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Mr. Smith asks the
classroom, “Who was the first president of the United States?”
Justin
raises his hand immediately and answers, “George Washington.”
“Correct,” says the teacher, and turns quickly to another student.
“Carol, what was the name of the president’s wife?”
Carol hesitates
for a moment and then says, “George Washington.”
Everyone laughs. The
teacher, believing that Carol has either been daydreaming, or is just
looking for attention, tells her to stay after class to make up for
disrupting the class one too many times.
This is the life of the learning disabled child. Because Mr. Smith has
not had special training on learning disorders, and because Carol’s
disability has never been diagnosed, it never occurred to him that
Carol was answering his first question. Children like Carol have
trouble processing information, and while she was struggling with the
first question, she had failed to hear either Billy’s answer or Mr.
Smith’s second question. To the rest of the classroom, the lesson was
progressing at a normal, comfortable pace, but for Carol, everything
seemed to be at “fast forward.” Not surprisingly, she was one step
behind. Worst yet, when her parents ask why she was kept after school,
she will probably say (honestly), “I don’t know!”
We’ve heard the many labels assigned to children who have
difficulty learning in school ~ the “educationally handicapped,” the “learning
challenged,” or the “special needs” child ~ it’s easy to become
insensitive to what they really mean. But we should never lose sight
of one fundamental truth: “The pain the learning different child
causes at home and in the classroom is never greater than the pain he
feels.”
This statement, a direct quote from special education expert Richard
Lavoie, is more than a concept in a lecture--it is the sum and
substance of his daily existence. Speaking in San Francisco to a group
of 900 parents and teachers, Lavoie had come to illuminate the
sometimes mystifying and always frustrating challenge of helping the
learning disabled (LD) child. With three Special Education degrees, he
speaks with the authority of an expert and the passion of a father
with a special needs child. Currently he divides his time between
directing a residential school for special needs children in
Massachusetts and acting as special education consultant to over 400
school systems in 42 states.
Enormously popular, Lavoie has appeared before audiences in 49 states,
and is booked ahead for the next four years. Blessed with a natural
ability to entertain, he uses anecdotes from experiences with his
students and family to shed light on what this life-changing disorder
can be like.
Lavoie became a nationally recognized figure in 1989, after PBS
released the video of his popular workshop, How Difficult Can This Be?: Understanding Learning Disabilities. In the workshop, also called
F.A.T. city, (F.A.T. is an acronym for frustration, anxiety, and
tension), Lavoie gives parents and teachers the chance to walk in the
shoes of the LD child. He uses a variety of special techniques and
exercises to simulate the experiences of the learning disabled. It
doesn’t take long, as little as six minutes, in fact, for some of the
adults to find themselves frustrated, humiliated and overwhelmed. Some
actually break down in tears, not just for themselves, but for the LD
child who endures these frustrations every day.
But for this Saturday lecture, we get off easy. Lavoie begins by
defining “learning disabled,” (or “learning different,” which he
prefers). There are almost as many definitions as there are state
school systems, so Lavoie prefers a definition of exclusion. It does
not include the developmentally disabled (mentally impaired),
emotionally disturbed, children who have been denied the opportunity
to learn, or those with a “modality deficit,” such as the blind and
deaf.
What we have left are children who typically have average or above
average intelligence, but are unable to achieve at their potential.
Most of us think of reading disorders, such as dyslexia, but the
learning disability can be in one or more of the basic processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written.
This can affect the ability to listen, think, speak, read, write,
spell or do math. Some examples are difficulty with visual perception,
auditory processing, organizing information, or the ability to
revisualize.
One disorder we hear a lot about, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (AD/HD), is not classified as a learning disorder. AD/HD is a
neurologically-based medical problem that occurs in about 5% of
children. About 60% of children with AD/HD also have some learning
disorders, so they are often linked. However AD/HD is considered a
syndrome in itself, and is evaluated and treated separately from
learning disorders. Both AD/HD and learning disabilities can be very
hard to diagnose and usually require extensive assessment and
evaluation.
A common problem with the LD child (one which is common to AD/HD as
well) is distractibility, or the inability to focus on the task at
hand. Lavoie cautions that this should not be confused with lack of
attention span. A child with a short attention span pays attention to
nothing. A distractible child, however, pays attention to everything.
That is, instead of only hearing the teacher’s voice, he is watching
the way her hair moves, he’s looking at her shoes, he’s noticing the
picture behind her, and so forth.
Some children who are very distractible also have a problem with
selective attention. They tend to focus on the wrong thing, at the
wrong time. Lavoie illustrates this syndrome by relating the story of
lecturing a wayward student on the error of his ways. After fifteen
minutes, Lavoie is bringing his lecture to a close. Feeling sure the
child cannot fail to recognize the significance of his disruptive
behavior, he raises his hand to drive the point home. The child, who
has remained respectfully silent for the entire interview, suddenly
leaps to his feet and exclaims: “Hey, my Dad has a watch just like
that!” Such are the unique challenges of relating to the LD child.
Many LD children lack the ability for revisualization. That is, the
child is unable to remember a mental picture of the things she has
seen or learned before. Lavoie uses the analogy of the jig saw puzzle.
Imagine having a box of pieces to put together but having no picture
on the box to look at!
Another common problem for the LD child is dysnomia, similar to the
one we all occasionally have of recalling a particular word that is
“on the tip of our tongues.” Unfortunately, with the LD child, this
happens many times a day. The syndrome is related to a deficit in the
brain’s ability to store and retrieve bits of information. The child
knows the information is there, but is not able to locate it. Thus he
may have to start and restart the same sentence or idea in his mind
several times, while he hunts around for the right word, or an
alternative.
Since some learning disorders are not obvious, the first indication
that a child has a problem may show up when she begins school. After a
few years of difficulty, she may be seen as lacking motivation or
intelligence. Actually, the child may be exhibiting a form of “learned
helplessness,” that is, after years of frustration and failure, she no
longer tries. Ultimately the child may “fall through the cracks” of
the educational system.
Alternatively, the child may become adept at “covering” his
inadequacies. One adult confided to Lavoie that as an LD child he was
so embarrassed to be seen as stupid that he convinced everyone,
including his parents, that he was hearing
impaired. Ultimately, he endured a painful operation and a lengthy
hospital stay, to keep up the charade.
Educational experts estimate that 10 to 20% of children (hundreds of
thousands) have undiagnosed learning differences and thus may endure
needlessly unhappy and frustrated childhoods. Some adults (such as the
noted financier and millionaire, Charles Schwab) have only recently
come to realize that they have grown up with a learning disorder. How
comforting (and yet frustrating) to know that they were not “dumb,” or
“lacking in motivation” after all.
Walking in the shoes of the LD child means trying to have patience
when she does not follow directions or “acts out” in school, says
Lavoie. Any child would rather look bad than look dumb, he points out.
Therefore, what may seem like deliberate disobedience may be an
attempt to distract attention from the embarrassment of not being able
to complete an assignment.
What can a parent do to help the special needs child with a learning
disorder? Most importantly, according to Lavoie, we must accept the
child as he is, right now, not for what we hoped him to be someday, or
what we expected of him. Once the parent accepts the child for the
unique gifts and special abilities he does have, the child can begin
to accept and approve of himself. For the teacher, it is important to
remember that for a child, school is his or her “living,” just as work
is for adults. How would it feel to be forced to work in a daily
atmosphere of failure, frustration, and anxiety? What would it do to
our self-esteem?
For LD children, the disorder impacts every area of their lives. Not
only school performance, but behavior at home and with peers will
inevitably be affected. Additionally, a child does not grow out of a
learning disability, although he may learn to accommodate for and work
around it. With the proper help and the use of special tools and
strategies for learning differently, the child can learn , and build
the self-esteem and confidence to become a happy, successful adult.
The key is to allow the child to be as independent as possible within
the boundaries of his abilities.
As parents and teachers, we can help. Lavoie suggests we replace “If
he only tried harder, he’d do better!” with “If he only did better,
he’d try harder.” In other words, we must reinforce positive behavior
and give the child a chance to feel what it’s like to be successful.
Some teachers complain that they are too busy to reinforce positive
behavior. He equates this with the farmer who says, “I don’t have time
to build a fence. I’m too busy chasing these dumb cows!”
What should you do, if you suspect that your child has a learning
disorder and is not working up to her potential? First, talk to your
child, to the teacher, and to the school principal to pinpoint any
specific areas of concern. With this information, you may decide it is
worthwhile to write a formal letter to your school district to request
that she be assessed. This will start the legal process of determining
whether your child is eligible for special instruction.
In the meantime, read and gather all the information you can to be
able to communicate knowledgeably with district officials. (By the
time you get close to the formal assessment, you may realize that your
fears were unfounded.) If you still have concerns, you will be able to
tell them that you have exhausted other possibilities. If you are not
satisfied with the district’s response, help is also available from a
variety of local and national organizations that exist for the LD
child (or adult) and family. (See Resources). During this process,
remember that no one knows your child the way you do. “Work with the
experts, but trust your instincts!” says Lavoie.
If you have an LD child in your home or classroom, Lavoie would
encourage you to remember the following. First, it doesn’t take
courage to do what we’re good at. The LD child must summon the courage
to go to school every day. Secondly, don’t worry about being “fair.”
Many parents and teachers worry that giving special attention to an LD
child is not fair to siblings and other students. He reminds us that
being fair doesn’t mean giving every child the same thing, but giving
every child what he needs. To be fair, you have to treat the LD child
differently. With a little patience and understanding we can each make
a difference for that child.
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