Thursday, March 8, 2012

College Student With Disability Battles To Become Teacher



BEMIDJI (WCCO) — A successful college student blames a testing company for keeping him from his dream of becoming a teacher.

Alex White goes to school at Bemidji State. For years, he’s used special technology in the classroom to overcome a disability, but he has been told he can’t use it for his most important test yet.

The gym has served as a classroom for White. He’s a junior in college and studying to be a Physical Education teacher.

White has good grades in school, but trouble with one particular test: The writing portion of the Pearson Minnesota Teacher Licensure Examination.

“Once I passed the math, passed the reading, it motivated me, but the writing I was still falling short,” said White.

In class and on tests, White is allowed to use a voice-assisted software program, which the school signed off on. White has aphasia, which is a learning disability that affects language and writing in certain situations.

“There’s good days where I’m fluent and it comes flowing (and) bad days where everything comes out choppy,” White said.

He didn’t use the computer ......
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