Fourth graders gain awareness about learning disabilities

From GateHouse News Service in Massachusetts. In the picture, a fourth grader tries write his name while looking in a mirror.

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. — Fourth-graders had to concentrate hard simply to write their names Friday afternoon at Marguerite E. Peaslee School.

The students, with markers poised, looked into a mirror and puzzled over how to make the letters face the right direction as they tentatively spelled their names.

The activity was one of a handful aimed at teaching students about learning disabilities and sensitivity toward those who learn differently. The program, put on by parent volunteers, has been in the district 10 years.

"It's to develop sensitivities to what other students might go through who have a learning disability," said Arlene Shainker, district assistant director of special education. "It's also for them to be reflective about their own learning styles."

The fourth grade gathered in a classroom for a series of exercises led by parent volunteer Ann Taggart.

"Learning disabilities are hidden," Taggart told the youngsters. "You can't really tell when someone has a learning disability."

Taggart listed on the board things students identified as their strengths, like reading, skiing and video games; then their challenges, like book reports, flexibility and hockey.

Several items ended up on both lists.

"What does this tell you?" Taggart asked. "What may be easy for one person, for another could be a challenge."

Taggart showed students a collage of famous people with learning disabilities, and the kids called out the names and pointed to pictures of Michael Jordan, Benjamin Franklin and Whoopi Goldberg.

"A learning disability doesn't mean someone is less intellectual," Taggart said. "They all have strengths and challenges, too."

Students talked about how a brain is like a computer in the way it receives input, processes, stores and gives out information. They also talked about the five senses and how some people learn better by seeing, others by hearing.

Split into groups, the students moved from the classroom to the cafeteria, where they took part in activities that simulated visual-motor and auditory processing, like the mirror-box exercise where they wrote their names.

They also memorized objects on a tray, then had to identify which items were taken away; told stories without using words with the letter "n"; and tried to follow directions that came from an audio recording with lots of background noise.

"All the activities are fun, though challenging," Taggart said. "They get to see that this might be hard for someone who struggles with a learning disability."

Students also heard from an eighth-grader who talked about his experiences with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Colleen Griffin, a fourth-grade teacher, said the program was a wonderful experience for students to see how some kids have trouble processing or remembering information.

"It also makes those children with learning disabilities feel like there are people who truly understand what they're going through, and it helps when they see their classmates understanding them."

Principal Scott Bazydlo said the program showed that disabilities aren't always visible, and the program raised that awareness for students.

"Celebrating differences in each other is a part of our core values," he said.