Heather Kadrich
Individuals with learning disabilities are the most common among students served by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD). Five years ago Mickey and Debbie Stern gifted a generous endowment to the RCPD to develop a comprehensive and innovative program to help this large population of students.
This January, as the Stern Tutoring and Alternative Techniques for Education (STATE) program celebrates its fifth birthday, we honor the program, which has proven to be a bridge to success for many MSU students.
STATE, which goes far beyond the traditional accommodations afforded to students with learning disabilities, consists of five major components. The heart of the program is the weekly seminar taught by Dr. Timothy Goth-Owens, a psychologist specializing in learning disabilities. The seminar teaches specific techniques which the students can apply to classes and in future settings throughout their lives. "The students are taught coping strategies, new approaches to learning and how to be accountable to themselves and to others," explains Valarie Nilson, one of the RCPD's learning ability access specialists. Among the topics covered in the seminar are, procrastination, goal setting, note-taking, learning styles, and processing of information. The goal is for participants to "change their style as students," Goth-Owens explains.
For support and guidance, STATE students also meet with a mentor who is another MSU student with a learning disability. In addition they meet with a tutor once each week. Together they work on effective approaches to school--work. Also, these students are closely monitored by RCPD staff, thus creating an opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of the program for each student. This is important because it gives the students a sense that "there are people at the university that care about me and my success," explains Dr. Goth-Owens. Further, participants are given access to and are taught how to use all the assistive technology the RCPD has to offer. Amy, a former STATE participant explains how the assistive technology works. "Every text book I need is on the computer and I have a program that will read it to me, and when I do not understand a word I can find the definition for it using the same program."
Danny, another STATE participant, has been able to use the many skills that are taught in the program to help him succeed. "Since the semester I participated in the STATE program my GPA has increased every semester."
"I would definitely recommend this program. Dr. Goth-Owens is an amazing teacher and he understands how hard it is for people with different styles of learning to study and understand class material. The STATE program is a great way to learn different styles of studying and time management," says Amy. Although the program is full for the current semester, students may apply for future semesters. Throughout the last five years, and hopefully for many years to come, this program has given students the tools they need to maximize opportunity and ability.
If you would like to make a gift to the STATE program or to any of the RCPD's outstanding programs please see the Make a Gift page.