Learning Disabilities

In class we watched a video called “How Difficult can this be? (The FAT City Workshop)”.  FAT stands for Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension. Richard Lavoie had a group of adults and made them have a “learning disability” for one day. He used different tactics to help teachers, parents, social workers and other students understand how a learning disabled child learns and feels in a classroom. I think Richard Lavoie’s tactics were very powerful and helpful to help people understand why some students act the way they do. I think many students may feel stupid and have low self-esteem, because of their learning disability. I liked when Lavoie stated “in order to be fair you have to treat children differently”. Every child is different; therefore, you should not treat how they learn the same. To provide the child with the best education you may have to help each child differently. You are still treating them as equals, but you are just catering their learning, so they can learn best. When I was in grade 2 I was tested for a learning disability, but nothing came out of it, but it seemed I always had to work harder, and take longer on assignments and testes (I still do). I remember getting high anxiety in school. For example I would hate if the class was reading out loud as I hated reading out loud in class to everyone. Therefore, if the class was reading out loud I would read a paragraph ahead, while the class was reading the paragraph before just in case my name was called to read the next section. I would try to read it before so I could sound out the words beforehand so the class wouldn’t make fun of me, but they I did not know what the whole reading was about, because I was trying to read ahead so I was ready to read in front of the class. I remember I would make little mistakes while reading out loud in class and then the class or teacher would have to correct me and I felt very embarrassed. I feel as a teacher I would be able to understand these children more, as I been through this. School did not come easily to me as it does for some people; therefore, I will be able to relate to those children and understand what they are going through.