While reading the first article, I began to look back and try to remember if I had tutored someone with a learning disability so far. My next thought was how would I necessarily know? Learning disabilities come in many different varieties, some of which are not as obvious as others. When a student has dyslexia, by the time they reach college level, they have probably learned the tools they need to work around it. I believe it is important that tutors specifically, but everyone should be aware of the fact that learning disabilities are the result of a physiological problem and not because the student is unitelligent. I would like to believe that if a student were to come to the writing center and disclose the fact that he had a learning diability that we would be equipped to handle it, but I don't know that we are. I know for sure that I'm not. I'm glad we are covering this so that I will know how to be a benefit to a student with a disability that comes in for help.
The Burton article was of great interest to me, being a "thirty-something" student. I don't know if many people know this, even though its not something I try to hide. It simply doesn't come up in conversation. Having said this, it never before ocurred to me that an older student may be more comfortable if they know I'm closer to their age. I have thought about this before, and I sort thought they might think I would be less qualified to tutor them because they would wonder what I've been doing with my life all this time, besides furthering my education, and furthermore wonder, "If this person is so good at writing, why did it take her so long to go back to school?" This may totally be paranoia or insecurity on my part, but it makes me feel better that this article puts a positive spin on the fact that I am a nontraditional tutor in the writing center. Also, even though I am a notraditional student in terms of my age, I do not exhibit a lot of the characteristics most of them have, such as a family or coming back to school for a second degree, since this will be my first Bachelor's, so this article was helpful to me in terms of imagining how other older students feel. On the inside, I probably have more in common with them than I think.
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I would never have guessed you were a non-traditional student. (Thirty-something? You're older than me? Whoa!) But even though you don't fit into a lot of the characteristics the non-trad student often has, like a family and a full-time profession, you show here that you can still empathize with the insecurity and anxiety that accompanies returning to college. Thanks for sharing this with us, and for sharing in class, too.
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