One of the biggest complaints I hear from my teachers regular classroom teachers, he just doesn’t try, and sometimes I get mad at him for the same thing. But today, I got first hand experience on how he must feel every day at school. I had to attend a meeting at work, about retirement, 401K’s…..etc. The speaker gave us a book to follow along with. Everything they talked about was completley over my head and made no sense what so ever. I tried to follow along, but after I awhile I just gave up, even caught myself whispering to the woman beside me and she to me. I then realized…..this must be how my son feels everyday in school. He must be miserable, trying to follow along while others are reading and he doesn’t know what the book says, not understanding what they are talking about. I’m sure he feels completely overwhelmed….I did.
This gave me new insight into him and the next time a teacher tells me he doesn’t try, I’m going to say…..and what do you do to help him understand.
The bottom line with my son’s problem is he has to learn to read.
Now, how to get the school to accomplish that is my big problem.
And from the opposite pole...
We should all have to go thru that kind of thing, every *once* in a while — and then pause an dthink about what it’s like to have that stuff happening basically EVERY DAY.
And from the other direction, last year I had this day where I hopped on board with the fast riders in the cycling club and kept right up… on my 40-year-old one speed… and I thought, everybody *SHOULD* have a day like this at least once a year, or at least the possibility that it could happen… but do my students? Or are they supposed to have this great positive attitude about… surviving another day? If it isn’t going to happen at school, we should make sure it happens somewhere — it doesn’t have to be competitive, just an experience that makes a person feel like they’re competent and capable in something.
Re: And from the opposite pole...
I agree. My LD son has been growing the greatest green beans. He makes me cook the store bought ones separately (and I have to steam his and boil the store’s). He then gloats when his are gone and the others are still in a bowl.
Re: And from the opposite pole...
I also agree that this is very important. My LD son who reads poorly, spells horribly, has no organizational skills what so ever still gets the opportunity to succeed. Despite his difficulties he loves to write stories and illistrate them. He has joined the Young Authors club and the art club at school. The nice thing is his disability does not get in the way of his being allowed to be in these clubs. The school has realized how creative he is and assists him with the mechanics of it. The most amazing thing about it all is that when transportation to these activities became an issue (both parents AD AF one of his teachers volunteered to drive him home. The teacher says she is just doing her job helping my son get an education—but I think she has gone above and beyond. He gets to know how it feels to be successful and this helps him to try his best in school!
Re: I know how he feels!!!!!!
It’s startling when you get a glimpse of how life for our kids is. I had a similar experience today. I was driving orchestra instruments to a PTA meeting where our kids were performing and, as usual, I got lost. The others just couldn’t understand how I could get lost, less than a mile from school, and when we were all driving there together. They ended up driving around until they found me asking a police officer for help.
I’m fairly bright, and am successful at most things, but I have the worst sense of direction. I sometimes get so angry and frustrated when I get lost, and then I remind myself that this is probably why my son gets angry over schoolwork.
Last week my son and I were in an unfamiliar neighborhood, and he had to guide me back to where we needed to be. I made sure he knew that without him I would never have found the place. For once he was able to feel successful at something I’m not.
I agree!
I agree, it’s important to feel successful at something. My son is great in sports, this summer he pitched his first no-hitter, it was at a big tournment, he was called out on the field, was given the game ball and a special award, the look on his face was wonderful…sort of made up for all those frustrated looks he gets when doing school work. We brag on his accomplishments in sports to him all the time. But now that success is probably going to end too…..if you can’t keep your grades up, the school bans you from playing sports. So now what…..another blow to his self esteem.
Very good post.