Richard Wanderman:
I'm a successful adult with a learning disability (dyslexia). Part of the reason for my success is that I use a variety of tools, including computers, to organize my life and express my ideas. In fact, if I didn't write with a computer, I wouldn't be able to participate in this online discussion with you because I wouldn't be able to record, work with, and share my ideas in writing. I know, from over 20 years of personal experience, how doing these things with a computer changes the thinking and writing process for people like me.
I had a hard time with school. Most of my memories of school are nightmarish. If I carried the learning disabilities seed (my genetics), then school did a great job of watering and fertilizing it. School made the experience of having a learning disability worse than it would have been otherwise. I think for many students with learning disabilities the situation is the same today even though public law, teaching skills, curricula, and technology have improved markedly. Life is tough when you think differently.
Much of my success has come outside of school. I believe strongly in extracurricular, hands-on experience. I've been an artist, a potter, a rock climber, a car mechanic, a teacher, a software developer, and more. All of these experiences have helped me see the difference between my learning disability and my intelligence.
I look forward to a lively discusion with you all.
Richard
Dr. Brian S. Friedlander is a licensed and certified school psychologist with expertise in the area of assistive technology. Dr. Friedlander maintains an assistive technology practice, which provides assessments, workshops and individual training in the area of assistive computer technology. He is an adjunct faculty member at the College of St. Elizabeth and at Lesley University, where he teaches courses in educational technology. Dr. Friedlander is also the co-author of, Engaging the Resistant Child Through Computers: A Manual to Facilitate Social Emotional Learning, Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D., Brian S. Friedlander, Ph.D and Steven E. Tobias, Psy.D; New York: National Professional Resources, 2001. Dr. Friedlander is the Publisher of Inclusion Times, a nationally distributed special education newsletter which is published by AssistiveTek, LLC (www.assistivetek.com). He also moderates the Assistive Technology eGroup which can be accessed by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/attechnology.
Dr. Friedlander is a frequent presenter on the topic of assistive technology at National and State Conferences. Dr. Friedlander can be reached at brian@assistivetek.com. |
