Through no fault of their own, the higher the grade level, the less likely teachers are to include study skills instruction in lesson planning. In fact, many students are capable of developing their own systems for organizing, processing and comprehending what they have read or heard in class, planning homework and longterm assignments, studying for tests, and determining good test-taking strategies. Most students who complete college have never taken study skills classes, yet they have the intact learning processes to create the necessary organizational and study strategies to be successful in their college classes. Any combination of these learning difficulties will affect a student's ability to self-design and independently apply study skills strategies. These students can learn study skills, but they need specific instruction, practice, and teachers who understand learning styles, strengths and weaknesses.
All students can benefit from study skills instruction.
However, the difference between a student with a learning disability and one without is that although the latter certainly will benefit from such instruction, the student with a learning disability often cannot make it without this instruction. Through my teaching, supervising and administrative experience at Landmark School, I have developed, with the help of my colleagues, a flexible study skills model. It can be used in tutorials, resource rooms, skills classes and particularly in regular classrooms. Parts of this model can even be adapted by parents at home to help their children become more independent learners. The model then presents main idea, note taking, and summarizing skills which can be taught and practiced in grades four through high school.