Students
at
Henley
Upgrade Study Support: Current Students
These pages contain information, guidance and support for students studying at college.
Upgrade Study Support Referral Form (current students only)
UPGRADE STUDY SUPPORT SERVICES
Upgrade Study Support teachers in College recognise that the priorities for most students are to do as well as they can in coursework and study effectively for exams as well as keep up their level of basic skills so that they can perform well in further study or at work. The work is demanding and if you have additional difficulties, almost impossible to achieve without additional study support.
How can Upgrade Study Support help you?
Firstly, you will be able to talk through any problems and possibly take special tests. This will give you a better understanding of why you find some areas of learning especially difficult and provide some options for improving your approach to these. Secondly, you will be offered extra teaching help to make sure that you produce work that reflects your real ability. Finally, it is possible that you may be offered help in exams such as extra time or help with reading and/or writing.
ONE-TO-ONE SUPPORT
Whilst studying at The Henley College you can make a request for one-to-one learning. We have a team of specialist tutors who can guide you through your studies. If this is of interest to you please see Charlie Eckton, the Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator, in D506.
Whatever your disability, visit the Upgrade Study Support Department so we can discuss and assess your needs and help that can be made available to ensure that your disability does not prevent you from learning.
Help could be in the form of special equipment, visual aids, advice or extra teaching or simply help in finding your way around College.
STUDY SKILLS WORKSHOPS
There is also a drop-in study skills workshop you can attend at lunch time, run by Jan Rossi:
Monday 11.55-12.55 (Rotherfield SLC)
Tuesday 11.55-12.55 (Rotherfield SLC)
Thursday 11.55-12.55 (Deanfield SLC –D574)
Friday 11.55-12.55 (Deanfield SLC –D574)
WHAT IF YOU'RE STRUGGLING BUT DON'T KNOW WHY?
Talk to Charlie Eckton, Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator, in Room D506. It may be that you could benefit from support of some kind.
THINK YOU MIGHT NEED HELP IN EXAMS?
Talk to Charlie Eckton, Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator, in Room D506. It may be that you require a screening.
Information for those with Dyslexia +/ Dyspraxia
A significant number of young people with normal intelligence, who are highly motivated and who may have achieved good results in their exams so far, can still find that they have great difficulty mastering the basic skills of reading, writing and/or spelling. These difficulties may have already been recognised by parents or teachers in school as characteristic of one of the many types of dyslexia. For others they are not diagnosed and so a student may gradually fall behind with his/her studies. Working harder may no longer be enough for the higher-level courses at College and extra help may be needed.
Dyslexia
Individuals with dyslexia process things differently to those without it. For many tasks this can be very useful. However, those with dyslexia often have difficulties with reading, writing and spelling. The key4learning website gives a good definition of dyslexia and, if you think the description matches you, there is also a checklist to help clarify your thoughts.
http://www.key4learning.com/dyslexia.htm
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia can result in difficulties with organisation and fine motor control.
http://www.key4learning.com/dyspraxia.htm
ATTENTION DISORDERS SUCH AS ADHD
The number of children and teenagers diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is increasing. Such people are extra inattentive, impulsive or hyperactive.
Those with attention disorders often struggle to concentrate and stay on-task. They may require help with organisation and time management. Having ADD will have made the job of focusing on and organising your work much more difficult than for other students. You may benefit from learning new strategies to cope with the demands of the higher-level courses here in College.
http://www.key4learning.com/attentiondisorder.htm
It is unusual for people who have Aspergers to be unaware of this, as they tend to be referred for diagnostic tests at a young age by teachers or other carers. However those with the mildest of forms may not have been noticed in this way and you may be one of those young adults who become aware later in life that your own behaviour is similar to those with Asperger’s.
Those with Asperger’s Syndrome may struggle with communication or in social situations. Some individuals may find they have few difficulties whereas other require a lot of support.
http://www.key4learning.com/aspergerssyndrome.htm
What if I think I may have one of the difficulties above?
See Charlie Eckton, Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator, in Room D506. It may be that you could benefit from support of some kind and/or an assessment.
It is the policy of the college that those with mobility problems should be able to access all areas relevant to their chosen course. Most issues are discussed and resolved at the initial interview stage but if you are a student who has a temporary or permanent difficulty of this kind, and are currently having problems getting around the campus, then please contact Charlie Eckton, Learning Support Co-ordinator, in room D506 so that an assessment can be arranged as a matter of urgency.
Charlie Eckton, The Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator, may be contacted on 01491 634017 or in D506 for initial help and advice if you feel that your mental health has become a concern to yourself or others close to you. This may be a temporary matter of not coping as well as you expected with your coursework or with college life generally. It may be a more serious issue that you feel unable to deal with. You do not need to manage the situation alone. Upgrade Study Support will give you confidential help and refer you to others if specialist support is needed.
Assistance from the Counsellors
The Student Counsellors are available at certain times of the week to help with various problems and can advise on outside agencies.
Appointments for counselling can be made through Sue Spinks ext 4010 in room D104.
Ask at the Library desk if you want to borrow colour filters to change the background colour of printed material. Some dyslexics find print on coloured background easier to read. Your own filters can be bought from Reprographics (D508) for a few pence.
The Library also has A4 magnifying sheets that can be held 10cm from a printed page to enlarge the print.
The Library has a scanner attached to a computer with Cicero software. Cicero allows you to scan a printed page and magnify it. The software will also read the page to you.
The Library has a computer accessing Dragon Naturally Speaking software, a speech recognition package. Charlie Eckton, the Upgrade Study Support Co-ordinator will arrange training for students where this facility is appropriate.
The Library has books about Dyslexia which students may find useful.
The Student Learning Centres and Library have large flat screen monitors that magnify text and special lower case and high contrast keyboards that can then help dyslexics.
The library has a portable induction loop to assist communication with users with impaired hearing.
Your Network Settings
Tremors and bouncing characterise some physical disorders. Duplication of key repeats can be controlled with the accessibility options within Windows – slow keys, bounce keys, and repeat keys. You can make changes with these and save your settings for next time. Learn how to do it from the AbilityNet website’s ‘My Computer, My Way’ page. http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/myway/
The Student Learning Centre Managers can also help you with this.
Inspiration Software
Networked computers in classrooms, the Library and Student Learning Centres have access to Inspiration software that any student or staff member can use, but which many dyslexic students find particularly helpful. It is a mapping programme allowing you to create concept maps, idea maps and other graphic organisers to plan your projects or essays. You can then prioritise and rearrange your ideas. The Leeds University website gives a good explanation of what Inspiration lets you do. A tutorial providing a quickstart for using Inspiration is available.
There is also an interactive tutorial and guide to Inspiration including its uses for various subjects available on the College Network. For further information or help please contact Student Learning Centre Managers .
Spellzone
Spellzone is an Internet spelling program written especially for older students and adults. With Spellzone you can:
- Learn all the spelling rules
- Do interactive practice exercises, marked instantly online
- Find out how to learn and remember difficult words
- Work at different ability levels
- Tackle even those words a computer spell check will miss
You can access Spellzone on any of the College’s Internet connected computers. For the College username and password please ask the Library or Student Learning Centre staff, or login to the VLE and access The Henley College Online Subsription Databases.
On the next screen, choose the link ‘Click to continue’. This takes you to the list of contents. You can then go to any part of the course. There are 36 different units in the course. Unit 1 is a guide to the program, so check through this one first, then look at the contents list and decide where you need to go next.
Under the terms of our licence, all Henley College students can also use the same passwords to log in to Spellzone from their home computers.
Texthelp Read and Write
Another useful software package, available on one machine in each Student Learning Centre and in Upgrade Study Support is Texthelp Read and Write. It is text to speech software with word prediction. It has word order choices, spell checking based on phonic errors, a thesaurus and homophone checking with meanings. It reads your work to you and works with most Windows programmes using a floating menu bar. The voices, speed of speech and tones can all be altered.
Please ask the Student Learning Centre Manager if you wish to use this package.
Dolphin Supanova
Supanova Reader Magnifier combines magnification, speech and Braille output.
Dragon Naturally Speaking
Speech recognition software to help impaired students who find typing a struggle.
Customising Your Desktop
You can customise your desktop so that your computer is easier to use. Once you have done it, your settings will be saved for next time. Changing text and background colours; font size; spacing; text style can all make text easier to read in your Word documents or on websites. Learn how to do it from the AbilityNet website’s ‘My Computer, My Way’ page. The Student Learning Centre Managers can also help you with this.
Intellikeys
The library and Student Learning Centres have keyboards with key guards to help users with fine dexterity problems. These prevent the user from accidentally hitting keys adjacent to the one they intend to hit.
Membrane keyboards
-have larger keys and can also help users with fine dexterity problems.
Compact keyboards
-for those with reduced hand/arm movements and reduced strength
Flexi keyboards
Lap trays
-for wheelchair users or those who want to use the keyboard lower down (for reduced movement of arm/hand)
Gel wrist Pads
-for soft support.
Easycat
-a type of mouse that helps those with gripping and fine dexterity problems with the use of a tracker ball. Moving the cursor is separated from button clicking.
Touch pad
-a pointing device demanding little movement and no gripping. A joystick helps users with only gross movement.
Other hardware includes:
- Traxys Joystick
- Trackball
- Kidtrack Trackball
- Orbitball
- Expert Mouse