I have LDs can I teach?

Toni,

I think anything is possible, but I do think it would be difficult to teach unless your spelling was remediated somewhat. You can certainly use a spellcheck on the computer, but in daily life, a teacher must be able to write spontaneously on the board and be able to quickly check student’s work. In one way, it would be great to have a successful LD role model for the students, but any teacher has to have competency in the skills he or she would be teaching. Many states require teachers to take exams proving their competency to teach certain skills including basic reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and math. So you would probably have to spend some time and money trying to increase your skills in these subjects before you could meet the requirements to teach.

On the other hand, I personally believe that every person was put on earth for a purpose. I believe we all have certain strengths that will make us good at something. Some people who are not good at spelling and academics might have excellent visual motor skills, for example. They might be better suited to be a designer, an artist, a barber, etc. A friend of mine’s daughter has her own hair styling business and she drives a BMW and makes a lot more money than I do teaching! I think she’s very smart. She got training in something she could be good at and combined that with good business sense and is very successful.

I think the key is to think about in what areas you have strengths, and then think what jobs would use those strengths. If your real dream is teaching, then you might go to the education department of your nearest university and talk with an advisor there to determine what the requirements would be and whether this is a realistic goal. Did you take the SAT in high school? That would give you one idea of whether college entrance is realistic or not.

There are some great teachers around this board who teach high school students, so they may have some actual cases that are similar to yours.

Janis

dI have to admit your spelling got in the way of me reading your whole post. I did want to tell you though that my son’s resource teacher is LD. She is wonderful.

Beth

Janis,
I dont know what sat is. I will look in to it.
Thancks for every ,thanks

Toni,

The SAT is the Scholastic Aptitude Test, I think. (You never see the name spelled out as it is always referred to by the initials). The SAT and the ACT are the two tests that most colleges require for entrance along with high school grades and class rank. Often community colleges will not require the SAT/ACT. They will give an English and math proficiency test so they will know in what classes you shoudl be placed. They do offer remedial courses in English and math. Then, if you are successful in those courses and go on to complete the basic courses of the first two years of college with decent grades, you can then go on to finish the final two years at a 4-year college or university. At that point, the SAT and ACT would not be as important as you’d have the proof that you could be successful in college level work.

Janis

DU……sorry S.A.T. ok. Now I fell dume hahaah,oh well thancks:)

Teaching may not be the best choice for you. Prepping for classes, particularly with older (4th grade and up) kids requires a lot of reading and skimming materials quickly and a lot of writing. You have to make up tests and worksheets, etc.

Have you thought about other aspects of helping LD students? Maybe being a school counselor. Our school psychologist (we’re a private school for LD students) works closely with our students and loves her job. Spelling and writing isn’t as essential to her job as it is in teaching. She has to read and write reports, but most importantly she works with the kids. She runs groups and supervises classes in the classrooms on social skills with the little kids and runs small groups and does individual counseling with the 6th-8th graders. She also organizes and does programs and lectures for the parents of LD kids. Most public schools have psychologists on staff, but they do a lot of testing. You have more student contact in private schools. School social workers also have a lot of student contact.

Good luck. Follow your heart and keep trying to find creative solutions to your challenges. That’s what special education is all about!

I think that you can do anything you put your head to doing. Depending on the state you live in, there are different exams that you must take. For example, I teach in Kentucky and I was required to take the ACT in order to get into college and pass with at least a 19. Then I had to complete a full semester working with a licensed teacher before I could graduate from college. I also had to take the PRAXIS exam (an exam designed for teachers) and score above a particular score to move on to getting a teaching position. Furthermore, my first year of teaching was an internship where I was overseen very closely by a mentor teacher, my principal, and an overseer from my old college. Different states do different things, and none of them will make it easy for you, but again, I think that you can do anything you want to do, if you are willing to work very hard. As far as income, there are many, many scholarship programs and grants that any person can receive. You will need to fill out a form called the FAFSA, that is for governmental aid for college. Many times, you can get grants from the government that will cover not only tuition and books, but other things. You may even receive a residual check if you don’t need all of the aid to cover your college experiences. If you really want to be a teacher, don’t let anything stand in your way!!! Good Luck and Best Wishes!!!!

You can have a comprehensive vocational evaluation, which will help to guide you in your career decisions. They should be able to tell you if your weaknesses are incompatible for certain fields- and whether remediation would be helpful. In addition to college courses to pass, teachers now have to pass literacy exams in many states- my guess is it would be very tough for you. I wouldn’t recommend psych school- more years of grad school are required and there is little tolerance for learning differences in these programs. You might consider working in an afterschool program or mentoring program as a way to connect with LD kids.

There are lots of different kinds of teachers, art teachers, computer teachers, woodworking, auto, etc. These disciplines require teachers with good oral and visual communication skills rather than written skills.

First, I would consider getting a vision evaluation by a developmental optometrist. You can find one at www.vision3d.com But quite honestly, I would look for a career in something which requires more in the way of physical abilities, and less in the way of literacy. For example, emergency medical technician, occupational therapist, physical therapist, and x-ray technician jobs pay reasonably well, offer interesting work, have hours that can accomodate a day care schedule, do not require the same level of literacy as teaching, and can lead to further opportunities in the field should your reading/writing/math difficulties improve. In life, as in poker, you gotta play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.