When we think of "fearfully and wonderfully made" we tend to selfishly think of ourselves. We look at children who struggles in learning as "they have learning disabilities" and it is always said in a sad hushed tone. What happened to fearfully and wonderfully made and God makes no mistakes and rejoicing in every child's uniqueness. "Learning disabilities" is not a mistake, a curse, something that dooms children. We are not to look at them with pity and treat them like there is something really wrong with them. They are to never be treated like, they are just not as smart as the rest of us or belittled or condescended if they have something to say because they are "learning disabled" and can't possibly say anything intelligent or of value. You may think, "I would never do that." The reality is most people do without realizing it.
I have hated the term "learning disability" for years because it is not accurate in meaning. That is why I put it in quotes. It is a term that pious academia termed and it stuck to the horror of every child that struggles in school. Children are not learning disabled. The term, if broken down, is unable or not able to learn and that is just not true. Educators typically do not mean what the word means because if they did then why bother to teach these children. I do think they partially mean what the word means because their expectation for these children are extremely low. Their goal is to make sure they are functioning as adults and that is a low expectation. I think a more accurate term is a child having learning challenges. A challenge is nothing to get down about because life is full of challenges. A challenge can be overcome or conquered. The goal with learning challenges is to overcome them. It is to thrive and excel in any field that the child wants to enter as an adult. That is way higher than a functioning adult.
Here is an analogy - runners in a race. The Olympics is this summer and it would be a great time to show your discouraged child this as it is happening. There are several races that the runner runs. The 100 yd dash is just running as fast as he can to the finish line. This is compared to the child who has no learning challenges. There is another race where there are hurdles that the runners have to jump. Their time isn't as fast as the first race because they had to jump the hurdles. This is the child with learning challenges. When the runner was first learning to jump hurdles I don't think it was graceful or very fast. A child with learning challenges has to learn to compensate for the challenge they face whether it is dyslexia, auditory processing, autism or whatever the challenge is. As they learn to compensate they are jumping the hurdle so to speak. The more proficient they get at compensating the faster they jump the hurdle until it is a non issue for them. Sometimes they will still get tripped up just like the professional runner can trip on a hurdle but it is just a trip not a defeat.
I have learning challenges of dyslexia with some auditory processing, I am a teacher, and I have two sons that have learning challenges one has dyslexia and the other has auditory processing and two sons with no learning challenges. As I said in the beginning, children are fearfully and wonderfully made ( PS 139:14). Your child has learning challenges. God doesn't make a mistake. He gave them a gift. Children if taught it is a challenge they will be learning so many wonderful skills to use in life. They will be hard working, not quick to give up, and when they see a challenge they won't walk away but attack it because they will be able to think outside of the box. These characteristics are great in every area of life. No matter what happens in their life they will have the skills to handle it. If they are constantly told they have learning disabilities, they will be defined by it and be limited by it. Those that are taught it is just a learning challenge will be shaped by it but not defined by it. They will become like the runners in the Olympics that fly over the hurdles with ease and can learn and do anything in life.
Every child needs examples to look up to. Please do not have them listen to any celebrity that say "I have dyslexia and school was too hard and I dropped out but now I am joining up to help dyslexic children" just turn them off. Have them look up to someone like Thomas Edison who today would probably have been diagnosed with dyslexia. His mother took him out of school and home schooled him and no one would ever guess he would be considered having "learning disabilities". He was not defined by his challenges. He overcame them and we are grateful that he did. Modern day person for girls would be Meryl Davis, the Olympic winner in ice dancing who is dyslexic. She is in college and her minor is Italian. Most dyslexic children get told "forget foreign languages because you have learning disabilities". I was told that and yet Meryl is minoring in Italian. That is someone to look up to and be inspired by. She could drop out of college and no one would blame her because she can make a good living skating and yet she is going to finish her undergrad then go for her masters. Albert Einstein would probably today be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and look at all he accomplished with the formula for relativity. Look for people that inspire children to have grit and determination and give them hope that they can be anything they want to be.
Every child learns differently. As a teacher or a parent it is our job to discover how they learn so we can help them compensate. One of my sons is very hands on, so guess how I teach him with a lot of manipulative. The other son needs to visualize the concept, so I make sure he can see math concepts in a concrete visual way. I have him, with grammar, visually see nouns, act out verbs, describe a nouns to understand adj., and explain how the verb is preformed to understand adverbs. I have found labeling sentences is better for him then diagramming as he gets confused with the process. We will go back to diagramming when he is ready for it. It is about understanding your child and helping him jump the hurdles. Pray for your child that God would help him. Pray for God to give you wisdom on how to help him or teach him. Have your child read a chapter in the Bible and narrate it back to you. It may take time for them to read it but narrating is the best thing they can do. Narration not only helps them comprehend what they read but put their thoughts in order in their mind to be able to re-tale it to you. Narration is a skill so it will be rough in the beginning but they will get better and better the more they do it.
As a parent be you child's biggest cheerleader, encourage them when they get discourage, and believe they really can be anything they want to be. The best coaches in the world have to do that with their runners that trip and fall for the 100th time that day over the same hurdle. The coach sees the potential in his runner and is determined to develop it.
I was not taught, growing up, that dyslexia and auditory processing is just a challenge. I was taught it is a learning disability and even worse, my brother was gifted and talented. I had a mom that worked hard with me throughout my schooling. I read and narrated the Bible. The switch in my view was in the eighth grade. There was a math test to see who would get into the 1/2 algebra class and I missed it by a point. I begged my teacher and assistant principal to let me in the class because I wanted for the first time to be in the advance class and not the slow class. It meant so much to me. She let me in the class. I was on the honor roll throughout 8th - 12th grade. In 8th or 9th grade I won 1st in my science project and the school thought my dad, who is an engineer, wrote it but I wrote it and no one could believe it. I ended up going to Nationals with my project. Once a child gains the vision that their challenges can't hold them back and they can jump over the hurdles don't underestimate them. They can accomplish anything. Be aware of one thing, it is hard to break peoples mindset. If they know you or your child was labeled "learning disabled" and you accomplish so much they will still view you as "learning disabled". Don't be discourage because you are not responsible for what they think. You just need to move on and continue to grow.
You may be wondering if as an adult that has learned to compensated do I still get tripped up. Yes, I do. Not very often in everyday life. I still get left and right mixed up when giving directions, to the irritation of my husband. Sometimes he has to be like James Bond driving. :) I trip up the most learning new languages as it hits the hurdle section of the race but I have the skills to compensate and I apply them to the new language and set my mind to determination to learn it. I know it will get learned, it will just take time. I use to loathe reading and now I am an avid reader. I love science, math, history, engineering, design (architecture, furniture, clothes, cars, motorcycles), technology. I love learning. I am always researching something, whether something I am studying in the Bible, historical events, new technology, or reading medical journal articles. I refuse to be defined by my challenges they have shaped me by gaining all the characteristics I mentioned get learned with learning challenges. People have no idea I even have learning challenges and I have dealt with CEOs of companies, movie directors, high up investors. The only way anyone knows is if I tell them; they are shocked to hear it and that is as it should be. That is what your goal is for you, if you have learning challenges, or your child. You and your child start looking at those learning challenges and start jumping those hurdles and soar!!!
