F r o n t   L i n e Helping to Learn by Nathan Mah When considering volunteering at the University of Virginia, most students first think of Madison House, the venerable hub of volunteer programs. Lesser known but no less important, however, is the work of hundreds of students volunteering for the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (LNEC). Since 1979 LNEC and its volunteers have worked to provide assistance to university students for whom physical or emotional handicaps, hearing or visual impairments, or learning disabilities create academic complications. Additionally, LNEC provides assistance to all students seeking to improve their learning through seminars on skills such as studying, note-taking, and time management. Yet many students and even some professors are unaware of the existence and role of LNEC. The primary function of LNEC is "to facilitate equal access and opportunity to University education programs for students with disabilities" in compliance with federal law. LNEC provides such aids as interpreters for the deaf, books on tape for the blind, and skills training and peer note-taking programs for the learning disabled. Student volunteers play a large role in providing these services -- over 300 students take notes for approximately 200 classes, and dozens more work weekly reading books onto tape. "Volunteers are one of the most important components of LNEC," says Dr. Scott Hunter, Assistant Director of LNEC. "They are responsible for well over $100,000 worth of time and effort." The majority of the approximately 200 students served by LNEC and its nine staff members has a learning disability. Contrary to widely held views, a learning disability is not a mark of retardation or mental deficiency. Rather, a learning disability is defined as a condition affecting an individual with normal or above normal intelligence. Prominent people with learning disabilities have included Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Walt Disney. Disabilities are life-long conditions believed to be caused by complications with the central nervous system and they may result in difficulties with reading comprehension, motor and writing skills, speech comprehension. LNEC does not lower academic requirements for the learning disabled but instead assists them in meeting the standards already in place. The initial hurdle for the learning disabled is realizing that they have a disability. Such a task is not easy, especially given that many people lack an understanding of what a learning disability is. Indeed, high school valedictorians have been included among the learning disabled who became aware of their conditions after arriving at U.Va. A strong indication of a disability is poor grades despite extraordinary hours of work, but, as many students have no awareness of LNEC, they seek out LNEC only upon referral by deans or faculty. Here lies another difficulty -- in order to recommend LNEC as a source of aid, faculty members must be aware of its existence and the nature of learning disabilities. Some professors lack such knowledge and, like many other people, would attribute a student's difficulties to an absence of hard work and studying. In larger lecture classes, lack of personal contact between the professor and students makes diagnosing a disability even more unlikely. Dr. Hunter is working to educate the faculty about LNEC and to change attitudes towards the learning disabled. He has spoken in conjunction with U.Va. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to deans from all U.Va. schools to discuss how U.Va. addresses student disabilities. Just a few years ago LNEC was reorganized as part of CAPS, and this new relationship aids LNEC in prescribing and providing counseling as a means of treating students for whom emotional problems such as depression or anxiety cause academic hardship. The reorganization under CAPS is one of many recent changes in LNEC, including a change in location last October from the Forestry Building to the Elson Student Health Center. Dr. Hunter, a research pediatric neuropsychologist, arrived just last fall and became the first specialist to serve as assistant director of LNEC -- general clinicians had formerly been the norm. In addition to assuming responsibility for day-to-day operations, he brought his expertise to the task of updating LNEC accommodations and LD screening techniques. Previously, the U.Va. learning disability review process consisted of an initial screening test (to rule out emotional or psychological problems) followed by a full testing of the learning disability, performed either by the Neuropsychology Department of the U.Va. School of Medicine or by the Center for Clinical Psychology Services of the Curry School of Education. The screening process, which is fully paid for by the Student Activity Fee has recently been re-evaluated, with unnecessary tests being eliminated to increase efficiency. LNEC also aims to improve the U.Va. Academic Support Program, which works to provide services such as tutoring, to better match all students with the academic aid that they need. In addition, LNEC plans to improve communication with the students it serves through twice-a-semester review meetings, which will provide more feedback about the program. LNEC is not alone in its transformations; indeed, change and flux have been the norm across the nation for university LD assistance programs. It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that the federal government mandated fairness in education for the learning disabled. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, higher education institutions are required to provide equal access to education for learning disabled and emotionally or physically handicapped students who meet academic standards for admission. Still, there is no clear national policy on assisting such students, and university assistance programs are moving into unexplored territory. The courts play an important role in determining policy; last year several students successfully sued Boston University for requiring unnecessary documentation to prove learning disability. The questions of what is acceptable under the federal mandate, of what the mandate requires to be provided, and of how to provide such assistance still loom large. Dr. Hunter's goal is to improve the image and effectiveness of LNEC and to "build a model program for other schools." LNEC already appears to have earned itself a positive reputation. Valerie Schoolcraft, LNEC Administrative Assistant, says, "I've known several people who chose U.Va. because they felt they could get services to meet their needs here. We can do some things that surprise people."

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