One in six children have a learning disorder. Did you know that; do you even know what that means in the grand plethora of schemes? It means 16% of school age children have a learning disability. Still not feeling the magnitude of the numerals? In John's school alone of the 800 students, 128 have a learning disorder. So in the average class size of say 25, roughly 4 students will have a learning disability.
Of course it's easy to throw out numbers, stats and raw information. It removes the personal facet of the reality of these children. Learning disability, LD! Some have suggested it's merely the PC label for thick or dumb, or horror of horrors, retard (a personal 'favorite'). I have known supposed "retarded" autistic children who wear GPS tracker anklets to know where every pair of scissors in theirs and three neighboring houses are. John can tell you anything you would ever need to know about Dinosaurs and Pokemon. Jacob used the word delusional correctly in a sentence this evening...he's 11. Focused and tunnel vision, perhaps, retarded...hardly?
We all carry aspects of a learning disability within us. They're called strengths and weaknesses; remember prospective employers ask about both all the time. I think about the incredibly gifted people in my life who struggle with something as basic as contractions and homonyms because in our day LD was "thick," "stupid," "retarded," or "slow." My LD kids work a bit harder than the other 84% do, but I suspect there are parts of my 1 in 6 babies that 84% relish. After all, who else can know the solar system in such intimate detail as John....when he was 4? Next time you want to attack someone because their there, their, they're isn't perfect, or where, were, we're is off you'll remember this and stop yourself. 1 in 6 is not thick, we just think differently. So did Newton.
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