Direction Following
People who have difficulty
Following Directions.
What is Following Directions?
Difficulty with following directions is a rather obvious pattern. The reasons one doesn't follow directions are numerous, varied, and not always so obvious. To solve the problem, you must find which aspects of the critical information management tasks are inefficient. Students with Learning Disabilities sometimes have trouble with just spoken directions and not directions they read. The opposite can be true, as well. The more usual pattern is to have trouble with both. Following spoken directions effectively requires
- skill with auditory reception of heard information;
- memory of heard things;
- ability to attach meaning to language;
- sequencing ability ;
and/or
- ability to integrate information from several modalities
at once.
Be sure to check each of these sections if the student has problems with following spoken directions.
Identifying Problems with Direction Following
If the student is good at following spoken directions and has trouble with directions he/she reads, the problem may be
- with the reading task itself (see Dyslexia);
- visual reception (see Visual Reception);
- attaching meaning to language (see Dysphasia);
- remembering what's been seen (see Visual Memory); and/or
- sequencing ability (see Sequential Order).
Check these sections for the student who has trouble with directions that are read. For those students who have problems with both spoken and read directions, look through all the chapters to facilitate further understanding of this pattern.
This is a receptive, integrative, and output disorder.
It is especially important for the parent or teacher to evaluate reports carefully to determine if:
- memory of heard things is poor;
- reception of heard items is poor;
- attaching meaning to language is poor;
- sequence is poor;
- visual reception is poor;
- there is disorganization; or
- reading is inefficient.
You must understand these problems to determine with finesse why this particular student is experiencing trouble and what steps you can take to improve the student's efficiency. It is unlikely all the problems are issues for any one student, but it is not unusual to have several of these difficulties.
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