I Don’T Want To Go To School

BUSTING THE MYTH OF NORMAL

Melinda Pongrey, MSEd SISIUTL Center for Learning

www.welovelearning.com

When did you realize we are not all wired the same way?

The Short Bus www.jonathanmooney.com

www.welovelearning.org

• What is Learning?-why multi-sensory?

• A Look at the Brain• Layers of Learning • Famous People

• A learning disability is a neurological disorder. In simple terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person's brain is "wired." Children with learning disabilities are as smart or smarter than their peers. But they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways.

• A learning disability can't be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong issue. With the right support and intervention, however, children with learning disabilities can succeed in school and go on to successful, often distinguished careers later in life.


•Sensory Input

•Personal Emotional Connection

•Movement

MULTIPLE SENSORY INPUTS FUSE TOGETHER

TO ENRICH THE MEMORY SYSTEM

*TASTE *AUDITORY *VISUAL *KINESTHETIC

*TACTILE MEMORIES


How we collect information

– See– Hear– Feel/Touch– Balance– Smell

How we sort & store information– Memory– Understanding– Ordering– Organizing

• "My teachers say I'm addled . . . my father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided I must be a dunce." -Thomas Edison

• "I was hopeless at high school." – Keanu Reeves

• "I, myself, was always recognized . . . as the "slow one" in the family. It was quite true , and I knew it and accepted it. Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. My letters were without originality. I was . . . an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day." - Agatha Christie


How we express information – Talking– Singing– Moving– Drawing– Writing


• It is not being stupid or dumb. Quite the opposite! People with learning disabilities are average

or above average in intelligence

• It is not the individual’s fault.

• It is not due to lack of trying!


Being as smart or smarter than other people AND

having difficulty with ONE OR MORE---

• Reading• Writing• Math• Spelling• Listening• Speaking

• Putting your thoughts down on paper

• Remembering what you see or hear

• Coordination• Organization• Social Skills

ATTENTION * DEFICIT * HYPERACTIVITY * DISORDER


• "current micltae het in of diwennig praticularly pratcipiatino, in tohse stintiutions that not do bratitiollnay offer unit a 'leanirng-ruppost', it will vepro to invaluadle staff to medcrae new mehtosb to pruboce crouse matrelias and teaching and, or to gain an stannbigunder of the ffiberent pytes of bifficulties roganisational that dsylexic tsuednts have."

• "In the current climate of widening participation, particularly in those institutions that do not traditionally offer a 'learning-support' unit, it will prove invaluable to staff to embrace new methods to produce course materials and/or teaching, and to gain an understanding of the different types of organisational difficulties that dyslexic students have."

Tommy Hilfiger, Fashion Designer

"I performed poorly at school, when I attended, that is, and was perceived as stupid because of my dyslexia. I still have trouble reading. I have to concentrate very hard at going left to right, left to right, otherwise my eye just wanders to the bottom of the page."

He was the class clown because "I didn’t want anyone to know that I didn’t get it."


• Write the Pledge of Allegiance.

• You will have 90 seconds.

• Write with your non-dominant hand. Right-handers use left hand, etc.

• Stop and tap your finger at the top of the page when you hear a clap.

• Cross out and erase every third word, then rewrite it.


• What is your level of anxiety 1-5?

• What is your level of concentration 1-5?

• Rate how accurately your work reflects your knowledge of the Pledge of Allegiance 1-5?

• How well does your work reflect your intelligence? Your motivation? Your disability?

Which accommodation might help you show me what you know?

– 1.5 more time to complete task (2:15)

– Private testing site

– Pencil grip

– Larger lined paper

– Oral exam – Dictate my response


Education

I Don’T Want To Go To School