Reflections on a New School Year

This is straight out of the
LD OnLine Newsletter, hope you enjoy!

AUGUST 2008

SEPTEMBER THOUGHTS: REFLECTIONS ON A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

As the summer winds down and the days get shorter, people in the LD OnLine community think about the new school year. Rick Lavoie wrote September Thoughts: Reflections on a New School Year exclusively for LD OnLine. He tells teachers timeless truths about the importance of their work with troubled children -- the "Saturday kids" -- kids who are confident and competent on Saturdays, summers, and school vacations, but are frightened and frustrated when they enter the classroom.

This article will inspire and inform parents, and help professionals and people with learning disabilities themselves. Lavoie uses the acronym SEPTEMBER. Here are some key points:

S -- Squeaky wheel: The squeaky wheel gets the grease, because the squeaky wheel needs the grease.
E -- Every child is motivated in a different way: So teachers must use a variety of approaches.
P -- Performance inconsistency: Learning problems come and go. The child can do the task one day, but can't do it the next. Don't blame the child if he can't do something you painstakingly taught him the day before. The inconsistency is beyond his control.
T -- Troubled kids: The pain that a troubled child causes is never greater than the pain that she feels. Kids need love the most when they deserve it the least.
E -- Entrusted, so act in loco parentis: Rick Lavoie reminds teachers to give their students the dignity and respect they would want for their own children.
M -- Multidisciplinary education doesn't work: Instead, Rick Lavoie suggests trans-disciplinary meetings in which professionals and parents discuss the child with a spirit of cooperation and collegiality.
B -- Bad vs. dumb: Children, particularly adolescents, prefer to be viewed as a bad kid rather than a dumb kid. So, Rick Lavoie says, "If a child is acting consistently 'bad,' reflect for a moment: Are your approaches and activities making him look 'dumb'?"
E -- Each year is a new year: Give each child a clean slate and let him or her start afresh in your classroom.
R -- Reward direction, not perfection: Progress may be plodding, but you must recognize and reinforce each step toward the target behavior.