Smart Kids With LD

By Marcia Eckerd, Ph.D.

It’s that time of year when many school systems give end-of-year tests. Don’t be surprised if your child with LD suddenly finds a million excuses to stay home from school.

Test taking is inherently nerve wracking. Having to perform on the spot is stressful for all students, but for children with LD, anticipating that they won’t do well is one more reason to dread this annual rite of spring.

What aspects of test taking are most difficult for your child and does he have the tools or strategies to handle them?

Taking standardized tests is an art. Visual scanning, graphomotor precision, and spatial organization are needed for tracking and marking the answers on bubble sheets. Reading fluency and processing speed are critical to working within the time provided. Children need to be comfortable with the multiple-choice format and know the “tricks of the trade,” (e.g., some items can be eliminated automatically). Math fluency, rapid recall of math facts, and familiarity with operations presented in novel ways are among the demands of math sections.

Some standardized tests have a writing component with strict marking guidelines. Many students with LD struggle with word finding, writing fluency, writing mechanics, and rapid production and elaboration.

Leveling the Playing Field

Hopefully, children with problems in these areas will have accommodations and extra time to ensure that they perform as well as they can.  Following are some strategies that may prove helpful:

1. Some children benefit from a separate test setting to minimize distractions and quell anxiety if they’re still working when others have finished.
2. Like training for a big event, practice tests can lower anxiety by helping a child become used to the testing format and the extended stamina needed.
3. Doing a “post mortem” on classroom tests may provide important insights into areas of difficulty with test taking that can be applied to standardized testing: What went wrong? Did the child know what to study? Was a study guide broken down into enough detail? Did the child read, understand, and follow all directions? Does the child have trouble understanding open ended directions and focus on less important details or miss directions that are not stated, such as the extent of elaboration required or the need for a certain structural format? Are editing skills lowering the grade?
4. Some children need to take tests orally; others might need a rubric to demonstrate what they know.
5. Children with LD may benefit from relaxation techniques. Tests can feel like psychological emergencies. A child who has practiced body relaxation and breathing daily can use breathing to calm himself down, which will allow him to use self talk: “I’ll do the best I can do, and it will be fine.”
6. Finally, and most important, kids with LD need to understand that their performance on standardized tests is not a referendum on who they are or what they’re capable of achieving in the real world. Make sure you let them know that!

Melissa Rey of Chesterfield, MO, already a Top Young Scientist award winner and seasoned educator at the age of 16, has won the 2010 Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities Youth Achievement Award. The award recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of students 19 or younger who have learning disabilities and/or ADHD. Selected from over 150 entrants in the nationwide contest conducted annually by Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Melissa was identified with dyslexia (a reading disability) in first grade. She accepted the $1,000 award at the nonprofit organization’s 10^th Anniversary Benefit at the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT, where she confided, “taking the jumbled letters dancing in my brain and rearranging them into the patterns of words and sentences has been the greatest challenge I have faced.”

A sophomore at Kennedy High School in Manchester, MO, Melissa spent three years shuttling from her regular classroom to the school’s reading specialist, often arriving in tears, as she struggled with the task of learning to read. Learning to break down the process of reading into a series of simple, manageable tasks, she also gained the self-discipline, confidence, and poise that allowed her to triumph over competitors from across the country in the 2008 Discovery Channel 3M Top Young Scientist Challenge. Named one of three finalists after two days of grueling competition at the NASA Goddard Space Center, she performed a science experiment for an audience of 300 people after just five minutes of preparation, while the other finalists wilted under the pressure.

Accepting the award, Melissa told the audience, “When I succeeded in learning how to read, I discovered my secret weapon.” Today, thanks to winning the Discovery Channel’s Top Young Scientist award, she is on a mission to educate other kids about the wonders of science. She conducts webinars for middle-school students across the country, teaching them not only that “science is everywhere, and yes, it is also very cool,” but also that enthusiasm, dedication and an organized approach can help them to overcome any obstacle. In answering their questions, she says, “I often begin by telling them that I have dyslexia and it has taught me that I can face any challenge and win. If I can win, so can they. All they need to do is to discover their own secret weapon.” Read her story at http://www.smartkidswithld.org/success-stories/youth-award-winners/melissa-rey-2010-youth-achievement-award-winner

2010 Junior Achievement Award

William King Barnett, 14, of Encino, CA, an 8^th-grader at Bridges Academy for twice-exceptional (gifted and learning-disabled) students in Studio City, CA was named the winner of the 2010 Junior Achievement Award, for outstanding accomplishments by a student with learning disabilities or ADHD not yet in high school. After struggling to learn to talk, to walk and to develop basic motor skills, William has pushed himself to accomplish goals beyond what anyone thought possible—becoming a proficient pianist, performing leading roles with the Golden Performing Arts Center, writing movie scripts, and composing music.

Honorable Mention winners include:

Gregory Bayliss, 18, of Greenwich, CT, honored for his determination in overcoming a reading disability and ADHD to win recognition both in academics and athletics at the Taft School in Watertown, CT, where he is a senior.

Emily Cassidy, 18, of Westlake, TX for her innovative community service, creating a clothing boutique serving 300+ teen girls in foster care in northern Texas, recognized with a Gold US Congressional Award. She is a senior at Faith Christian School in Westlake.

Ina Herlihy, 17, a senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco, CA for her work as a political journalist and photographer, including covering President Obama’s inauguration as the only high-school student with full press credentials. Her photography may be seen at www.InaHerlihy.com.

Alex Lake, 19, of Roswell, GA, a freshman at Elon University in North Carolina, for conquering a reading disability and ADHD to become a Presidential Scholar, Elon’s Challenge Course Student Director, community volunteer, and Business Fellows Program member.

William Pendleton, 18, of Lawrence, KS, a freshman at Kansas State University, for using the challenge of his disabilities as a springboard to success in academics, music, track, and the creation of an award-winning butterfly habitat—teaching the lessons he has learned to other students.

Ben Waldow, 17, of Beverly Hills, CA for continuing to draw in class to manage his ADHD, despite his teachers’ disapproval. Now a senior at Beverly Hills High School, Ben launched a career in art, inadvertently, by decorating tennis shoes, as well as everything else, with his doodles, and has become a mentor to other students, a minor celebrity at school, and an effective fundraiser through his talent as an artist.

Put some kids who struggle with LD and ADHD on a soccer field, and they will finally feel in control of their environment–able to show off their skills and work off their abundant energy. However, for many others, the soccer field (or any other sports venue) is a place they’d rather avoid at all costs.

Summertime is a perfect time to find the place your child will feel successful, to build confidence by exploring areas of interest in which your child may excel.  A traditional sports camp experience may be perfect should you have a budding athlete, but know that there are many other options available to children and teens over the summer break.  Some kids, who can’t throw a ball but love the outdoors, may enjoy camps that focus on outdoor experiences close to home.  Others may choose to explore  cooking, science, or photography, or classes in drama or the arts. For children who march to the beat of a different drummer, a wilderness camp experience may be the perfect antidote to feelings of fearfulness and inadequacy.

Summer is a wonderful time to build self-esteem through trying out new activities, and with a little bit of luck, they may become the basis for new friendships as well as new skills.

As recent events remind us, school bullying is a significant and pervasive problem in the United States, affecting approximately one in five students, a significant portion of whom are kids with learning disabilities and other special needs.

Heeding the call for action, many states have passed anti-bullying policies. While certainly a step in the right direction, many of these statutes are laws that deal with reporting bullying after the fact. Far too few school districts are taking the steps necessary to prevent bullying from happening in the first place. Why? Because prevention requires a cultural shift that is far more difficult to achieve than simply creating new procedures.

Yet it can be done. Jo Ann Freiberg Ph.D., a well-respected authority on bullying prevention, maintains that the true antidote for bullying is the creation of climates of respect—safe physical, emotional, and intellectual environments that do not tolerate cruelty and mean behaviors.

Read Freiberg’s proposal for what parents, teachers, and administrators can do to foster school environments that reflect climates of respect and join the discussion, sharing with us your thoughts, concerns, and experiences with this important topic.