Learning Specialist

Learning Specialist

About Northeastern:
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Our locations—in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Portland, Maine; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Toronto; Vancouver; and the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant—are nodes in our growing global university system. Through this network, we expand opportunities for flexible, student-centered learning and collaborative, solutions-focused research.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs— in a variety of on-campus and online formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 195 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About the Opportunity:
The Learning Disabilities Program (LDP) is a comprehensive academic support program for undergraduate students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). The staff of the LDP is charged with the goal of supporting the academic achievement and persistence of NU students with LD and/or ADHD who participate in the Program. The students served by the LDP have complex and varying needs; support of those students requires the expertise and the teaching skills required to address particular academic challenges common to LD and/or ADHD. The position also requires the ability to address the challenges that develop when those disabilities are compounded by other developmental and educational factors, including those experienced by international students, student athletes, and students who are “twiceexceptional” (high IQ and LD/ADHD), and students diagnosed with co-morbid psychological disorders, as well as students who are otherwise at risk (e.g., students returning from MLOA, students on academic probation).

Responsibilities:
The intensive and individualized nature of the support offered by the LDP means that this position is uniquely student-centered. For the students on their caseloads, the specialists' central responsibilities are:

• Identify students' areas of need, through interpreting neuropsychological evaluations, professional observation, gathering student self-report, and using other structured tools and specialized inventories.
  
• Provide twice-weekly, targeted support sessions to college students with LD and/or ADHD, designed to address students' areas of need and teach students the skills required for self-regulated learning in the post-secondary environment.
  
• Develop and maintain professional working relationships with students, in order to best employ a collaborative, goal-setting approach to address weaknesses in students' self-awareness, academic skills, and metacognition.
  
• Communicate with faculty and University staff to support students' self-advocacy and to assess students' progress in their coursework and academic programs. Make and facilitate appropriate referrals to other campus resources to address student needs. Staff of the fee-based LDP is also expected to take a strong customer-service based approach to communication with parents of enrolled students.
  
• Contribute to the teamwork of program staff in topical study and discussion and in program-wide projects, including acting as a resource to Learning Strategies and Student Success, as well as to the larger university community, concerning best-practices for supporting the learning and achievement of students with LD and/or ADHD.
  Unique challenges of the job include:
  
• The developmental manifestation of LD and/or ADHD in adolescents and young adults. College students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD experience tension between their developmental desire for increasing independence and their educational need for continued support. LDP Specialists must have the experience and sensitivity to address the developmental needs of adolescents and young adults with LD and/or ADHD, including the specific deficits as well as the broader impact on information processing, executive functioning, and psycho-social development.
  
• The range of academic majors and programs in which students are enrolled. The LDP enrolls students from each of the Universities undergraduate colleges. LDP specialists must have proficiency in teaching academic skills in a variety of disciplines in order to support students in the full range of majors offered by the University.
  
• The complexity of college transition for students with LD and/or ADHD. LDP specialists must demonstrate the ability to successfully support students in navigating the specific areas of challenge for students with LD and ADHD in their transition to the post-secondary environment, including: impact academic and career advising, change in academic expectations and environment from high school, legal transition for K - 12 in the rights and responsibilities of the students and the obligations of the education institution, as well as the role and involvement of students' parents.
  
• The Learning Disabilities Program is a fee-based service, with the exceptional expectations for service that accompany this type of support.
  
  Qualifications:
  
• Master's degree in education, special education, or applied educational psychology
  
• Professional training in the remediation of learning and other disabilities
  
• Four to six years' experience teaching academic skills to adolescent and young adult students with LD and/or ADHD; experience in higher education is preferred
  
• Demonstrated ability to develop productive working relationships with students
  
  
• Training in administering and interpreting psycho-educational and neuropsychological assessments for students with LD/ADHD, as well as the specialized knowledge to interpret diagnostic assessments and determine appropriate academic interventions, supports, and accommodations.
  
• Currency with research and evidence-based approaches concerning adolescents and young adults with LD and/or ADHD, including: executive functioning, self-regulated learning, self-determination, metacognition, and common co-morbidities.
  
• Working knowledge the ADAAA and other laws relating to disability in higher education, as well as the ability to explain them and the implications for students with LD and/or ADHD
  
• Excellent problem-solving and group process skills
  
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, verbal and written communication skills
  
  Salary Grade:
  10
  
  Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
  
  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
  
  To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
  
  
  To apply, visit https://careers.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/504398
  
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