Calling all teachers, a question for you (very tricky...)

[Radium_Angel]

So a neighbor has a young daughter (adopted, just FYI) that is about to turn 13 and wishes to learn photography.

The mother approached me and asked if I could help. Sure, be happy to.

 

Difficulty: Daughter has FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and shaken baby syndrome.

You wouldn't know it in casual conversation that she is LD, but if you ask questions, or try to teach her things (math, for example) she goes blank.

 

So, how would YOU go about teaching a topic such as photography to a young Learning Disabled lass?

She uses a cell phone for pics, but she wants to do more.

[Fasauceome]

For a student that struggles to take on new information by way of explanation, I would focus on involvement as much as possible. I would imagine based on how you laid it out that she might self-describe as more of a "learn by doing" person, so small stepping stones accompanied by the personal experience of doing it herself might go a long way. When it comes to photography itself, I can't say for anything too specific, but simple exercises like changing focus and such would be a decent start. I know that photography has some very technical terms like aperture length and such, so instead of teaching the definitions, associate the concepts with what they visually make the picture look like, and the comprehension can fill in after the fact.

 

Are there any physical boundaries that also need to be addressed, or just a psychological hurdle for the time being?

[Robchil]

7 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

So a neighbor has a young daughter (adopted, just FYI) that is about to turn 13 and wishes to learn photography.

The mother approached me and asked if I could help. Sure, be happy to.

 

Difficulty: Daughter has FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and shaken baby syndrome.

You wouldn't know it in casual conversation that she is LD, but if you ask questions, or try to teach her things (math, for example) she goes blank.

 

So, how would YOU go about teaching a topic such as photography to a young Learning Disabled lass?

She uses a cell phone for pics, but she wants to do more.

I would think it's easier to learn if you mix theory and activity, .. as they tend to remember things that are fun more than not.. like blender timer etc.. and show the difference. 

 

[IkeaGnome]

I used the phone a friend option.

Spoiler

 

[Radium_Angel]

3 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

Are there any physical boundaries that also need to be addressed, or just a psychological hurdle for the time being?

No physical, you'd never know she was LD unless you ask her questions that involve thinking, then she just kinda shuts down.

3 hours ago, Robchil said:

I would think it's easier to learn if you mix theory and activity

Yes, been doing 15 minutes of actual activity, and showing her the effects of (for example) what happens to an image when you change the aperture, but it's rather slow going.

I simply wondered if there might have been a better/different way

[Fasauceome]

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

I simply wondered if there might have been a better/different way

it depends on how involved you can get with structuring the teachings themselves. Not that you would necessarily program a whole video game to assist learning per se, but her learning style does resemble my own to an extent. When it comes to the info itself, a verbal description ends up being pretty useless by itself, while having the thing in my hands makes all the difference.

 

How much is she interested in experimenting on her own? Natural curiosity is the foremost factor in learning, and if her interest goes beyond casual curiosity (which it sounds like it does,) then latching onto the part she likes the most might be the best way to progress. Does she prefer any particular types of shots, like low light with long exposure? Does she have particular photography tastes that she shows you and might want to replicate? Using those as a jumping off point, a sort of "how it was done" can be a great way to maintain her focus on the lesson at hand. This was definitely a more useful tactic with the kids I taught that struggled the most with focus. Once a character like Spiderman or the Hulk could be involved in the lesson somehow, they had no trouble listening.

[Radium_Angel]

2 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

it depends on how involved you can get with structuring the teachings themselves. Not that you would necessarily program a whole video game to assist learning per se, but her learning style does resemble my own to an extent. When it comes to the info itself, a verbal description ends up being pretty useless by itself, while having the thing in my hands makes all the difference.

 

How much is she interested in experimenting on her own? Natural curiosity is the foremost factor in learning, and if her interest goes beyond casual curiosity (which it sounds like it does,) then latching onto the part she likes the most might be the best way to progress. Does she prefer any particular types of shots, like low light with long exposure? Does she have particular photography tastes that she shows you and might want to replicate? Using those as a jumping off point, a sort of "how it was done" can be a great way to maintain her focus on the lesson at hand. This was definitely a more useful tactic with the kids I taught that struggled the most with focus. Once a character like Spiderman or the Hulk could be involved in the lesson somehow, they had no trouble listening.

She loves landscapes...unfortunately where we live isn't real landscape friendly. I'm trying to find a substitute that she likes next

[YellowJersey]

I'd take a practical approach: instead of explaining depth of field, take a picture at 1.4, for example, show her how the background is super blurry and then take one at 16 and show her how the background is in focus; that kind of thing.