Learning Disabilities, Continued

Kids and teens with LD will find useful information here. They can find e-pals and even connect with college students with LD who serve as mentors.

Celebrity Quiz

Take a quiz on famous people with learning disabilities at LD Online. Click here.

“No, No!

I Don’t Want to Go!”

Hear kids at the Lab School in Washington, DC talk about what it feels like to go to school when you can’t read. Then see the kids make a short claymation film about a teacher who’s “all wet.” Click here.

From Adolescent to Adult

Sharon Townsend wrote this online parent handbook titled Transition and Your Adolescent with Learning Disabilities: Moving from High School to Postsecondary Education, Training, and Employment. She dedicated the book to her son, who “has learned, as has his mother, that dreams can and do come true—they just have to be accommodated.” Click here.

Heterogeneity

One of the challenges in the learning disabilities field is that characteristics vary widely from one student to the next. One student has a reading disability, the next has a math disability. One is highly gifted, the next has average intelligence. Recognizing various subtypes of learning disabilities is essential to addressing the needs of these students. Helpguide.org provides an easy-to-follow table that describes nine subtypes of learning disabilities. The website also provides a good overview of other issues associated with learning disabilities. Click here.

Video for Kids

The Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario produced this short video to help kids understand learning disabilities. Click here.

LD or BD?

The emotional aspects of learning disabilities are the topics of these videos. Anxiety over failure and teasing or bullying by other kids can make these students feel trapped.

Click here for video 1.

Click here for video 2.

The ABC’s of You

The music clip, which is used with permission, is from “The ABC’s of You” written by Kathy and Red Grammer and performed by Fran Friedman. Click here for lyrics.

“I’m Not Lazy.

I’m Not Stupid.

I’m Dyslexic!”

The author of those words did not come to this conclusion until adulthood. Henry Winkler, who some of you remember as the Fonz from “Happy Days,” realized he had dyslexia in 1976 after narrating the film “Everybody Has a Song” about kids with learning disabilities. He says he felt as though he was reaching without grasping as he went through school. Today, he has grasped many of his goals. Not only is he a producer and actor, but he is also a co-author with Lyn Oliver of the well-loved Hank Zipzer series about a mischievous boy with dyslexia.

“You have greatness within you . . . It’s your job to figure out what your gift is—to dig down deep within yourself, get it, and give it to the world.”

Henry Winkler’s advice to kids with dyslexia

Click here for Today Show Video.

Click here for Winkler’s 1988 speech.

Click here for an excerpt from one of his books.

Click here to find his books in Learning Disabilities Literature. (Text version coming soon.)

Technology Resources

Freedom Scientific has created WYNN, a software screen-reading program designed specifically for people with reading disabilities. Their Test Talker program reads tests to students. Learn more and receive a free demo at their website. Click here.

Do you have a writing disability? Nuance has developed Dragon Naturally Speaking, to “turn talk into type.” See a demo at the website. Click here.

Learn more in this video called Working Together: Computers and People with Learning Disabilities developed at the University of Washington. Click here.

8 Wishes

Paul Sanchez rode his bike around the US to benefit kids with LD. Click here.

Resources

Text versions of Amazon.com resources coming soon.

Click here for Amazon.com academic and social resources.

Click here for Amazon.com literature and film resources.

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