I May Learn Differently, but I'm Still a Normal Kid Just Like YOU!

I May Learn Differently, but I'm a Normal Kid Just Like You

By Emma Heidenreich

HI! My name is Hank but I prefer to be called "Hank the Tank". I learn differently from all my other classmates. I have something that keeps me from learning like everyone else. It is called a learning disability. My mom says it's nothing bad because I am still a normal third grader. But they look at me like I have ten arms and eyes because I have trouble reading. They always leave me out games at recess, and never invite me to their birthday parties. It really upsets my feelings. My mom always tells me to talk to Ms. Frankel, my third grade teacher. She always rolls her eyes and says she doesn't have time to listen to me vent about playground drama. 

That night, I decided I needed to change something about how I am being treated. It's not fair that I am the only one that has no one to play with. So I decided I would go talk to the Mrs. Smith our school principal. I've heard some scary stories about her. Johnny Appleseed once told me that she looks like a crow and eats worms for lunch! I also heard that she is super mean and makes every kid cry.This is my only hope for making a change around here.

The next morning I ask my mom to drive me to school super early, and told her I would walk home. I wanted to make sure I was first in line to talk to the principal. The front desk ladies told me to take a seat outside her office. Images and sounds kept running through my brain about what she was going to be like. I thought about running back to my classroom , but right then her assistantt approached me and walked me into her office. I was relieved when I saw a pretty lady with brown hair sitting behind a desk. I explained to her my problem about my classmates. She  sat back in her big comfy chair and scrunched her face. She wrote something on her notepad, but I couldn't read it, of course. It looked like lines of squiggly black ink. She gave me a few suggestions on how to approach my classmates but I told her I've already tried that. She then told me my only option was for me to present a presentation on learning disablitliies in front of the whole school. I did not like this idea what so ever! She then calms me down and tells me she will help me research and help me practice what I am going to say. Suddenly the bell rang and quickly hurried me out of her office,  and said to meet me at her office 5 minutes after school so we could start working. She also added that I would be presenting this on Friday..... which is in 4 days!!!!

School that day felt like it took forever. All I wanted to do was get started on my project. I mentally took notes on everything I should talk about. I spend most of the afternoon day dreaming about the whole school giving me a standing ovation and asking for my autograph. I was awaken suddenly by the last hour bell. I packed my stuff up as quickly as I could and to the front office.

I knocked on her door and opened the door. The principal was working on her computer. She said that she already started researching for me, and found a great website called LDonline. She printed some information , and read them to me while I highlighted that important stuff. We worked until it got dark out, and thats why my mom called the school worried I was kidnapped. So I took all the papers home and started designing my masterpiece. 

From then on I worked before school everyday.....

To until my mom forced me to go to bed. With a break for dinner of course. 

For four days straight I was constantly creating poster boards, gluing on pictures and facts, and then adding marker or decorations. 

On the last night I made some finishing touches and practiced what I was going to say several times in the mirror , and in front of my dog who is named beef jerky. I couldn’t believe I was going to actually be presenting at tomorrow's Friday morning assembly in front of the entire school. How was I going to get the whole school to listen to me when my own teacher and classmates won't give me the time of day.

The next morning I put on my fancy clothes and clip on bow tie. I practiced my speech one more time for the whole office staff and principal. I got a big round of applause, thumbs up, and smiles. The principal walked with me to the morning assembly and sat with me behind stage until she had to make the morning announcements. I wasn’t nervous this morning but all of a sudden I got butterflies. After the school pledge she announced to everyone that they were going to have a surprise guest speaker. She walked behind the curtain and then helped me carry all of my poster boards. All of the student's looked confused and kept yelling mean names except for the front office staff. Immediately she quieted the kids, handed me the microphone, and gave me a good luck high five. 

I finally got the courage to start. I grabbed the microphone and began.....

Hello everyone. My name is Hank. My classmates know me as the kid who can't read. Yes this is true, I have trouble reading but it's not because I am weird or have no brain. I simply have a learning disability. Did you know that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison had learning disabilities? What about Jay Leno or Tom Cruise? Even heroes in history and famous people in today’s media have learning disabilities. A learning disability simply means that a person’s brain is wired differently so I have to be taught a different way to learn. People can also have more than one learning disability. I have several but my reading disability stands out the most. I was born this way and it can't be fixed with medicine or band aids. However it can be fixed if provided with individualized instruction. If not provided with the correct instruction then someone may fall behind. Here are some interesting facts you should all know about struggling readers.

- " Of all children identified as learning disabled in schools, 80% are primarily in reading; 90% of these children have problems with the develop of decoding skills"(article three, 1). 

-"The assumption is sometimes made that children will grow out of their reading problem with the passage of time. However, research shows that 74% of children who are poor readers in the third grade remain poor readers in the ninth grade"(article three, 1).

- "The focus on early intervention is well-conceived, given the strong evidence that research-based instruction beginning in Kindergarten significantly reduces the number of children who experience reading difficulty"(article two, 1).

- " Intervention must match the students' level of reading development, because each stage of growth requires a special focus"(article two, 2).

-" Techniques for teaching older students, however, differ from the techniques of teaching younger students"(article two, 2). 

-" Older poor readers can learn to read if they are taught the foundation of language skills they missed and they have ample opportunity to apply the skills in meaningful text reading"(article two, 3).

-"Therein lies the most challenging aspect of teaching older students: they cannot read so they do not like to read; reading is labored and unsatisfying so they have little reading experience; and, because they have not read much, they are not familiar with the vocabulary, sentence structure, text organization and concepts of academic “book” language"(article two, 1).

- "Over time, their comprehension skills decline because they do not read, and they also become poor spellers and poor writers. What usually begins as a core phonological and word recognition deficit, often associated with other language weaknesses, becomes a diffuse, debilitating problem with language -- spoken and written"(article two, 1). 

According to LDonline, " opportunities to advance or catch up diminish over time"(article one, 1). Since my teachers put off teaching me to read it only hurt my opportunity more to catch up. It has also made my learning disability more noticable, which has affected my social life. My wish is to be accepted for once because I am just a normal third grader. I don’t  ever want this happening to any other kid.

To make sure this never happens to another student in this school. The principal and I did lots of research. 

1. Teachers who work with beginning readers should look for early signs of reading disabilities.
2. Make sure student’s do not move onto the next reading instruction component until they are ready. The beginning reading instruction components are the most important for determining future reading skills.
3. Learning to read does not always come easy to everyone. Even for students who do not have learning disabilities. For example one may not be able to process a letter to make the correct sound.
4. Word recognition and phonological awareness are the first two components a student should master.
   
5. One of the teaching tips I found how to teach beginner reading skills a different way, which is
1. "Provide support and assistance. The following research-based instructional sequence summarizes the kind of scaffolding beginning readers need: (a) model the sound or the strategy for making the sound; (b) have students use the strategy to produce the sound; (c) repeat steps (a) and (b) using several sounds for each type and level of difficulty; (d) prompt students to use the strategy during guided practice; (e) use steps (a) through (d) to introduce more difficult examples”(article one, 2).

I want everyone to take a good look at the picture I'm holding up. Doesn't she look like a normal 10 year old? Doesn't she look like she would be fun to play on the playground with? This is Molly and we go to the same church, and our dad's are in the same golf group. 

 Now take a look at this picture of the boy playing soccer. This is Joey, and he is my next door neighbor. He's an awesome soccer player, and great at every sport. Does anything look wrong with him? Would you invite him to your birthday party?

Would you believe me If I told you that they both have learning disabilities? Well you should because its completely true. You can even ask Mrs. Smith because she was with me or even their moms for extra proof. I interviewed both of them about what they have trouble with in school.

Molly is one of the smartest people I know. She reads about 100 books a week, and always wins awards for most reading minutes. It amazes me because I could never do that. But Molly told me that math is really really hard for her. So we are basically the opposite. She also said that she has a bad memory, and always forgets things. One time she told me she studied all night, and the next day she got to the test and she forgot everyting. Her mom told me that she has fallen behind, and that her teachers do not care because she is doing fine in other subjects. When Mrs. Smith and I researched information on this we found some cool stuff about people with math disabilities just like Molly. I also found ways to help her.

Facts about student's like Molly who struggle with Math.

• Someone who has a math disability like Molly has trouble getting math problems right, learning math facts, saying math facts out loud, and bad a writing numbers and other math symbols.
• Practicing and learning number sense helps every student learn math better not just kids with learn disabilities.  
• Number sense is the first step kids should learn and master
• Not correctly developing the correct knowledge of number leads to future struggles in math.

Suggestions for teaching students like Molly who have trouble learing math

• Extended practice on basic math facts until she gets every single questions correct.
• Computer-assisted instruction
• Individualized daily practice for 10 minutes a day
• Drill and practice at home
• Computer software/games
• Increase or decrease level of difficulty of problems.

Suggestions for teaching kids like Molly who struggle with memory:

• Review information within 24 hours of first learning it.
• Come up with a humorous story to help remember it.  
• Play a memory game with flashcards.
• Do something active when learning new information or reviewing. For example jumping or throwing a ball.
• Draw picture or graphs to use as visual aids.
• Use different colored markers to color code the information.
• Try using a different sense such as verbally, visually, or kinesthetically.
• Organize the information by sorting it into different categories.
• Practice saying it aloud in front of someone.
• Review often or each day to improve memory.

Joey on the other hand struggles in other areas than Molly and I. When I interviewed his mom, she said he had trouble with spelling, writing but more specifically note-taking, and managing his time well. Joey is a bright kid and like I said awesome at sports. He is a normal boy but struggles a little in school just like me. Mrs. Smith also helped me find information on Joey’s disability just like I did for Molly.  

Facts about people like Joey who struggle with spelling, time management, and note-taking:

• “Student with learning disabilities in reading usually have problems in spelling as well”(article six, 1).
• Good note-taking skills are important because student’s perform better overall in the general classroom, improve long-term memory, notes can be referenced later to review, keeps student’s actively engaged during lectures, provides clarification if one is confused about something, and students who take more notes have been proven to have high test scores.
• Time management is difficult for everyone but students with learning disabilities require a strict structure, clear instruction, and time to develop appropriate life skills.
• Lack of knowledge of phonics, printed words, and letter-sound relationships may cause poor spelling ability.
• Learning disabled student’s may struggle with certain note-taking skills such as not being able to identify important information, not writing fast enough, and bad handwriting.
•  “Time management is a very important skill, which can often make or break academic success”(article seven, 1).
• If spelling difficulties are not taken care of it will then their writing will be affected.

Suggestions for teaching kids like Joey who struggle with spelling, time management, and note-taking:

• To help improve spelling a teacher should provide instruction in systematic phonics that includes teaching phonemic awareness.
• Student’s need to develop a sense of their own task pace to learn to properly manage their time.
• To improve student’s note-taking skills they should modify their lectures and teach them the right note-taking techniques.
• Teachers should confirm that students know all the spelling rules such as root words. This will help them be able to spell new words.
• Important note-taking techniques that should be taught are how to use abbreviations
• When beginning spelling instruction for a struggling speller, teachers should start with common irregular words from the first stages of spelling.
• Teachers can modify their lectures by slowing down the pace of lecture, enunciating words clearly, provide cues when something is important, allow enough time to review notes after lecture, or provide guided notes/strategic notes.
• If teaching time management, teachers should practice task analysis, time estimation, and teach valuable study skills with student.
• When teaching spelling instruction it is important to use grade-appropriate words
•  Teachers need to learn how to know what type of technique or modification is appropriate for each lecture.
• Activities that teachers should use to improve spelling are tasks that involve writing or building printed words instead of orally spelling.
• Teacher should encourage students to read independently in their free time, and use a computer spell-check would necessary.  

I talked about Molly and Joey today because I wanted to show you that I am not the only one out there with a learning disability. I am a normal kid like Molly, Joey, and every one of you sitting in the audience. I have gotten my feelings hurt many times in the past by being called mean name and not allowing me to play on the playground with anyone besides myself. I couldn’t stand it anymore because it’s not fair and very mean. I’m glad Mrs. Smith made speak in front of everyone during the assembly because now everyone in the school understands why I have trouble reading and what learning disabilities are. Now I hope you understand that even though I learn differently I am still a normal third grader. All I want is for someone to be nice to me and to be included for the first time since I started Kindergarten.

...... And from then on Hank always had someone to play with during recess.

The End