A Must Read Story

Let’s start with James. James has always had trouble learning in class. He would try to do what the teacher asked, but it was just never correct. So James started arguing with the teacher, saying his answers are accurate and refusing to do them over.

What James doesn’t understand is that he has a disability that makes it difficult for him to understand what the questions are asking. So instead of looking stupid, he tries to act like he knows it all in front of everyone, and it’s the teacher that is dumb.

Then there is Sara. Sara has ADHD. That means that it is like a lot of colored ping pong balls bouncing around in her head. Just imagine that there are red, green, yellow, blue balls bouncing around, and each one is a piece of information. All the red ones have math information, the blue reading, green science, yellow social studies. Now without ADHD, they would fit together according to information, but not when you have ADHD; they get all mixed up. Now all this bouncing makes Sara nervous and anxious, so she can’t sit still and focus. She’s out of her seat, bothering, James, Charlie, or anyone. Then Sara gets diagnosed and is given medicine. Now things start to fall in place, but because of all the bouncing, she has gaps in her learning. So she still has to struggle.

Now there is Sally. She has some very unique problems that she was born with. She looks like everyone else, but her body isn’t. She was born with very weak muscles and very poor coordination and a processing issue due to speech. Sally did not walk or talk at the age most children do. Sally was very delayed by maybe two or more years. The weak muscles cause Sally to tire very easily, and even simple writing can tire her. Her poor coordination makes it difficult for her to walk, run, hop, skip like everyone else. Because of these issues, she was often made fun of and therefore had trouble making friends.

Angie is a sweet, intelligent girl that has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum. What does that mean? Well, there are certain behaviors that she can’t control. She needs clear answers -not things like in a little while, and it must be specific – like in 15 minutes. She will repeat things until she understands. She will go up to the teacher asking questions even when the teacher is working with someone else because she isn’t aware of that person. She is only able to focus on her needs.

Sam and Johnny are brothers. It’s very hard for Johnny to have his brother in the same class, especially when Sam sometimes does better than him. Johnny and Sam have moved a lot and been in many different schools. So when they were in School 1 they were learning one thing, but School 2 was passed that and learning something else, now school three is passed both 1 and 2, so Sam and Johnny have many gaps. It’s like building a foundation without all the blocks – a very shaky house.

Last is Charlie. Charlie is a very hyper young man. He wants to do a good job but has a hard time focusing. He gets agitated when others do better and acts out by becoming fresh, mean, and disrespectful. He doesn’t want anyone to know he is struggling. He has trouble remembering things like the time table but won’t admit it. He puts on his bossy attitude instead.

Since every student is different and learns differently, they were having a very difficult time in school. The school system wants everyone to learn the way and in the same amount of time. Well, this wasn’t working for Sally, Angie, Sara, Sam, Johnny, Charlie or James.

Charlie, James, and Sara were often in trouble and failing. Sally and Angie were made fun of or bullied. Sam and Johnny were just ignored and left behind.

They were fortunate because their parents loved and cared enough about them to put them in a special private school. Now they have to care enough to get along and do their best. They’ve been given a special opportunity.