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My Learning Disability in Five Vignettes
Alan Rambeau
BEFORE YOU READ:
1. Read about vignette in the caption below the picture on the right. Share a vignette from your school days that evokes a strong feeling.
2. IEP stands for Individualized Education Program; ADHD stands for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. To learn more about IEP and ADHD, read the boxes on pp. 10-11. JROTC stands for Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.
3. Read about dyslexia in the box on p. 7.
4. Do you know anyone with ADHD and/or dyslexia? What are their gifts and challenges?
Pizza
Mr. Griffin was a great guy. He was my tutor in the fourth grade. That’s when they first figured out that I needed an IEP. He bought me Domino’s pizza every day. He helped me with my math. They did tests on me, and they figured out that I had ADHD. But they kept missing my dyslexia.
Music
As a kid, I learned that listening to music on my headphones helped me focus. But the teachers never let me use the headphones. They thought it was distracting because my head was bobbing up and down to the music.
Naps
My algebra teacher noticed that I always fell asleep in his class. I told them the reason why: I was in JROTC, and it drained my battery. So, he and I came to an agreement. If I got my work done, he would allow me to put my head down on my desk and go to sleep. There’s a twist though. I never really understood algebra. But I still passed the class.
Abbreviations
In English class, I was bad at spelling, so I used abbreviations of words. I trained the computers and my phone to understand my abbreviations. They could auto-correct them to fix the spelling. In this way, people could read my writing better.
Seeing and Doing
I learn in a different way than other students who have no disability with their brain. Visual and hands-on learning are better for me. I don’t understand verbal directions. I have to be doing it at the same time I am hearing about it.
Thank you for reading this. I hope it will help you if you have similar disabilities.
AFTER YOU READ:
1. What do these vignettes tell you about the author’s experience with his learning disability?
2. What accomodations has Alan developed for himself? What accommodations does his teacher offer him?
3. Alan uses metaphor when he says his participation in JROTC drained his battery. What does it mean? Try using it in your own sentence. (Read more about simile and metaphor on p. 9.)
Alan Rambeau is a student at Ellsworth Adult and Community Education in Ellsworth, Maine. He is working on his high school equivalency.