LD Awareness Month

"Dear Grandma and Grandpa," I wrote. "I felt like writing you, but I couldn't think of much letter-talk… I mean besides the fact that it is snowing. School is fine. So is Girl Scouts. And, of course, I love and miss you. But, I still want to write you a nice long letter. So, I decided to write you about my life."

The big problem

Well, I've got jumbled memories of being scolded because of my sloppiness… of being moved next to a girl with neat writing to teach me neatness… of taking scissors, cutting up my lunch sandwich… of cutting a fringe around my spelling paper… of wondering why everyone didn't have their crayons broken up… of being lost in a big city on a field trip.

The bad day

I suppose this day started as usual. Barbara, our next door neighbor, started taking me to school. I don't remember any of these walks. Then I entered. I sat down at my desk.

I sat and sat and sat. I wiggled. I remember raising my hand. The teacher called on me. I stood up. "I'm tired of just sitting here," I said.

"Well," she told me. "You're a big girl now. You have to sit and pay attention to learn." I sat down.

Came reading. I did the paper. It was especially neat. So the teacher gave me a 100 percent. I felt so happy and wanted it to look pretty so I took a pair of scissors and fringed it. The class let the teacher know. She tore it up. I wasn't happy.

The next lesson was worse. So, the teacher moved me by Robin, the "little peanut," I called her gaily, for she was quite small. Robin was very neat. She pulled out her workbook. The pages were white–not like my pages. All of mine were smeared and sweated. I had asked and asked for another workbook, but the answer was always, "No."

Soon it was lunch. We lined up. I tried to line up. I tried to line up behind Martha. The reason was, I thought she was quite pretty. I wish she'd pay attention to me. But then, no one else did.

You can read the rest of Dale's letter to her grandparents here.  Finish reading about her bad day.  Then learn about what makes a good day for a child who knows she is different than everyone else.

October is Learning Disabilities Awareness Month. 

And there's no shortage of workshops available to on relevant issues.  Whether you need to know more about the Program Planning Process and Assistive Technology or, perhaps on the slightly more practical side, you seek information on positive parenting, how a learning disability affects a child's behaviour or teaching social skills, they've got it covered. 

Teaching social skills ... now there's a workshop we could really use at my house.  Where's that sign up sheet?