SALTCastsAbout SALT
The Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques (SALT) Center was founded during the 1980-1981 academic year, as a program within the Student Resource Center. At the time, SALT provided academic services and accommodations to three students with learning disabilities (LD). By 1993, the SALT Center became a freestanding, fee-based department within the Division of Campus Life and was serving the needs of many students diagnosed with LD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). For 20 years, the SALT Center was located in the basement of Old Main (the oldest building at UA), utilizing only 2,500 sq/ft of space. SALT staff was located in tight offices, and tutors conducted tutoring sessions around Old Main, often using the outside tables and blending tutoring with the sounds of everyday university life. In Fall 2001, a long-time dream of the SALT Center came true; the program moved to its own 16,000 square foot building where over 500 students now use our program.
SALT students receive individualized educational planning and monitoring, assistance from trained tutors with coursework, and an array of workshops geared toward their individual academic needs. Additionally, students have the opportunity to use the SALT computer lab (complete with an array of assistive technology) and/or "drop in" to either the SALT Writer's Lab or the SALT Math and Science Lab, both staffed with highly trained tutors.
Upon requesting SALT services, each student is assigned to a Learning Specialist. These individuals assist students as they navigate through the University of Arizona. Each Learning Specialist is an individual who demonstrates encouraging, accepting, and nonjudgmental behaviors creating a secure environment in which students can prosper. This safe atmosphere also enables students to collaborate successfully with Learning Specialists to create a unique learning plan, called an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP). Each specially designed ILP is called on to meet the postsecondary environmental needs of the student.
The Individualized Learning Plans (ILP) offer an integrated approach to Tutoring, Writing Support, and Educational Planning. To create an ILP, the Learning Specialist uses the unique student profile of strengths, weaknesses, and learning challenges along with the student's current semester needs. The Learning Specialist and the student define the array of services and define them in the ILP. Thus, each ILP provides the student with information on strategies to approach course work; recommendations for tutor usage; and, as appropriate, referrals to other University of Arizona (UA) campus resources. As the semester progresses, the Learning Specialist will use information gathered from weekly discussions with the student to evaluate the student's progress, needs, and outcomes. The ILP will then be adjusted accordingly.
In addition to supporting postsecondary students at the UA, the SALT Center is also involved in outreach efforts to the UA Campus as well as to the surrounding local area. Over the years, the SALT Center has collaborated with other UA departments, as well as local Tucson agencies, to support the academic advancement of local students. SALT firmly believes all students with LD and/or ADHD should be encouraged to pursue post-school options, including community college, as well as 4-year institutions
And what about the name? According to SALT legend, one student said, "As students with learning disabilities, we need a little more seasoning;" hence the name, SALT. Actually, SALT stands for "Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques." These terms were chosen to reflect the process many of our students experience as they meet the daily academic challenges of educational settings. SALT believes that learning involves the process of identifying one's strengths and weaknesses, learning preferences, and creating strategies that will enable one to be successful. Because learning is a life-long process occurring in many environments, one has to be able to self-monitor and alter choices to accommodate and assimilate new knowledge. Thus, SALT offers students many opportunities to learn about themselves and about available resources. There is no right combination of strategies; each student determines his or her own strategic alternative learning techniques.