary sources

33. Human Subjects Review
• Are all the pieces there?
– Application
– Informed consents
– Sample recruitment materials
– Data collection instruments
– Referral list ,
– Letters from agencies

34. Human Subjects Review
• Did they follow the directions in the User's
Guide (or other grad school or department
supplied document) instead of just copying
someone else's?
• Did they think about their research from
the participant's point of view?

35. Tools
• 5 minute writing exercise
• Post it outline
• Topic sentence outline
• Powerful questions

36. Powerful Questions
• The Exception Question: ―When has working
on the thesis not been a problem for you?’
• The Consultant Question: ―What would you
recommend that someone else in the same
situation might do?‖
• The Small-Step Question: ―What is one small
step you can take to move ahead?‖
– Pair this question with ―When will you do it?‖ and
―How will you let me know you’ve done it?‖

37. Powerful questions (cont.)
• The Coping Question: ―How have you prevented
this situation from getting worse?‖
• The Miracle Question: ―If you did not have this
problem, how would life be different for you?‖
adapted from Johnson and Conyers (2001, p. 79)

38. Putting it all together
•Q&A
• Evaluation

39. Bibliography
• Brown, T. E. (2005). Attention deficit disorder: The
unfocused mind in children and adults. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press. *Good explanation
of what’s going on in the brain.
• Friedman, B. D. (2008). How to teach effectively: A
brief guide. Chicago: Lyceum Books. *Discusses the
four learning styles.
• Galvan, J. L. (2006). Writing literature reviews, 3rd
edition. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing. *Excellent
reference for how to write literature reviews.
• Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (2006). Delivered from
distraction: Getting the most out of life with attention
deficit disorder. New York: Ballantine Books. *My
favorite book for basic understanding of ADD.

40. • Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (1994). Driven to distraction:
Recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder from
childhood through adulthood. New York: Simon & Schuster. *A
lot of what’s covered in this book has been updated in their
more recent books, but I still find their list of 100 diagnostic
questions (pp. 209-214) and their 50 tips to manage ADD (pp.
245-253) to be excellent resources.
• Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervisions and Curriculum
Development.
• Johnson, R. W., & Conyers, L. M. (2001). Surviving the
doctoral dissertation: A solution-focused approach. Journal of
College Counseling, 4, 77-80. *Excellent short
paper, presents some powerful questions to use with your
students.
• Levine, M. (2002). A mind at a time. New York: Simon &
Schuster. *If you want to get the basic information about
learning disabilities, this is the book to read.

41. • Levine, M.(2005). Ready or not, here life comes! New York:
Simon & Schuster. *Chapter 9, ―Instrumentation: Equipping a
mind’s toolbox‖ offers useful skill building strategies.
• Luna, C. (2002). Learning from diverse learners: (Re)writing
academic literacies and learning disabilities in college. Journal
of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 45(7), 596-605.
• Miller, A. B. (2009). Finish your dissertation once and for all!
How to overcome psychological barriers, get results, and
move on with your life. Washington, D.C.: American
Psychological Association.
• Nadeau, K. G. (1994). Survival guide for college students with
ADD or LD. Washington, DC: Magination Press.*May be a
useful resource for our students, especially the section on
―Helping Yourself.‖

42. • Nathan, R. (2005). My freshman year. Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press.
• O’Conner, P. T. (2003). Woe is I: The grammarphobe’s
guide too better English in plain English, revised
edition. New York: Riverhead Books. *My favorite
grammar book, easy to read.
• Quinn, P. O. (1994). ADD and the college student: A
guide for high school and college students with
attention deficit disorder. Washington, DC: Magination
Press. *Good discussion of accommodations and legal
rights.
• Roberts, C. M. (2004). The dissertation journey.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

43. • Szuchman, L. T., & Thomlinson, B. (2008).
Writing with style: APA style for social
work, 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson
Brooks/Cole. * A good workbook to help
students with APA and sections of the thesis.
• www.freeaudioconferencing.com web
address where you can go to sign up for a
free bridge line for online groups with your
advisees
•

44. • Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ has lots of
helpful print able handouts such as
– Social Work Literature Review Guidelines
– Transitions and Transitional Devices
– Creating a Thesis Statement
– Proofreading Your Writing
– Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower
Order Concerns (LOCs)