Understanding Teachers Make “All the Difference” for a High School Student with Dyslexia
At the start of the year, I introduce myself and my lodging. I believe it’s important for my teachers to know why I benefit from something that most of the kids in my class don’t use. The game changers for me include:
Carter Grace Duncan is a freshman in a Northern Virginia public high school. She is a youth advocate for Decoding Dyslexia Virginia who loves sharing her knowledge with students about lodging in college can help create a pathway to achievement with disabilities.
I believe I am lucky to have been surrounded by teachers who worked hard to make sure I was able to be as powerful as my peers.
Teachers really do make all the difference!
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This means that it takes me more time to take tests. Knowing that I answer the questions correctly and can work hard is very helpful for me. I would like to be able to show my teacher what I know. Any word can be decoded by me after my remediation; it just takes me some time if it’s a word that is harder to do it. If I am stuck, I would like to ask for help to have the word or phrase read to me. It makes me more comfortable in class to know that if I get stuck, my teacher will know that I actually need the help.
It helps to be on my own or in a smaller group. If I am taking a test with the course I would get to the next issue and someone next to me is finished with the test since they can read it. I’d like to be able do my best and to focus on the content. At times, I use an app to alter a handout to a readable PDF and then ear read it, if I want to. My iPad has if I want it. I don’t get the curriculum exactly but the system in place now works well for me.
I am dysgraphic, too. That means it’s hard for me to put my ideas onto paper. I learn best by listening to the instructor and then practicing what I have learned. It is very hard for me to listen to and copy things from the board or write down things as the teacher is talking. I take notes, but I miss a lot. The teacher’s notes help me make sure that I don’t miss anything when I am analyzing.
This accommodation makes me feel comfortable in class. It feels terrible if I believe I might be called on to read out loud without knowing what I will read. If my teacher wants me to read something, they will just tell me before and I will practice first. I am a fantastic reader now, but I still get nervous when I have to read out loud. Messing up on a word like ‘began’ feels bad in a classroom filled with my classmates. That’s what dyslexia will do to me.
With the support of my teachers, my parents and my lodging, I’ve created a learning environment for myself. Because I want to work very hard to get the academic success I’ve had, I don’t take anything for granted. I appreciate my teachers that have made an effort to know my lodging and me.
Actually, they could make or break a child’s entire school year by knowing what lodging in a 504 Plan or an individualized education program (IEP) can do to help a person like me that works every day to overcome the impact of dyslexia, dysgraphia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
I have had a 504 Plan since the fourth grade. It’s encouraged me through middle school school and now .
(Cross-posted in the OSERS blog.)
A teacher can make the difference between a good day and a bad one.
Source: TPd Paying for College Feed
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