Rhonda
Helping learning disabled children by ending bullying
Xio 1feee qu'nz %2*lu!
"What is wrong with you?" "Can't you read this?" "Focus." "Stop disturbing others at your table with questions." "Let's not hang out with him anymore." "He's weird."
For a child with a learning disability, attention deficit disorder or other disabilities, these statements are a daily mantra invading their lives from peers, teachers and parents. Our lack of understanding and patience with these disabilities affects their self-esteem, their friendships and their education. Our news is filled with tragic stories of young people taking their lives after being bullied. Many of those children were different and struggled in the classroom and social settings.
Their differences made them a target of the majority who did not identify with them or preyed on their unusual nature. Children taunting children to death. Bullying requires immediate intervention with education being a key element to changing the behavior. To stop the taunting, children must empathize with their target. For the bystander to move from watching to intervening, he must feel empowered to stand up for what is right. This problem must be addressed at home and in the schools.
Missouri has taken steps for schools to stop the bullying by declaring October "Disability History and Awareness Month." Missouri law requires each school district to provide instruction on the history of the disability rights movement and contributions of disabled persons. Schools must now create educational cultures that nurture safe and inclusive environments for students with disabilities in which bullying is discouraged and respect and appreciation for students with disabilities is encouraged. Moreover, teaching that disabilities are a natural part of the human experience; we are all more alike than different.
To be successful, families have to be educated too so the conversation continues at home. Schools need to update parents on the curriculum being taught during this month so we can further discuss at the family table the history of the American with Disabilities Act or the guest speaker who came in to share how she became successful in spite of personal challenges. We have many conversations at our home about disabilities as our oldest has dyslexia (a disorder that affects reading, spelling, writing and comprehension).
While he attended public school, the transition from learning to read to reading to learn proved very challenging for him. He could not read out loud without skipping around the page, missing words or full sentences. We asked that he not be required to read out loud as the kids teased him and he was embarrassed. We were advised it was good for him to practice out loud.
Further, when we asked that his teacher review his homework notebook before and after school to ensure he wrote things down correctly, we were advised he needed to be more responsible and suggested he have a peer review his work. The humiliation was too much. So, we moved him to Churchill Center & School, a school that understands how disabilities impact the whole child and whose curriculum fully encompasses disability awareness and self advocacy.
Bullying a disabled child can be very subtle. When kids would say "why can't you read" or he was forced to read in front of the class, it felt like bullying. But, empowering him through education that Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein were learning disabled inspired him to believe he could be somebody and his disabilities did not limit him.
When he visited websites such as "Disabled World" and watched inspiring videos about those whose disabilities did not limit their possibilities, it inspired him to go for his dreams. When we learn that prior to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 disabled persons were forced to attend separate schools, received no accommodations for physical disabilities on pubic transportation or housing and discovered there were no protections in the work place, it creates empathy and emphasized the importance of basic civil rights.
Our children need to be exposed to the challenges their peers face who sit right next to them in the classroom. My son's disability cannot be seen in his physical appearance. And, you would not know he struggles in school by talking with him. But having his individual needs met and being at a school where his disability is openly discussed, embraced and supported, his self confidence has grown and he has learned to ask for what he needs when he is struggling.
I am hopeful this new curriculum will teach all of Missouri's children in public schools how the history and awareness of disabilities requires us to end the discrimination and bullying that frequents our hallways for disabled kids. And that such education will continue the conversation at home.
Patricia Harrison is an assistant clinical professor of law at St. Louis University School of Law.
"What is wrong with you?" "Can't you read this?" "Focus." "Stop disturbing others at your table with questions." "Let's not hang out with him anymore." "He's weird."
For a child with a learning disability, attention deficit disorder or other disabilities, these statements are a daily mantra invading their lives from peers, teachers and parents. Our lack of understanding and patience with these disabilities affects their self-esteem, their friendships and their education. Our news is filled with tragic stories of young people taking their lives after being bullied. Many of those children were different and struggled in the classroom and social settings.
Their differences made them a target of the majority who did not identify with them or preyed on their unusual nature. Children taunting children to death. Bullying requires immediate intervention with education being a key element to changing the behavior. To stop the taunting, children must empathize with their target. For the bystander to move from watching to intervening, he must feel empowered to stand up for what is right. This problem must be addressed at home and in the schools.
Missouri has taken steps for schools to stop the bullying by declaring October "Disability History and Awareness Month." Missouri law requires each school district to provide instruction on the history of the disability rights movement and contributions of disabled persons. Schools must now create educational cultures that nurture safe and inclusive environments for students with disabilities in which bullying is discouraged and respect and appreciation for students with disabilities is encouraged. Moreover, teaching that disabilities are a natural part of the human experience; we are all more alike than different.
To be successful, families have to be educated too so the conversation continues at home. Schools need to update parents on the curriculum being taught during this month so we can further discuss at the family table the history of the American with Disabilities Act or the guest speaker who came in to share how she became successful in spite of personal challenges. We have many conversations at our home about disabilities as our oldest has dyslexia (a disorder that affects reading, spelling, writing and comprehension).
While he attended public school, the transition from learning to read to reading to learn proved very challenging for him. He could not read out loud without skipping around the page, missing words or full sentences. We asked that he not be required to read out loud as the kids teased him and he was embarrassed. We were advised it was good for him to practice out loud.
Further, when we asked that his teacher review his homework notebook before and after school to ensure he wrote things down correctly, we were advised he needed to be more responsible and suggested he have a peer review his work. The humiliation was too much. So, we moved him to Churchill Center & School, a school that understands how disabilities impact the whole child and whose curriculum fully encompasses disability awareness and self advocacy.
Bullying a disabled child can be very subtle. When kids would say "why can't you read" or he was forced to read in front of the class, it felt like bullying. But, empowering him through education that Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein were learning disabled inspired him to believe he could be somebody and his disabilities did not limit him.
When he visited websites such as "Disabled World" and watched inspiring videos about those whose disabilities did not limit their possibilities, it inspired him to go for his dreams. When we learn that prior to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 disabled persons were forced to attend separate schools, received no accommodations for physical disabilities on pubic transportation or housing and discovered there were no protections in the work place, it creates empathy and emphasized the importance of basic civil rights.
Our children need to be exposed to the challenges their peers face who sit right next to them in the classroom. My son's disability cannot be seen in his physical appearance. And, you would not know he struggles in school by talking with him. But having his individual needs met and being at a school where his disability is openly discussed, embraced and supported, his self confidence has grown and he has learned to ask for what he needs when he is struggling.
I am hopeful this new curriculum will teach all of Missouri's children in public schools how the history and awareness of disabilities requires us to end the discrimination and bullying that frequents our hallways for disabled kids. And that such education will continue the conversation at home.
Patricia Harrison is an assistant clinical professor of law at St. Louis University School of Law.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/article_81b9a207-d3b6-531c-af86-19c911b3a034.html#ixzz1a6j4VH1B
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