[NIFL-WOMENLIT:2752] Re: ADHD

From: Susan McGilloway (msmcgilloway@msn.com)
Date: Fri Oct 17 2003 - 12:45:15 EDT


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From: "Susan McGilloway" <msmcgilloway@msn.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:2752] Re: ADHD
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I'm wondering if the reason some of my students have dropped out of school 
is that the traditional classroom did not allow them the flexibility to 
learn differently. There is very little provision in many classrooms for the 
student who learns differently. By the time I get students, the system has 
already failed them. In order to help them learn, I need to find out the 
best ways that they learn. For some of them, this involves diagnosis for a 
suspected condition such as ADHD or ADD. For some it is that they are 
primarily visual or auditory learners. I don't mean to simplify the problem 
by indicating that we do not have adequate testing and diagnostic facilities 
but that is a significant problem for those whom we suspect to have a 
"learning deficiency" and are of low income. If a student is having 
difficulty no matter what method we try to use to teach them, where do we 
turn to have them tested? There are very few places who do not charge 
incredible fees for diagnostic testing. This issue is only part of a social 
problem that needs to be addressed.


>From: jackie davis <rainboja100@yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@nifl.gov
>To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov>
>Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:2748] Re: ADHD
>Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 18:40:34 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Heidi wrote: "Too often in education we rush to
>identify a learner's difficulty as an individual
>deficit without looking at the whole context in which
>they are trying to learn (which includes our
>classrooms and instruction)."
>
>When my son, who has learning disabilities, I came to
>call them "learning differences."  He processed
>information very differently than I do - or his
>teachers and his teachers teachers.  There was so
>little effort to address those with various abilities
>(some with very high intelligence) who needed to be
>addressed in a different style.  Though I must say
>that I was just as ignorant at it in my Mom role, I've
>watched others be able to come at communication with
>my now adult son and be successful!  I think that we
>are still at the very beginnings of learning what
>these differences are, let alone how to pierce
>through.  As a society, haven't yet cracked the code
>of brain processing and its many levels of complextiy,
>which does not necessarily mean that every difference
>IS a disability, but that we are still in the
>neanderthal age regarding this - and I'm also not
>saying that disabilities do not exist, but in a
>classroom without the right support for learning for
>these folks, the difference becomes a "disability").
>Thank you for your thoughts, Heidi.
>
>
>
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