Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Another perspective of living with a Learning Disability

The youtube video "My life with a learning disability" gave a very powerful perspective of what life is really like for a student suffering with ADHD. It's common for people to sympathize with openly autistic, deaf or blind students but I learned from the video that students with disabilities not visible are the one's who need the most attention but very seldom get it. Hearing the teen boy tell "his story" was one of the most heartfelt things I've ever seen. He discussed all the things he struggled with that the average kid his age, or even a teacher may have overlooked. His story touched me as a student and as a future teacher because I know there are a lot more kids in the classroom with the same unfortunate story. What I thought was worse was that, he was too embarrassed to ever reach out to anyone for help and most importantly of everyone in the school (teachers, principal, counselors) no one noticed that there was a problem. That made me a little nervous. As a future educator myself, I fear having a student in my class who needs "extra help" or is seeking to be noticed but never gets it. What is the common ground for teachers with a classroom full of students with different needs and a student in need of help but being overlooked because of the majority? I know the answer to this question is far from simple but at some point it has to be addressed in some way because too many students of our capable students are being "left behind".

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