Dear Teachers,
My former child and teenage self wanted to share something with you about homework. Something that may help you assign homework that will educate kids like me. You see, I have a learning disability. I was diagnosed with one in kindergarten, but I wasn’t given an exact diagnosis. In adulthood I discovered it was something called NLD, Nonverbal Learning Disorder. Do any of your current students have it? My verbal IQ is so high that people expect me to do pretty well at everything, but a lot of my nonverbal skills are not very strong and cause me to struggle.
When I was in high school, I really felt how important it is to effectively teach students with learning disabilities. We had such great skills we could use to contribute to society and having to think in a different way gave us an important perspective to share with others. I know effectively teaching kids like me is challenging. So I thought I could help, since I’ve been there before as a student.
I didn’t look like I was struggling with most of my school work. I come off as intelligent and likable, and I always finished all my assignments. Some of your NLD students might be like me. So what can be done to help these bright students succeed at homework?
Here is a big thing to remember; as a person with NLD, each day of my life is filled with more mental and physical challenges than a day for most people without learning disabilities. Imagine what adding a challenging homework assignment can do to a child at the end of a challenging day. Sometimes, it pushes them over the edge to anxiety. As a student, I always did the same amount of homework as all my peers, but I spent more hours on it than a child should and I wasn’t learning as much from these long assignments as I could have been. Having shorter assignments in all subjects would have helped me learn from my homework. For example, some people with NLD have trouble with reading comprehension.
It is important for every child to improve their reading comprehension, but narrowing the work into doable chunks would have been much more affective for me. Have the NLD student read a few pages themselves (the number decided on ahead of time), then allow for books on tape (or iPod) to catch the NLD student up to their peers.
One subject that was, and is, very hard for me is math. It took me a lot longer to go through each math problem than anyone else I knew. I would have learned math more easily if I were given fewer problems to do each night. Because of my strong verbal skills, I would have benefited if there were step-by-step directions – in words, not pictures – written down next to each problem. I would have then gone through the problem on my own, following the verbal directions. Five problems in a new concept a night would have been enough to start out for me. It is important for each child to be challenged to learn, but each child is different. Work with the NLD child to find the amount of homework problems that they can do before becoming overwhelmed.
When assigning projects, leave space for students to be creative in their own way. When I was in middle school, we were given an assignment to make a Holocaust remembrance monument. Many students built things out of materials in their homes. I put together a “radio spot” monument. I recorded myself reading a speech I had written while playing a favorite song about making mistakes and learning in the background. This allowed me to do my project in words, the area I felt most comfortable.
I hope these suggestions help to make a happy classroom for you and your students who learn through words.
Sincerely,
Adult Anna Super
Anna is a freelance writer, taking on projects as varied as stories about her ups and downs with NLD and dyscalculia to copywriting projects that help businesses and organizations connect their products and services to their customers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in journalism from Keene State College and was a staff reporter at the former newspapers The Connecticut Valley Spectator and the Argus Champion. Through her writing, Anna hopes to bring more awareness to learning disabilities, especially the little known ones she has, and help others with learning disabilities succeed in their lives. Anna can be reached at Anna.Super01@gmail.com.