Somebody Else's Kids: Lori

Somebody Else’s Kids by Torey Hayden is a great book that provides some insight on special education. The story revolves around a class containing four students: Boo, Tomaso, Lori, and Claudia. Each student has different learning needs, but what the four students have in common is that they do not belong in other general education classes. The book is captivating from start to finish and it really made me appreciate the progress special education has made throughout the years. Back then, not much was known about learning differences and it seemed as if a majority of people did not care or were not properly educated with how to best accommodate students’ special needs. I am happy that now more and more people have a better understanding of special education and that there are laws in place to support students who require such services and accommodations.

While reading, I was drawn to Lori Sjokheim who is a seven year old girl in first grade. Lori is a very sweet, social, and vivacious individual; however, she did have a tumultuous upbringing early on as she was physically and emotionally abused by her birth father. As a result of the abuse, Lori suffered brain damage and the brain damage has impeded her ability to learn written language which includes letters and numbers. Lori and her twin sister, Libby, were adopted but shortly after, they suffered the loss of their adoptive mother. The abuse plus the emotional stress of losing a parent may have caused some post-traumatic stress for Lori. While Lori’s adoptive father is sweet and caring, he now is a single father raising twin girls who came from a difficult home and that in itself is huge a challenge to face alone. Because of Lori’s inability to read, Mr. Sjokheim constantly worries that she will not be able to function in society if she never learns how to read. Even though he worries, he does not push Lori past her comfort zone if she does not want to do something. I think part of that is because of her past and he feels guilty and does not want her to go through anymore suffering. The other part is because he is scared and knows Lori needs help, but he does not know how to help her.

Lori’s learning disability is internal so from the outside she looks perfectly “normal” which can make it puzzling for some teachers. She is a bright student and excels in subjects that require no reading or writing. The brain damage she suffered has impeded her ability to recognize letters and numbers, and because of that she cannot decode and encode written language. Her peers are able to write their names and read short books, but that is a huge obstacle for Lori. Lori is unable to accomplish such a task and because of that, her learning difficulty is apparent. In addition, Lori also faces emotional stress that only comes out when she’s completely burned out and her self-confidence is basically nonexistent. When Lori has emotional episodes, it does take her quite some time to overcome it and it also requires providing her adequate space.

In order to help Lori learn to the best of her ability, a couple of accommodations need to be made. Since her brain injury is impeding her from learning how to read and write, I want to refrain from tasks that require heavy reading and writing since that is a big source of stress for her. Instead, I want to create a special curriculum that will still provide the necessary learning targets and benchmarks she needs to meet, but not make it so focused on the reading aspect of education. For example, I will utilize audiobooks as Lori has no problem listening and comprehending in a verbal manner.  When doing worksheets and activities, I will provide verbal directions to ensure she knows what my expectations are. I know I cannot cut out reading and writing completely, so I will continue to work with Lori on practicing how to write and recognize letters and numbers, but I will do it in a nontraditional way.  I will want to incorporate hands on activities and also use other parts of her brain to help her make the connections. I will incorporate singing and whole-body movements for her to memorize the shapes of letters and numbers. I must also be able to relate letters and reading in general to something concrete that Lori can visualize in order to help her retain the information. My goal is to try as many things as I can so that if something is not working for Lori, I can redirect and come up with a new plan. I think good teachers never have one plan, but many plans and go through the process of trial and error to see how a child best learns. With Lori’s great communication skills, I want to give her roles in the classroom that will provide her responsibility and perhaps a boost of confidence like collecting homework and passing things out. Peer tutoring can be beneficial for Lori as well because I think sometimes students make the best teachers and her ability to connect with people will hopefully allow tutoring to be successful.

The drawbacks to the accommodations above like any classroom would be spending too much time focused on Lori and losing focus on other students. It will be important to allocate time for Lori outside of class for remediation. Repetition strategies are going to be frequently needed so that will require patience but also creativity. Lori is very social and hyperactive so she can get off task at times and that can be problem with peer tutoring as I want to make sure she’s focusing and not socializing. Lori knows she has a problem and I’ve seen that when students are cognizant of their struggles, that’s when their self-esteem and self-confidence are affected. In Lori’s case, her low confidence is a result from her inability to read and she feels stupid. The stress of reading and not being able to read can overload Lori and it can lead to an emotional breakdown. Lori has this fear that she and Libby will no longer be twins if she does not advance to the next grade level. I think it’ll be important to push Lori to the point that she is out of her comfort zone, but it will be important to incorporate fun activities in between so it is not overwhelming for her.

The personal challenges that I will face will be planning lessons accordingly and planning multiple ones. As I said earlier, I want to try as many things as possible for Lori and that will require extensive planning. I am naturally patient, but working with a child who physically has a hard time learning will require a vast amount of patience, but also creativity. I need to find different ways to use other parts of her brain to promote learning. Sometimes the classroom may feel like the only place a student belongs so it will be up to me to make it a safe place where I want to set students up for success rather than failure. I will want to come up with attainable goals for Lori as I think goal setting will be important and that will allow her to work towards something. I am protective by nature so I must provide Lori with real and appropriate feedback regardless of her gender even if it may hurt her feelings since girls are naturally thought to be more sensitive (Center for Teaching (n.d.). I think one of the worst things I can do as a teacher is lie and pretend like everything is okay when it may not be. However, there will be times where I will need to fake a smile to reassure my students. It will be a balancing act.

In the classroom, I will hope to utilize a lot of differentiation techniques with a growth mindset. Yes, Lori is not decoding letters or numbers yet, but maybe she will in the future once her brain heals. If she doesn’t, that’s okay. We’ll use the time in the classroom as a growth opportunity in other academic and social aspects. Every student presents a different learning puzzle and it’s our duty as teachers to solve the puzzle to provide them with the best opportunity (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011). I want to prevent self-fulling prophecies based on my expectations. I want students to do the best they can and I need to hide my personal thoughts and feelings so they can focus on themselves and outperform their own expectations. In the classroom, I need to work together with my students to overcome the challenges they are faced with so they can rise to any given occasion. The goal of a differentiated and personalized learning environment is finding out things about our students that will serve as a key to unlock their potential (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011).

References

Center for Teaching (n.d.). Student incivility [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.stevenson.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-589860-dt-content-rid-11189733_1/courses/18U7W2_ED_630_OL1/Student-Incivility-Best-Practices.pdf

Powell, W. & Kusuma-Powell, O. (2011). Chapter 1. Knowing our students as learners. How to Teach Now. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111011/chapters/Knowing-Our-Students-as-Learners.aspx