How my one-to-one support from the SpLD service enabled me to gain my Masters in Social Work

I have just finished my Social Work training at The University of Sheffield. It was during the final year of this two year programme that I was diagnosed with dyslexia. 

This diagnosis gave me access to the SpLD service where I was allocated weekly one hour 1:1 tutorials with Harriet. At the time of my referral to the service I had given up on my ambition to fulfil the training through the master’s route, opting instead to graduate with the PG diploma. The reason for this was because I had become overwhelmed with the written work on the course. Although I excelled during my practice placements and enjoyed completing my critical case reflections I found the larger pieces of work much more difficult.

 My dyslexia affects me in a number of ways including what I refer to now as  ‘thinking big and thinking wide’. Prior to seeing Harriet I found this disabled my ability to organise my thinking in a way conducive to breaking large piece of work down into component parts. Harriet enabled me to finally master what had felt like a constant frustration and disability. Whilst it continues to be difficult at times, I now understand it and have tools to manage it and overcome the problems it can cause me. After a few sessions with Harriet I took myself by surprise. I wanted to go for the masters. With her support along the way it felt achievable. She not only offered encouragement but also helped me to develop ways of structuring my thoughts and breaking them down. I began enjoying writing. At last I felt like I was beginning to ‘get it’. I could do it after all. I wasn’t ‘stupid’ or less able than my peers.

 I did it! I achieved my masters with a very good grade. What’s more, writing is now on my list of favourites and I am considering trying to get a piece of my writing published. This story would have been so different if I hadn’t have landed in Harrriet’s office those few months ago feeling defeated, confused and frustrated. The SpLD service is invaluable and I hope I can be an example of the ways in which abit of short term support for a specific learning disability can make all the difference. I will be eternally thankful for the support I received and the doors that opened as a result.

Thankyou.

APD

Auditory processing disorder is an specific learning difficulty that few people have heard of. It causes problems for students when listening in lecturers, working in groups, and attending seminars. The main problems caused by APD are:

• being unable to tell which sound comes before another
• having difficulty in distinguishing similar sounds from one another (such as "seventy" and "seventeen")
• being unable to pinpoint a sound

One of the problems I have is being able to prioritise one sound over another. This means that if I am in a lecture noises such as people rustling paper, or scraping their chairs distracts me and I lose focus. Another problem I have is if lots of people are talking, for example in a seminar. When this happens I get confused and lose the thread of the conversation. Because APD is so unusual, when I tell lecturers of these problems I feel that they don't get it and don't really know what to do to make it better. An example of this was when I had lectures in an uncarpeted lecture theatre. My lecturer just didn't get why the echoing in the theatre was having such an impact. I sometimes wish I had dyslexia, because most people have heard of it and know what to do to help.

My advice to university staff is to learn a little about APD so that they can help students with this difficulty. This website is really good and provides lots of advice for a teaching environment: http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/2324-how-to-help-your-student-with-an-auditory-processing-disorder-
As the site suggests, there are lots of things that can be done that done take up too much time, such as limiting background noise, using multi sensory learning and ensuring the student sits at the front where possible.

For students who think they may have APD, I would advise talking to your doctor about getting a referral to a clinical audiologist. Once you have a diagnosis you can  access specialist support at the university, which I have found to make a real difference to my studies. (Katie, computer science student)