Health

This is an important contribution to the adult education field. Staying Healthy for Beginners is a great way to build adult learner skills and to introduce conversations around personal health. This is a beautiful booklet that students can easily read and use to gain knowledge about taking care of their health and and confidence to interact with the healthcare system. Few resources known have this many colorful pictures and as "friendly" a design for lower level readers of English. Besides the information, the booklet includes things like dialogues, personal stories, simple charts, and interactive activities to engage the learner. There are some places that let them fill out real information that will help them with healthcare activities. The guide is something that students can keep at home and use even after the class is over, and many students have told teachers that they share the information with friends and family. There has been a big need for health literacy resources for beginner level students, and this fills that need. This is an addition to the earlier resource: Staying Healthy: An English Learner’s Guide to Health Care and Healthy Living. It uses the same principles as that first Guide, which has been used in programs all over the country to rave reviews. The original Guide was pilot tested and found to be effective at improving students' knowledge of health issues and intention to interact more fully with the health care system and their healthcare providers. Please see the ongoing discussion about this resource in the LINCS Health Literacy Community of Practice.

Yes I Can provides facts and information about mental health disorders along with the symptoms, causes, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and things to observe. It was developed to inform adult educators about mental health disorders and how they present special and unique challenges for adult learners. It is a useful resource for adult educators who are curious for background information, or would like practical tips on working with adult learners who have mental health conditions. Users should read the “How to Use This Guide” section to orient themselves to how each chapter is structured. Some adult educators may need to be reminded that the term “mental health” is used broadly, as is used for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), hence, conditions such as ADHD and LD are included. Note that the chapter on autism spectrum disorders is not up to date on the new labeling system adopted for the DSM-5 (which eliminates “Asperger syndrome” and “PDD-NOS”, etc. as unique labels for some). Also, the tips on making use of learners’ learning styles” could more clearly remind adult educators that the science on learning styles warns against analyzing for learning styles and teaching only to such identified strengths. In general, the Tips sections can be used to augment effective practices that adult educators may already know. Users should also remember to check local policies when they read advice such as to encourage individuals to disclose their “mental health” conditions.

A Guide to Finding Entry-Level Jobs in Health Care provides pivotal examples of information on numerous healthcare and health care related occupations that adult educators can use to integrate learning about healthcare careers and career pathways with adult literacy education and English language learning. From an adult literacy perspective, the primary benefit of this document is its practical integration of significant and meaningful content with materials that support adult literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learning. The guide includes handouts and instructions as well as charts - all of which are useful tools for both teachers and career counselors.  It also provides links to other documents that practitioners will find helpful in the implementation of an integrative approach to adult literacy and career development. The last page provides "Resources" for students to further explore healthcare careers, training opportunities, and financial aid. Since many of these resources are Florida-centered, teachers in other states may elect to skip this page or develop a resource list customized for their state or program.