F.A.T.

City
Problem Ownership

What might this look like for a student with learning disabilities?

Experiencing The teacher asked questions so fast and made the students with LD feel
Frustration and anxiety, because in such short period of time, kids couldnt figure them out.
Anxiety Students with LD think, If I cant see the teacher, then the teacher cant see
me.

Processing SLD have difficult time in processing knowledge, and they take twice of
(Pace) time as everyone does to answer the questions.
Some teachers punished SLD and everyone laughed at them.
The teacher gave a solution to release anxiety: I will only ask you
questions when I am right in front of your table, so you can concentrate on
your learning.

Distraction
Distractibility vs Attention Span

Distractible children pay attention to everything. Attention Span challenged

cannot pay attention.

Risk-taking SLD dont like surprises. They dont know whats coming up, then no
volunteers. They think: If I answer right, they wont say anything. If I say
wrong, theyll make me embarrassment. So, no way I will be volunteer.

Additional Notes:
The teacher provided LD experiences to the educators and citizens in the video, and how frustrating it could be
to deal with their disabilities in the classroom. People need to understand SLDs difficulties and be open to
them. They are not stupid, and they just need more time to comprehend. Theyre learning in a different way.
 General Notes/Suggested Accommodations

When LD doesnt perceive, teachers do one of 4 things:

Visual Encourage to try harder (Look Harder)
Perception Offer to give them something (they still cant do it)
(blurry picture) Take things away from the child (recess, note home)
Blaming the victim (she/hes not trying hard enough)
This is not the motivation problem, but the perception. You can see it but no
meaning of it until I teach you.
Reading We always think that we teach comprehension through vocabulary. If you dont
Comprehension understand vocabulary, you cannot understand the paragraph.
(two stories, one But in the first story, people knew all vocabulary but didnt understand the
with known paragraph.
vocab, one In the second story, people didnt know the vocabulary at all but they could
without) understand. That means comprehension has much more to do with background
than it does with vocabulary. People are trained to understand under the
instruction.
Visual I didnt know what I did wrong. The teacher thought my answer was funny. Kids
Perception (title responded what they perceived, but the teacher decided whats the stimuli.
for a story) Misperception of stimulus leads to misunderstanding.
Visual Motor Trace the shape in the mirror. Its not personal. Writing process is difficult.
(handwriting in a
mirror)

Oral Expression Dysnomia. The brain works as storage and retrieval. But after SLD store the
(story without the information, they cannot get them out. Or some of them can retrieve them, use
letter n) them, and then restore it into the wrong place.
Regular students can do several associated things but only one cognitive thing at
a time. SLD can do only one cognitive thing at a time. Thats why they cannot
take notes because listening is a task to them, and they cannot do many tasks at a
time.
Reading and Letters like p, d, b and q have the same shape but different orientations. Students
Decoding with LD tried to decode what was in the text but not actually understand it.
(story with How many times should we ever tell SLD that a task they cant do is easy.
interchangeable If the teacher didnt give them enough time to understand and pushed them to
pdbq) answer, they would feel anxiety.

Auditory and
Visual SLD think, I read it, but I dont know how to do it.
Capabilities Some kids cant understand through their eyes but need to hear a story.
(story understood
by listening)

What is fairness?
Kids learn from what they see, not what they are told to do. Adults have concept of honesty, truth, liberty and
patriotism. Most classrooms are run based on kids concept of honest. Fairness, doesnt mean that everyone gets
the same, just that everyone gets what they need. Students with LD fear to treat them differently.