0:12 meet Dan he describes himself as a
0:15 pretty well-rounded student some of the
0:18 strengths but I have our being athletic
0:21 I really got a hands-on stuff and
0:24 another strength is I'm organized and
0:29 responsible and I'm confident and I'm
0:32 beginning to become more independent for
0:34 myself and for my learning and dan has
0:37 quite a bit of learning ahead he's just
0:39 been accepted to University and helps to
0:41 go to Teachers College but learning
0:43 hasn't been easy for Dan he has learning disabilities
0:44 disabilities
0:46 problems with expressive and receptive
0:49 language which deals with auditory
0:51 learning so
0:55 let's see for instance in class if the teachers
0:55 teachers
0:58 saying something like verbally and I'm
1:01 trying to write down notes it just goes
1:02 through one year and goes out the other
1:05 so it's it's hard Dan's mom had concerns
1:07 when he was just a toddler because
1:09 Daniel wasn't speaking he didn't go
1:11 through that para Teen face
1:15 so at about two and a half we went to
1:18 speech therapists and he was he was then
1:20 diagnosed then with a speech delay but
1:22 it was an elementary teacher who
1:24 suggested a formal evaluation she
1:27 recognized some of those delays I always
1:28 knew because he had the speech they
1:30 always knew you know it was going to
1:32 impact his learning to what degree I
1:34 didn't know and to be honest with you I
1:36 was always very hopeful thinking you
1:38 know what maybe it's not going to
1:40 manifest itself into a learning
1:42 disability maybe it's just a speech
1:45 delay so again you're hopeful a bit of denial
1:46 denial
1:49 when she approached me and said no he's
1:51 still having learning difficulties we
1:53 want to bring him forward I had to trust
1:56 her I knew that as much as you know you
1:58 leave your child in their care
2:00 physically you have to leave them in
2:02 their cares while emotionally mentally
2:05 and all of that so I trusted her she was
2:07 actually very very good so what are
2:09 learning disabilities learning
2:12 disabilities affect the way individuals
2:14 take in information
2:17 - it remember it understand it and use
2:18 it in some way it's probably the easiest
2:21 way to explain it their
2:23 neurodevelopmental and that it's just
2:25 the way the brain has formed the way
2:29 it's developed and and as such that's
2:32 the way they learn for life there's
2:34 different levels of severity a student
2:36 with learning disability has average to
2:39 above-average potential to learn so
2:41 their intellectual ability is is
2:44 well-developed it's solid but along with
2:46 that there are one or more areas of
2:48 processing that impact on their ability
2:51 to show that potential whether it be in
2:54 the classroom in terms of their oral
2:57 language they're reading their writing
3:00 their math organization skills social
3:03 skills those that's how it would be
3:06 impacting for them when you diagnose a
3:07 learning disability are taking a lot of
3:09 information into consideration you're
3:12 making sure that it's not an English
3:14 language learning issue that it's not a
3:16 vision or a hearing issue that it's not
3:19 because they haven't had access to
3:22 instruction or they haven't had them of
3:24 the right type of instruction for them
3:26 and it's not that there's been a missed
3:29 opportunity for learning here are some
3:31 first steps to nurture the potential
3:32 first of all
3:34 understanding what a learning disability is
3:36 is
3:39 understanding the importance of the IEP
3:43 we absolutely know that that's an area
3:44 we have to work on and
3:47 ensuring that that they understand the
3:49 importance of accommodations that are in
3:53 the IEP that understanding the student
3:55 that with whom they're working that that
3:58 student you know really has tremendous
4:00 strengths that students with learning
4:02 disabilities have average to
4:04 above-average intelligence and that IEP
4:07 and those accommodations are crucial to
4:09 their success so who plays a role in
4:11 supporting the learner has to be a team
4:13 approach we all have to be committed to
4:15 the fact that students can learn just
4:17 some students learn differently may take
4:19 longer they may need technology they may
4:21 need whatever but they can learn we just
4:23 need to find the key and unlock it the
4:26 team has to include the parents as well
4:29 and we all need to to work together to
4:32 find out what's the best way to reach
4:33 the student so the parent and the
4:35 student will consult about their
4:38 individual education plan we review that
4:40 then we share it with the classroom
4:43 teachers the special education staff and
4:45 I have fabulous department here special
4:47 education staff they will work with the
4:49 teachers to say okay this is the the
4:51 area of weakness for the student here's
4:53 the supports that we can provide so it's
4:55 a team approach and then the classroom
4:57 teacher as well as the cert so the
4:59 special education resource teacher as
5:01 well as the cert will remain in contact
5:02 with the student with the parent and
5:05 it's a team approach and then and then
5:07 the students generally do a lot better
5:09 just talking with parents whether on the
5:13 phone or in person is vital so that you
5:15 can even kind of you know dig deeper
5:16 with the students so I find that very
5:18 important I think the consistency is is
5:20 really important for a student and once
5:22 they they see that in different classes
5:25 it really helps them feel safe and
5:26 supported and that they know people are
5:29 you know advocating for them as well
5:31 when you understand how you learn that
5:35 you have strengths some areas that you
5:37 have more difficulty with but that
5:39 there's a plan for success that there
5:41 are things that help you and there are
5:45 people who can help you when needed then
5:47 they feel empowered to learn and they
5:49 when they're given that message of
5:51 competence we see a significant
5:53 difference in how they're able to take
5:55 on their learning I've been asking my
5:57 teacher for an outline of what's gonna be
5:58 be
6:01 mentioned in class also an outline for
6:05 tests so I can plan ahead so I'm working
6:08 on my time management skills too and
6:12 also I've been self advocating for my
6:15 teachers to scan my tests on the laptop
6:18 which has been very useful and it's been
6:20 helping me he lets teachers know this is
6:22 what I need and this is why I need it
6:25 and so he's taken on my role meet Alyssa
6:28 she's in university and has a part-time
6:32 job I feel so proud of myself I've come
6:35 so far and that's really difficult for a
6:35 lot of students with learning
6:37 disabilities to feel proud of themselves
6:39 I think because they're always comparing
6:42 themselves to other students so I owe
6:43 found that growing up there's a lot of
6:45 negatives that came with my learning
6:47 disability the fact that I'm extremely
6:51 disorganized the fact that I don't have
6:53 a great concept when it comes to numbers
6:55 you know if somebody were to say this
6:57 house is so much dollars I wait for
7:00 their expression and then I go oh man
7:01 that's too much or oh wow that's really
7:03 cheap because I don't have the greatest
7:06 concept for that so different little
7:07 things like that I hide out of haven't
7:10 had to create really good skills to
7:12 cover for that so always having people
7:14 make decisions for me since I was in
7:17 grade two and being diagnosed out of
7:20 habit I became very vocal I'm very firm
7:21 with what I needed to say in order to
7:23 get my point across because there was a
7:25 lot of people making decisions for me or
7:28 I became even over organizational if
7:31 that's a word just
7:33 because I want to make sure that I had
7:36 everything in my grass so working hard
7:39 abstain after hours and it's sometimes
7:40 it's quite discouraging to see that I
7:42 get the same mark as another student
7:43 after I stayed up half the night
7:45 studying but I know that I work so hard
7:49 so I've created this really great work
7:51 ethic out of my learning disability I've
7:53 also become very empathetic to other
7:54 people who are struggling through things
7:57 while student achievement is a goal so
7:59 is well-being for our students with
8:01 learning disabilities that the sense of
8:03 well-being is extremely important and
8:05 we've come to understand this year in
8:08 our work with a research and focus
8:10 groups students shared with us the the
8:13 importance that you know of feeling a
8:16 sense of well-being of feeling welcome
8:18 in a school and they very much brought
8:21 forward the this whole idea of stigma
8:22 how they feel about having a learning
8:25 disability what they think others think
8:29 about them and so we really have to
8:32 address that that sense of comfort with
8:33 them understanding their learning
8:35 disability and reduce the stigma and I
8:37 think once we address that that whole
8:38 issue of stigma I think a lot of other
8:40 things will take care of themselves here
8:42 are some tips that could make a
8:45 difference commitment gotta have it
8:47 because when you have commitment and you
8:49 know I'm going to ensure that this this
8:53 child is going to learn you will go the
8:55 hundred yards to see that it happens and
8:58 try and create the conditions that will
9:00 will allow them to be successful please
9:02 share you know the good things first I
9:05 think parents recognize what the kids
9:06 can't do well let them know what they
9:09 can do we just learned differently weird
9:13 like any other student it's just we have
9:15 different strategies than others well
9:18 pretty much everybody my opinion has
9:20 their own learning disability because I
9:24 know this in class see people on laptops
9:26 which is a good strategy I see people
9:29 writing see people listening using their
9:31 phones everybody has a different way of
9:33 learning I think feels so out of control
9:35 when you have a learning disability I
9:37 mean people are doing things for you you
9:39 can't edit your own work all that stuff
9:40 is going on and you feel so out of
9:42 control so to pull that child aside and
9:45 say listen I'm here for you I want you
9:48 to succeed what can I do to help you
9:50 learn and create a lesson plan and that
9:52 may mean that their due dates are a
9:54 little bit longer we make a special
9:56 schedule for them or that if they fail
9:59 their first test we refine and see what
10:01 they what they did wrong and then we
10:02 have them take the test again which is
10:04 great because that's what learning is
10:06 all about is refining and taking those
10:09 extra steps so should just show that you
10:11 really see what they're going through
10:13 and you want to help them succeed that
10:18 message of competence and confidence for
10:21 our students for their families for
10:25 teachers to have those expectations to
10:28 make sure that they have access to this
10:31 the skills instruction that they need
10:33 that would help them be successful that
10:35 we understand the compensatory
10:38 strategies that we we know that profile
10:40 so we look at those strengths and we
10:42 know that we can use that help them use
10:44 those strengths to compensate for those
10:46 areas that are that are weaker for them
10:49 to help them be successful we can help
10:51 them learn to advocate that's a so
10:53 essential that they understand their
10:55 unique profile of strengths and needs
10:58 and they know what helps them so they
11:00 can be more successful a student with an
11:03 LD not only can learn they want to learn
11:07 and we just need to connect with them
11:09 and just be patient but they're amazing and
11:11 and
11:13 let's just shift our thinking they are
11:17 as bright as any other student and
11:19 once we know that they can learn and
11:21 once they know we know that about them
11:23 you'll see amazing things in your
11:25 classroom for more information contact
11:27 your board's student services or your
11:29 local chapter of the learning
