Dyslexia and Education

My biggest frustration as a dyslexic is being misunderstood.

Dyslexia isn’t just a reading disorder.
Dyslexia can be really different for every person. It’s genetic. My brother has trouble with math. He doesn’t think in terms of value. He thinks in stories. To him, two didn’t stand for anything, it just was.
I have trouble writing essays. It takes me a really long time to organize my thoughts. The best tool for me is free writing. I’ll write for twenty minutes anything that comes into my head, related or not, and I don’t stop until I’ve got at least two pages. And from there I can more easily organize my thoughts.
But I didn’t know any of that going through high school, and I got really frustrated because I was trying so hard and everyone said I needed to apply myself more.
After finding out I’m dyslexic, and looking back at my education I felt so misguided. I had been trying to fit into a system that was designed for one specific type of person. But I’m great the way I am. My brain works differently than other people’s but that doesn’t make me disabled, I have skills in areas a lot of people don’t. Maybe I’m not the best writer, but I read outside of school often, and if I have something to say I can say it. If it’s MY education why do I have so little say in it?

(Sir ken Robinson said things at his Ted Talk that relate to this “Do schools kill creativity?” Anyone who hasn’t seen this already, should)

school culture and the LD student

One of our readings this week discussed the concept of culture within organizations. As participants within a certain culture, or as leaders who intend to create, shape, or change a culture, we must make an effort to understand this very intangible quality that carries a life of its own. Culture not only guides an organization’s view of itself and its environment, but it can also shape perceptions, beliefs, and actions. Edgar Schein defines culture as existing on three levels:

1. artifacts and creations - the organization’s physical space, language, dress, climate, behavioral norms, myths, stories, rituals, customs, ceremonies;

2. values - the organization’s outwardly stated priorities (though not all espoused values are actually practiced)

3. basic assumptions - the unconscious, nearly invisible and invincible, convictions held collectively by the members of the organization.

There is no question that the notion of “fit” in schools ties in directly to the cultures they possess. Particularly when talking about students and families who undergo admissions processes at independent schools, on what are these applicants and the schools basing their assessment of the child’s fit?

It takes time and experience to truly learn about the culture within a school because the basic assumption level of culture operates on the level of the unconscious. At the start of the relationship between family and school, then, it is possible only to discuss culture and fit on the basis of Schein’s first two levels. Families walking around the school can see displays of student work, portraits of distinguished alums, and carefully groomed athletic fields. They can read the school’s mission and learn of its commitment to rigorous academic offerings and to student-teacher relationships. Because basic assumptions guide the creation of artifacts and values, it comes as no surprise that determinations of fit based on levels one and two are usually successful. But what of those cases in which the fit is not really there?

I’ve always been concerned with the tendency of most schools to hang on to students in light of evidence that the child and the school may not be a good fit for one another. In an effort to do right by the child, the school makes a series of accommodations to make the student feel more welcome and safe in the community. But in my experience, not much really changes.

Schools are naive to think that they are changing sufficiently to make these children feel at home. Their modifications and accommodations take place at the first two levels, but what is being done to tackle the basic assumptions? Take the case of a child, diagnosed with a learning disability, who is enrolled at a school that prides itself on its academic rigor. In recent years, the school has made a number of changes: they’ve hired a learning specialist, created a “learning center,” provided laptops for test-taking, allowed for extra time on tests, and educated teachers about learning differences. The school has even changed its mission statement to state that the school provides a rigorous education to “all types of learners.”

Yet, this student’s name continues to come up at faculty meetings, and the student remains quite unhappy at the school. The family grows increasingly concerned and anxious about the psychological welfare of their child. And they should: a year in the life of a teenager is a long time, and multiple years is an eternity. This is a long time for the child to suffer.

So what is the matter? The reason that the school fails to meet this student’s needs (here, I am working under the assumption that the school wants to meet these needs; whether they should be trying to do so is a different matter) is that it has not examined its underlying basic assumptions. Many independent schools fail to reach a certain portion of their student population due to their reliance on “rigorous academics” as a defining characteristic of the school. The coexistence of “academic rigor” and “learning accommodations” creates a tension that most educational institutions cannot successfully maintain. Teachers follow the recommendations on students’ IEPs but in doing so, they see these students as flawed. How can academics truly be rigorous when students receive extra time or lecture notes, or in extreme cases, default out of the language program?

What is needed here is for the school to make a real commitment to challenging itself to define ‘rigorous academics’ and to examine how an LD student fits into that conception. In the end, these educators must arrive at one of two conclusions: they either make fundamental changes to the way they educate their students, or they go on doing what they’ve always done. If the latter, however, the school must stop fooling itself and these families, and be honest about the type of student it will actually educate. With all this said, the harsh reality is that no school can be everything to everyone, and schools need to stop pretending they can attain that ideal.

This essay has focused on the student’s experience, but in similar fashion, culture affects the faculty’s experience as well. Until schools truly examine the basic assumptions that drive their school, they will not have a true handle on what they offer to their various constituents. Who does not succeed at this school? Who does not fit in? Why not? These are the questions that allow organizations to dig beyond the surface and begin understanding themselves.