By Cathleen Siechta Kansan staff writer
Imagine you have just read four chapters of text, and you can't remember a word of it. Or picture yourself sitting down to an essay test. You know exactly what you want to say but have no idea how to express it.
That was before he found out that he had a learning disability.
Those are the types of problems that caused Brett Bacchus's grades to drop when he entered college.
"My grades were about a grade-point lower than they should have been," said Bacchus, Albuquerque junior. "And I didn't really know what I was doing wrong. It was so frustrating, because I knew some people who could study two hours before a test and get an A, and I could study for the same test for a week and get a C."
When Bacchus transferred to the University of New Mexico, his mother suggested he have an academic evaluation done. Bacchus took seven academic evaluation tests at UNM. The tests ranged from reading and writing potential tests to evaluations of his motor skills and auditory memory recall. While the tests revealed a superior IQ, they also revealed learning disabilities that impeded his organization skills, verbal processing, auditory processing and short-term memory.
Learning disabilities, though less visible than mobility, hearing or sight impairments, can be just as frustrating. The most common learning disabilities are dyslexia, characterized by the jumbling of letters and digits, and neurological network problems that affect an individual's ability to process what is heard or read.
Sam Mason, Baldwin senior, is a dyslexic with attention deficit disorder.
"Having ADD is like having to pay a bill, take out the trash, watch TV and talk to someone on the phone at the same time," said Mason, who is a member of the Board for Attention Deficit Disorder of Kansas. "You have a million things that are going through your head, and you can't focus on one of them."
Because learning disabilities like attention deficit disorder have long been associated with children, universities may not be well enough equipped to help college students who suffer from them.
"Learning disabilities are very frustrating for students at the college level," said Melissa Behrens-Blake, the educational diagnostician who evaluated Bacchus. "Dealing with such disabilities in post-secondary education is a fairly new concept. There is a student population out there that needs this kind of assistance, but the services vary on campuses. But the federal law mandates equal education, and these students deserve it."
Mike Shuttle, assistant director of the Student Assistance Center, said
the SAC offered many services to students with learning disabilities. Those services include suggesting that professors offer multiple choice tests rather than essay tests and allow extra time to take those tests.
However, Shuttie said, it is a student's responsibility to make his or her needs known to the University.
"If students think they have a learning disability, they can come to the Student Assistance Center and talk about why they think they have it," Shutic said. "We try to look at factors in academic performance like study skills and time management to narrow it down. If a student's study skills are not poor,
disabilities.
But help may vary from student to student. Bacchus said that since he transferred back to KU, he hadn't felt as much support from the University as he did at UNM.
"Some of my professors have been negative toward me when I go in to talk to them about my learning disabilities," he said. "It's such a new field, I guess they aren't educated enough about the effects that a learning disability can have on a student."
Mason, however, said that the University had been very accommodating to his needs.
"I have found Mike Shuttle and the SAC to be extremely helpful," he said. "They are committed to meeting students' needs. The only way that a student is not going to get help from SAC is if they don't ask for it. The student may think, 'Man, they aren't going to help me,' or they're just too proud to ask for help. Once students get the stigma off their backs and realize they can play in the same field as everyone else, they'll get the help."
While college is still a struggle sometimes for Bacchus, he said knowing the reasons made it easier to deal with the challenges he faced.
"The tests really helped me understand there was really nothing wrong with me," Bacchus said. "I just do things different from how most people do them. College is structured for the normal person, and that doesn't work for someone with learning disabilities. I was kind of relieved to find out I had learning disabilities because I didn't understand why I was getting my butt kicked in college. Now I can take it in stride, and I realized that grades don't necessarily show your potential for later in life."
With help, students with learning disabilities can succeed in a university setting. Mason was told when he was younger that 'college wasn't for him,' because of his learning disabilities.
"Now I have almost a3.0 cumulative," he said. "That just proves that college is for everyone, even those with learning disabilities."
lifestyles
One-to-one dating scene may be vanishing slowly
These days, many students prefer dating in groups to more traditional courtships.
By Kevin Hoffmann
Kansan staff writer
Say goodbye to the flowers, the dinner and the movie. The traditional date could be on its way out.
These days, many students prefer dating with a group of friends to the more typical one-to-one courtship.
"I think guys find it easier to talk to girls in a group," he said. "Sometimes it can be awkward if it's just you and a date, and you run out of things to talk about. Having others around gives you a backup."
"I think it's fun to go out in groups," said Heather Collier, Clearwater, Fla., junior. "It allows you to have fun with all of your friends. I still like to go on dates, too, but I like to go out with my friends at least twice a week."
D. J. Rand, Urbandale, Iowa junior, said he thought group dating made it easier for men and women to communicate.
Some students said the comfort found in numbers was one reason for dating in groups.
Rand said group dating was especially beneficial for first dates.
"If it's someone I don't know, I feel more comfortable in a group," he said. "If I already know the girl, then it doesn't matter as much."
Susan Hasselle, a Lawrence psychotherapist, said the rise in group dating could be linked to a need for security.
"When people are learning how to relate to each other in an intimate way, it can be difficult," Hasselle said. "The more people you have around, the less likely you are to have a self-revealing conversation."
Safety also is an important reason for students dating in groups, Hasselle said. Because of recent concerns about crime and date rape,
students may feel safer get to know each other in a group setting.
Hasselle said another reason for group dating could be students' discomfort with the one-to-one courtship process that traditionally leads to marriage.
"Fifty-two percent of all marriages end in divorce," she said. "Most of these marriages have a child. The child then goes on to have a bad association with marriage."
"People should be cautious when they begin going out," she said. "Going out in groups allows you to be cautious."
But the trend toward group dating is not necessarily negative. Hasselle said couples shouldn't be alarmed if they spend little time alone.
That bad association can lead to difficulty with one-to-one dating. Hasselle said.
Although group dating is a growing trend, Amanda Bowles, Hutchinson junior, said some students are keeping alive old-fashioned one-on-one dating.
"It's very easy to get sick of each other," she said.
The ideal relationship would have a balance between time spent alone and time spent with friends, she said. In fact, couples who strictly limit their social activity are more likely to have problems.
"Most of the people I know still go out one-to-one and not in groups," she said.
Whether couples choose to date alone or in groups, Hasselle emphasized that they should be most concerned with how they spent their time together.
"It's not the quantity of time that would worry me as much as the quality of that time," she said.
theater
Wichita theater gets a face-lift Vaudeville style
The Associated Press
WICHITA — The grand dame of Wichita's vaudeville theaters is showing her age in paint blisters, rotting cornices and a dank smell.
the temperature variations have not been good to us at all," Marge Sgeeer said during a recent walk through the Orpheum Theater, which is listed on national and state registers of historic places. "Temperature extremes and moisture — they're rough on her."
It doesn't take much imagination, though, to envision George Burns and Gracie Allen on stage, and an audience of 1,700 people roaring with laughter, or Gypsy Rose Lee strutting across the 30-foot deep stage.
The burgundy, velvet valance with gold braid trim is still there, as are the original matching stage curtains. The wooden stage is the same one trod by more than 1,700 Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit acts from 1922 to 1929. The chain of theaters was named for Orpheus, the Greek mythological poet-musician who tries to lead his wife, Eurydice, from the dead but falls to do so because he looks back.
Setter is president of the nonprofit Orpheum Performing Arts Center Ltd. The group is conducting a $250,000 fund-raising drive to stabilize the theater. It will take another $2 million to $3 million to fully restore it.
It was designed by John Eberson, an architect considered the "atmospheric theater king," Ellington said. "You had the feeling you were in an outdoor
"It's the last we have from the grand period of theaters in Wichita, the 1920s," said Bill Ellington, city historian.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
See THEATER, Page 8.
MARCH 2,1994
PAGE 7
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
PERFORMANCES
Jazz Festival Concert - "An Evening with Dave Brubeck," also featuring the KU Jazz Singers and Jazz Combo I, 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lied Center. $15, $13 public, $12, $10 students and senior citizens.
University Theatre Series presents "The Grapes of Wrath," 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Crafton-Preyer Theatre. $8 public, $7 senior citizens, $4 KU students. Jazz Festival Concert - Yellowjackets, also featuring the Wichita State University Jazz Arts I and KU Jazz Ensemble I, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lied Center. $12, $10 public, $9, $7 students and senior citizens.
Spring Concert - University Singers, 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Swarthout Recital Hall Spring Concert - University Band and Concert Band, 7:30 tonight at the Lied Center. $3 public. $2 students and senior citizens. Concert - "French Music for Flute and Piano," 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Spring Concert - Chamber Choir, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday in Swarthout Recital Hall.
Tour du jour - Dutch works by Professor Linda Stone-Ferrer, 12:15 p.m. tomorrow at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Lecture-"Frank Marshall Davis and the Politics of Black Art," by John Edgar Tidwell, 7:30 tonight at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
Exhibition - "Imagery and Form," Feb. 15 March 10 at The Lawrence Arts Center, 200 W. 9th St.
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Festival - KU Jazz Festivall, all day Friday and Saturday at the Lied Center. Band and choir sessions open to the public for observation.
Tour of the month - "Looking for Spring in Landscapes," 1 p.m. Sunday at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Children's tour - "Signs of Spring," 1 p.m. Sunday at the Spencer Museum of Art.
designer/Illustrator from Los Angeles, 6 p.m. Monday, March 7 at Spencer Museum Auditorium.
Murphy lecture - "An Arrangement In White and Yellow: Whistler as an Exhibition Designer," by David Curry, 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 8 at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Program - "Women as Winners: Finding Your Own Voice," 7 tonight at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union.
Program - International Women's Day Program, 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 8 at the Pine Room in the Kansas Union.
Exhibition - Sacred and Profane: Two Books in Black and White, Jan. 23-March 20 at the Spencer Museum of Art.