S4E9: Understanding Dyslexia - Insights from Personal Experience

In this episode, Juliet Hahn and Brent Sopel discuss the challenges and insights surrounding dyslexia and learning disabilities in education. They share personal experiences, listener feedback, and the importance of teacher awareness in identifying and supporting students with learning differences. The conversation emphasizes the need for a supportive learning environment, understanding child behavior, and adjusting teaching methods to cater to diverse learners. They also touch on the impact of anxiety and self-esteem on children and the role of curriculum in student assessment.

 

Chapters

 

00:00 Concerts and Healthy Choices

02:55 Feedback from Listeners and Teacher Perspectives

05:49 Understanding Learning Disabilities in Children

08:49 Identifying Signs of Learning Disabilities

11:53 The Impact of Learning Disabilities on Social Interactions

14:46 Building Awareness and Support for Children with Learning Disabilities

17:16 Understanding Learning Differences

20:55 The Role of Self-Esteem in Learning

25:10 Identifying Signs of Learning Challenges

29:59 The Impact of Classroom Dynamics

34:12 Adapting Teaching Methods for Diverse Learners

 

Transcript:
00:00:07:08 - 00:00:34:03

Unknown

Welcome back to word blindness. Just like exposed. I'm Juliet Hon here with Brant Sopel. How are you? Concert. You went to a concert like. And you're by the barricade. Like I'm talking like an old person, No, that's what the kids call it is barricade. What happened to row one? Like I'm row one? Because it's not because you're on the floor.

 

00:00:34:05 - 00:00:56:01

Unknown

So there's no seats. You're standing, so you're on the arcade. And who does that sober? I did this is. Is I was I like, think if I drank, I would be wrecked today because I had two huge events this weekend. And, yes. Did I eat like, late at night? Like. Shit. Yes. But it would have been so much worse if I.

 

00:00:56:05 - 00:01:17:09

Unknown

Do you have any chocolate? Any. What's your. What's that? Chocolate. Oh. Dark chocolate. I had tons of dark chocolate. What's that? What's that? Forever. What's that? Chocolate. The healthy. Oh, yeah. I just have a need for real chocolate. That's it. Yeah. Unreal. I'm real. Well, it's for, you know, I did perfect marketing put online through that, but no.

 

00:01:17:11 - 00:01:49:07

Unknown

Right. Go all what? Remember going when that Costco event? Yeah. You know, I was, was was riding the carts with, some of the women and handing up drinks and, like, things they sell in store and we came home with, something called built bar, right. And we say built bar 17, 17g of protein. Wow. Six grams of sugar.

 

00:01:49:09 - 00:02:14:10

Unknown

Okay. And I would have never ever grabbed it. And I'm like she's reading this. You're reading this. I'm like, oh you're full of shit. There's nothing you're not reading, right? You do not have your glasses, you know? Right. She was 100% right. And then we tasted it. It is phenomenal. Really. It is. We've got there's only one flavor I don't like.

 

00:02:14:10 - 00:02:37:14

Unknown

Good in mint chocolate. Oh, I don't like mint. Yeah, yeah. Coconut. We've got salted caramel and we got peanut butter. Not only did we smash a whole box, we did. We smash the two samples that we got. We went to Costco. I think within the next 48 hours and bought two more boxes and smashed those. And, we got ourselves to fully stocked, built dope.

 

00:02:37:16 - 00:03:02:11

Unknown

Our family. Are those the kind that you can't have in the house because you eat them all at once? Well, that's everything, so it doesn't really matter. Everything. That shit's the, minus. Yeah. I just eat anything, but it's protein. It. Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh for. Yeah, it's way better than the Reese's. But, you know, there's only 1550 calories.

 

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:25:02

Unknown

Okay. And it and only six grams of sugar, which is. That's great. And they use, marshmallow base for the whole thing. But you, it's, it just it's green. It's actually coconut base, but it tastes like a marshmallow. And it has a texture of a marshmallow. Yum. Oh, I wanted to look into this, but it's the fact that you said that you ate all of it.

 

00:03:25:02 - 00:03:46:04

Unknown

I have no control. Oh, no. Oh, between her and I, there's zero control in this house. If we start, forget it. It's gone. But. Yeah. Amazing. So, still. Are this not paid? Nobody's paying me. This is not a sponsorship. How shall I think? I think we need to. I think we need to reach out to Bill for.

 

00:03:46:08 - 00:04:13:01

Unknown

All right. We've got some dyslexics that, like an ADHD. Interesting, But that was a tangent. So we are. Oh, no. You wanted to start off some three series episodes. That what you're telling me I do, I want to do because we've had some people reach out and say they love the podcast, but they wanted to give me some feedback and I said, okay, great.

 

00:04:13:01 - 00:04:35:06

Unknown

Love feedback and said I had they work in schools and they're like, we have a lot of teachers that would love to use it as a training platform, use it like to teach other or learn from it, and that we are a little bit negative to teachers and a teacher is going to take offense of it. Not like get defensive, not get defensive.

 

00:04:35:06 - 00:04:58:09

Unknown

And I said 100%, you are 100%. But they also said, I understand where you guys are coming from. And so it wasn't a judgment. But they also said the thing is, is I said, we're really talking to the parents like educating the parents to be able to go through this process. And so, as I've said in every podcasts, I have family members deep that are teachers.

 

00:04:58:09 - 00:05:17:15

Unknown

I have mad respect for teachers, good teachers that want to learn and that want to educate, not the ones that make you feel shit. And we talk about the ones that made us feel shit because that's what we're trying to relate to people. And it's not against teachers by any means. And if you, you know, if you just jumped on and listened to that episode, you know, I could understand.

 

00:05:17:17 - 00:05:41:03

Unknown

But it's crazy. That's one I don't have anybody in my family that is that is a teacher. Right? So I you know, I'm actually just as you were saying, you have a lot of family member I never really thought about until like, I don't think I have, you know, anybody, but, that's it. That's, you know, off the topic is.

 

00:05:41:05 - 00:06:01:02

Unknown

Yes, we are usually talking directly to parents, but teachers are really listening to you because their parents, their parents too. So, and the other one was that I had to be clean. No swearing as I was. Oh, so I got a potty mouth, so. Well, not. No, not just you myself too, because I also liked the one when we had Montgomery and Bradley on and they really wanted to share that.

 

00:06:01:04 - 00:06:18:01

Unknown

But Montgomery was worse than all of us. And so, they were like, yeah, I can't really share that with the group that I wanted to share it with because it's it's a little offensive. And I was like, oh, okay. So which I understand, which I understand. So I said, well, that was yeah, I remember that one was.

 

00:06:18:03 - 00:06:36:05

Unknown

Yeah. I mean, I think he used the F-word like all through the entire thing, but he was passionate. He was talking about his frustrations. He was talking about as a kid that has gone through the system and gone through the system where he's been seen and heard and not seen and heard and and going back to public school versus private school.

 

00:06:36:05 - 00:06:59:06

Unknown

I mean, he's had it in college. You know, there's and when you're talking from hurt as I do exactly young you know, and yes, I got to do a better job. But when you talk from pain and hurt, you know, always leads you down kind of that, you know, that's that track. Right. So it's not I'm not talking, you know, rainbows and unicorns and, you know, wedding cakes, but our wedding cakes taste so good.

 

00:06:59:06 - 00:07:24:20

Unknown

Actually, we got a piece in the fridge. I keep opening up, I want to eat, but I'm refraining. But. So it's that's what we're trying to do is have these conversations. So we eliminate that pain in our skin, share. And that's where the whole thing really came from because and I'll start for someone that's maybe using this as a, you know, kind of a training for their other teachers or want to have more understanding.

 

00:07:24:22 - 00:07:46:05

Unknown

When we got together at first I thought I had worked through some of the dark side of my dyslexia, and learning disabilities. I turned it into a very positive like I would look at, but I'd turn things into positive because that it's not a mechanism, it's just who I am. I can find a literally a butterfly in any situation.

 

00:07:46:05 - 00:08:06:03

Unknown

I can find rainbows. I can just find the good in any situation. But when we're talking to teachers, there's a number of different things that we can really take you through for, for a bunch of different ages. So I think we should start with this one. Brant, tell me if you think I'm wrong, but like first day of school, right?

 

00:08:06:05 - 00:08:31:02

Unknown

If you're kindergarten through sixth grade, and someone is not identified as having learning disabilities, there are there's a lot of clues that can be had that you can kind of see, but you have to really be able to look a lot of nuances that you have to see a lot of ways that we know how to get out of things and around things.

 

00:08:31:04 - 00:08:51:06

Unknown

And instead of saying the child is lazy or they're not focused or they're not listening, there's a lot of different things and we can take you through it. But I'm going to let you go. Yeah. You know, I think, you know, the first example would be Montgomery. Right. So he was in kindergarten. Was that when he was already pre-K?

 

00:08:51:08 - 00:09:14:19

Unknown

When, when, when when Montgomery wouldn't come in from the sandbox? Oh. That was, when he was outside. So that was, beansprouts in Brooklyn. That so that was his four year old program. So, you know, obviously every single day he he never wanted to come inside. Right? You know, obviously he wanted to stay out and play, you know, mean a lot of people can say that's, you know, that's a boy.

 

00:09:14:21 - 00:09:36:09

Unknown

But if it continues to happen day after day after day, you know, they're there. You know, there's more to it because every kid wants to be by the other kids. Right? Every every kid wants to have friends. Every kid wants to be doing this. Especially that, you know, that age, there's distance. You know, you know, why not race?

 

00:09:36:09 - 00:10:02:21

Unknown

Wherever one goes, they all go. Right? So the repetition, it may seem something small, but that speaks volumes. Why? You know, and that could be anywhere. It could be on the playground. If a kid is in the sandbox playing by yourself, never playing with some, you know, you know, with, with another kid, because that age, they don't have clicks, they don't have friends, you know, they're drawn to different kids.

 

00:10:02:21 - 00:10:34:21

Unknown

But it's not like we're in high school talking right now. So, you know, is that on the playground? Is that in gym? Is your there's a reason why. And, you know, for me, I'm, you know, on my side, obviously I never connected with anybody. So I never had, you know, a friend in school in Queens. And so it those little things that just happen, time and time again, there's more to it.

 

00:10:34:21 - 00:10:57:21

Unknown

There's always there's a reason why a kid is doing that and not running. Running to running to his friends, you know, or running away. And that's what it was. This is what was interesting in the preschool that he had. It was a Brooklyn based play kind of facility. So they did tons of stuff out. So everything was outside.

 

00:10:57:21 - 00:11:19:09

Unknown

They would take all these field trips and I love that for him. And the beginning of the year, the first like three months, they just kind of let the kids pick the stations that they wanted to go, and then they would start encouraging them to come in and do the alphabet or write their name or color. And that's when the teacher was like, he never wanted to come back inside to do that stuff.

 

00:11:19:09 - 00:11:35:21

Unknown

He was the only kid that was not interested in his letters and all of that now. And I was like, oh, that's so interesting. She did say, do you have learning disabilities in your family? And I said, we do. And she said, I would just keep keep an eye on it because he's it's not just like he's not right.

 

00:11:35:21 - 00:11:55:22

Unknown

And this, this woman, I remember we walked around the block because it was then we were going to be moving. I don't think we moved yet, but whatever. She knew that we were moving in a couple years, so she knew we were going to leave that kind of area. But she's like, just keep an eye on it because it's not just a normal like, see, he really is putting a huge amount of resistance up on it.

 

00:11:56:03 - 00:12:14:19

Unknown

Now, my mom's a teacher. My mom works like and we did all books on tapes. We know how he read and all these things. So that teacher just took a second to be like, hey, I just want you to be aware of it. And do you have that? She knew that there's so many other teachers that don't do that because they don't see that little nuance, right?

 

00:12:14:19 - 00:12:30:07

Unknown

They don't see weight. He's really a lively kid. He's got a lot of friends with the second. Now that we're in the second half of the year, he's really putting push back into it. And yes, it could be a summer birthday. There could be a lot of things, but that should just be a little flag in that teacher's mind.

 

00:12:30:10 - 00:12:52:22

Unknown

Right? The other thing is, is if that kid now when you're in kindergarten, first grade, you're going to have the kids that go to the nurse or go to the bathroom. Often, however, there's going to be 1 or 2 that it's not because they need to go to the bathroom, it's because they're either taking a brain break or they're getting out of something.

 

00:12:52:22 - 00:13:10:08

Unknown

And there's two different things there. Yes, some active kids need that brain break, right? They get up, and if you're not having them in class regularly, you're going to have that kid. My nephew's one of them right now. And it's really interesting. It's like, okay, he's going off. And but they're also like, okay, we know the learning disabilities.

 

00:13:10:10 - 00:13:30:18

Unknown

Let's keep an eye on that. Montgomery was always, oh, I cut my finger, I need to go to the nurse or oh, this happened. I need to go to the bathroom. He was constantly getting out of things again. No one said anything when we went into the public school. When we moved from Brooklyn, no teacher said, maybe we need to watch this.

 

00:13:30:20 - 00:13:55:03

Unknown

We, you know, the famous, the famous saying, you know, you know, there's no such thing as class A bully, right? You're at that young age, they they all want to be friends. They all want to fit in. They want to be that kid. They they want to be able to do this and go up there and read with that person or color over there, do that over there.

 

00:13:55:05 - 00:14:25:15

Unknown

There's nothing more than that. That they want. And when they can't, that's when things like this or if they have a tummy ache all the time. Yeah. We develop anxiety at a very young age, you know. And I'll give you an example. You know, this is from, you know, babysits for, you know, for, set of twins and she's in kindergarten, right.

 

00:14:25:15 - 00:14:52:02

Unknown

Because last year, my friend or a girl in a class, there's a boy crushing or something like that, and she's like, well, no boy will ever do that to me. You know, it's heartbreaking. She's in kindergarten. So she understands that that kindergarten. That's not she thinks that's not going to happen. Right. She's already built that anxiety. She's already built that you know those things you know in her head five.

 

00:14:52:02 - 00:15:21:05

Unknown

You know 4 or 5 six years old depending on what birthday. Right. It's we developed this stuff very early. Go in the bathroom. Right. Kind of like myself. I make people laugh, right? If people's like, somebody's laughing or someone's mad, you're not asking how you're feeling inside. And it it is if you think about that you know you struggle.

 

00:15:21:08 - 00:15:41:00

Unknown

This is what we talk about often even in kindergarten you know, you struggle. You know that things are not coming as easy. You start becoming aware. That's when kids start becoming aware of what other kids are doing. It's like, wait, why can't I do that? And as Brant said, when kids are little, they're not being mean on purpose.

 

00:15:41:00 - 00:15:57:03

Unknown

So like, this is one of the things when Montgomery was little on his dysgraphia, when he was in when we then moved to Connecticut, you know, one time he came home and he said, mommy, you know, the kids are saying, I scribble Scrabble. And I said, you know, on on this picture. And I said, and I knew, like, I was like, oh, because he couldn't color in the lines.

 

00:15:57:03 - 00:16:16:08

Unknown

And I was like, okay, well, I know he's kind of right the time. It takes so much to learn the lines. I have to, like, focus. Like I'm, oh my God, it's too much. But like, and we had a really nice conversation about it. And, you know, I said to him and he didn't say like they're being mean, but he's just like, you know, I don't like when they ask me that because it hurts my feelings.

 

00:16:16:08 - 00:16:29:05

Unknown

And I said, well, why does it hurt your feelings? I said, if you're look at all the colors, you're using, like, look at it's like so beautiful because it's like these beautiful bangs of color and it doesn't have to be in the lines like yours is a different whatever I did as a parent, it was fine for him.

 

00:16:29:07 - 00:16:49:03

Unknown

However, I remember feeling like, oh, but knowing those kids are not being mean, they're just saying, oh, why are you scribble scrabbling? They're curious and they're not saying it mean, but then it's all of a sudden like that's when. Then it gets building and building and building. And if you're someone that's not feeling good about yourself, instead of sticking up for yourself and saying, oh, I'm doing this, this is why I'm doing it.

 

00:16:49:05 - 00:17:11:06

Unknown

A lot of times, the kid that is feeling shit, oh, sorry is not feeling well is is kind of retreating. And that's where you see, like all of a sudden that maybe someone's retreating, maybe someone you can see them on the playground and they're really talkative and they're really out there and they have a lot of friends, but then they get in the classroom and they kind of try to get under the radar.

 

00:17:11:06 - 00:17:29:04

Unknown

They don't want to be called on, they don't want to get involved. And it works. Right. And you do. You can see and then those kids that are trying not to get called on and really trying to be aware of what their surroundings are because they they're like, I don't know how to do that, and I don't want to come out here and I don't want to I don't want to feel this.

 

00:17:29:06 - 00:17:50:04

Unknown

That's when like, there's so much of the anxiety and the kind of the introspective, like they really go inside and it's you can see those kids from the beginning if you're aware of it, and it's usually because of a learning style. I'm not saying it all is. There's a thing, you know, people have family situations, they have other things going on.

 

00:17:50:06 - 00:18:18:05

Unknown

But the majority of the time it's because they're not learning the way that is being taught to them, and then they don't know how to say, wait, I don't understand because you start asking questions. You also see the kid that has questions and then stops asking questions. When the teacher keeps putting, like putting the hand up or people get annoyed and then it's like that kid retreats and retreats and we know we're different, but we have no clue what that means, and we don't know what it's feeling means.

 

00:18:18:07 - 00:18:42:23

Unknown

You know, took me to, you know, last couple of years to figure that out, right? So they're not going, you know, they're not going to, ask, well, why do I feel like this now? Like they don't know. They're trying to figure it out, you know, and it doesn't make sense that, you know, you know, at those at those ages and it's you can't see something if you don't don't understand.

 

00:18:43:01 - 00:19:12:21

Unknown

Yeah. And and we act so differently then, you know, I remember people you teach to ask, you know, raise your hand. You know, I, I tried to fall, you know, go under that desk. I'm on a desk when call on me. Right. There's the same kids make the same behaviors, but very different to the rest of the kids.

 

00:19:12:23 - 00:19:44:01

Unknown

And yeah, a lot of times it gets, you know, looked on different, you know, in an age where because they're not like the other kids. Okay. Let's take those group of kids and try to understand, you know here's something going on in life. It's going to affect the same thing. Because at the end of the day, when you don't have learning disorder, when you when you have learning disorders, your self-esteem is the issue.

 

00:19:44:03 - 00:20:18:06

Unknown

Not if you got things going on at home, you know, bad home, whatever that. That's self-esteem, right? So it all comes back. Back to the same, same, same thing. So if you don't find a way to understand what that self-esteem, why it's, you know, being attacked, you know, meaning home life or, learning disorders or, you know, any type, it's, you know, it's not fun being on the other side, but that's where the teacher can of those 2 or 3 kids, you know?

 

00:20:18:08 - 00:20:40:05

Unknown

All right, now you have your eye on those three kids, you know, watch that. If there isn't a consistent behavior of, you know, disrupting, you know, I used the one guy, Marty, I think he was in high school. Every time you get called upon to read at, you know, at the board or writes him on the board, he'd walk up and hit someone in the head, you know, walking up.

 

00:20:40:05 - 00:20:57:09

Unknown

So you get kicked out of class, all right. So he never had to go out at all. Oh, that's the sixth time that's Marty's done. That was it. That's the only time Marty, you know, hit somebody in the back that it's not. It's not every day. It's not once a week. It's, They like. So it's. Take a look at the when I say history.

 

00:20:57:09 - 00:21:18:11

Unknown

What led to that also you know you know we'll continuing the Marty track right. You know okay I think that Marty you write it down Marty did it 15 times right. Kicked him out of the class 15 times for doing that. Guess what they did every time was involved of him. You know, reading or was, you know what?

 

00:21:18:16 - 00:21:41:06

Unknown

What class were we on? Where we were, what was his surroundings? What was the history? And you'll be able to put bill saw some puzzles, some riddles, quicker. If you, if you can kind of do all that, and it's, it's this is it's not easy. It's not easy to be a teacher and it's not easy when you have 26 kids, and we know that.

 

00:21:41:08 - 00:21:56:15

Unknown

But if you see, because there's going to be kids that are doing the same sort of thing, and it's not a lot of times it's like, oh, it's just a boy, I'm not going to pay. Oh, look, they just made some strides. You have to think about also at what cost and what they're doing at home, if they're getting tutored depends on their socioeconomic status.

 

00:21:56:15 - 00:22:12:21

Unknown

Like are they getting tutored or are they, you know, are they, you know, skirting around things. You have to look at a lot of different things. And that's not easy because you are one teacher with a group of kids, especially when you're in the younger grades. And then when you're older grades, we know it gets even more.

 

00:22:12:23 - 00:22:33:00

Unknown

However, if this if you see a kid doing things, for instance, a gym teacher, right? Like if a gym teacher sees Sally keeps going, right? Every single time you're like, okay, everyone go to the left. Like just pause and be like, okay, that she keeps doing that. That typically can be that she is having learning issues and other things.

 

00:22:33:00 - 00:22:54:04

Unknown

It could be slight, like you might look back and be like, oh no, she does really well. And in these classes there's something because the average person doesn't. They know their lefts and rights. But when you have dyslexia or any of the five DS, some of you are going to struggle at that. Not everyone, because I know not everyone struggles with the left and rights like I do and others do, but those are like little things.

 

00:22:54:04 - 00:23:09:00

Unknown

Like a gym teacher can see that. Or if the teacher is like, okay, everyone up and go to this part of the room. And that kid seems like they're constantly not or they constantly seem like their heads are in the clouds that, you know, that could be it's not their head in the cloud they're trying to process.

 

00:23:09:00 - 00:23:29:12

Unknown

Or if you're constantly having to tell them, like if you give everyone four steps, right, everyone go get their pencil, go get their notebook, go to their cubby and get their crayons. And then go sit down. And you got three kids that do two steps and then they don't do the other ones. That's another big sign that there's something going on.

 

00:23:29:12 - 00:24:00:00

Unknown

Again, it could they could be young, but for the most part it's not. It's not that they're young, it's that they have, you know. Well, because we're born with that stuff. Right? Remember, we're born with it. Right. So that's how young it starts when we're born. You know, if you can label a kid as, the bad kid, kid, class clown, whatever, you know, terminology, you then you're able to then you've labeled, right, you know, I guess, right words.

 

00:24:00:02 - 00:24:20:09

Unknown

If you took the time to understand that, take a couple more extra seconds and you'll find, you know, you know, find your answer. Right. You're halfway down that rabbit hole by saying those things. And if those are the and if those if there's kids in your classroom or those kind of terminologies come to your head right now, now you've done step one, now, you know, those are your kids.

 

00:24:20:11 - 00:24:47:01

Unknown

Exactly. And not calling on someone that's not raising their hand. Maybe find out, like it's not that they're shy and I don't even k off to go that back to that point. If if that is your kid, if that is a kid that you've labeled in that right, that group is a class clown or the the bad kid working call, whatever those are the kids last kids on earth that you ever call out because they're doing something for the region.

 

00:24:47:03 - 00:25:15:01

Unknown

So now you're going to call them out, in front of your class. He, you know, he doesn't know or she doesn't know the reason why. Now, you just made things ten times worse by doing that. So now, if it's a kid that doesn't kind of fall on this right, that then your, their, you know, where their brains was probably more, more apt to the opposite of us.

 

00:25:15:03 - 00:25:33:00

Unknown

All right. So it's if we're able they're you've kind of kind of done that because also calling on someone like the thing that people don't realize, like our brains literally shut down, like it shuts down. So like, I could know the answer, but if I was in a panic mode and someone called to me, it my brain literally would go to blank.

 

00:25:33:00 - 00:25:51:16

Unknown

And that happened to me time and time again in class, where it was just like, oh my gosh. And like, if I knew something, I was a kid that would raise my hand. I was like, I wasn't the average person that hit all the time. Like, I would raise my hand if I knew I knew it, but if I did not know, I would never have done it because I didn't want to be mortified.

 

00:25:51:18 - 00:26:18:01

Unknown

You know, reading, you know, again, having the class, we're counting how many kids are reading. We're doing that going back. That's in the older grades. But then going back to the younger grades. I know everyone has to like the A, B, C, and D, but one of the things that Montgomery and Bradley talked about really like knowing and I remember too, and any dyslexic person you talk to, they're like, oh, I was in the lowest level.

 

00:26:18:01 - 00:26:36:21

Unknown

And it killed because people were like, oh, you're not moving up. Oh, this person moved up and it's like you all of a sudden are aware, oh, I'm on a and there's people on G and H and, and how am I ever going to get there. And that is so detrimental for a little person. And I don't know how we change that.

 

00:26:36:21 - 00:26:58:00

Unknown

I mean, that's the education system as we said, needs to change so much as a teacher. Those numbers. And you can have, you know, like for example, if you're doing let's do numbers 1 to 10, right? Your level ones, your highest ten is your lowest, right. While you can have a pair, you can have a grouping of for yourself, say your it goes backwards right.

 

00:26:58:00 - 00:27:16:23

Unknown

You they don't need to know. So why can't you make five the highest right. But you you know so. And you come up with your own formula in there, you know. But no rhyme or reason, right? You can. You know what that formula is. Kids will never catch on. And you've you know, you've kind of saved games or alphabets, right.

 

00:27:17:01 - 00:27:38:16

Unknown

And all your you're on the, the Z 24 does that or you know, they don't need to know as a kid if you have if you kind of mix it up and have I could come up with 22 formulas in a second. But whatever that is for that teacher, they don't need to know where they're at because we catch on right?

 

00:27:38:16 - 00:27:57:18

Unknown

So, I don't know if that makes any sense. No, it does make sense. I mean, the one thing is, I will say, and I think you like kids do know, they will know. But in the beginning, when you're forming it, they're not going to know then kids. I mean, that is the one thing having three little ones, like every oh what, what what level were you in in this thing.

 

00:27:57:18 - 00:28:16:12

Unknown

And they talk about it. What grades. And it makes me crazy because I'm like, you guys don't need to know what level anyone is in. It doesn't matter. Like, everyone stay in their lane. It doesn't. And like, friends would come over. Oh. What level? Oh, did you do this? They know. But in the beginning, you don't need to make it so apparent that everyone also knows, like, oh, you're the lowest.

 

00:28:16:17 - 00:28:34:07

Unknown

They're the highest. We're in the middle. Like it's so apparent, like right from the start. And if you tricks things up again, yes, it's a little bit more work. But think about the kid in the chair that you could save and the kid in the chair that you're going to make a difference for later in their life. That is like a huge, huge thing for me.

 

00:28:34:07 - 00:28:53:03

Unknown

You know, look at me, who just loves talking to stranger. It kills me. I come home in that story time from what person she talked to at the mall, I'm like, she came home from pizza and she went cheering. She went to the gym, had a new, yoga instructor. She shared her life's history when she came over for an hour workout.

 

00:28:53:03 - 00:29:16:12

Unknown

I'm like, how did you find that deal? You know, she in the store? Hey, Home Depot, she go in there and ask one of the workers, no problem. Hey, I can't find this, could you? I won't, I won't ask somebody. I'll walk the whole store 22 times and walk out if I. If it's not, you know, that's my anxiety.

 

00:29:16:14 - 00:29:38:03

Unknown

You know, and I use that as a, as, you know, talking more as reference. I still have a hard time, you know, if somebody cashier screws up for a couple bucks or whatever. Very rarely we'll say some. Yes if it's a huge chunk, because what if I'm wrong? What if I'm wrong? One of the you know, I say to the cashier, hey, your child me $2.

 

00:29:38:06 - 00:30:01:06

Unknown

And oh, it was my mistake. I screwed up, I it takes me how right or I'm going Home Depot and you know, we're we're, bottom floor cleaner, and we couldn't figure out if we bought it. Menards or Home Depot or Costco went to menards and it wasn't there. But the anxiety I got, you know, from, you know, from that sheet.

 

00:30:01:08 - 00:30:33:06

Unknown

But her, you know, having our fun self and moping around and the anxiety I was having with that because what if I'm wrong? Yeah. And that's like kids that you I mean, you developed that early and you weren't seen and heard by any of the teachers that you went through. And it's important for people to hear and listen just to think about if you can make one adjustment in your classroom for the kids that are struggling every day, they're going in there knowing they're going to struggle.

 

00:30:33:06 - 00:30:54:10

Unknown

And every year, kindergarten, first grade, you realize more and more, oh, wait, I'm different. I'm learning different than them. I'm not doing the same thing. And a lot of times it doesn't calculate until you're I mean, you're very aware. You're very aware, but you also see everyone else and then you create different ways to get out of things.

 

00:30:54:10 - 00:31:17:05

Unknown

And so in the earlier grades, if we can keep that innocent child feeling supported and not feeling, you know, not feeling crappy about themselves, that's where you're going to save it. And you can help so many you know, you can really help that child. And then as they grow, if it is missed thinking about the older grades, you know what the kid is group.

 

00:31:17:05 - 00:31:33:07

Unknown

You know, we were talking about this like you know you have these group projects. Montgomery was king of being like, I'll do this, this thing. And he would always pick the thing that wasn't reading, wasn't writing. And half the time I'd be like, what? Would you know what he's like? I don't I don't care if it's not these two things.

 

00:31:33:07 - 00:31:47:23

Unknown

I'll do whatever. Even if the teacher's like, okay, I need a volunteer for reading. I need to volunteer for writing, or I need a volunteer. And the dyslexic, you know, kid is like, I'll take the third one. They don't even know what it is, but they don't want to be chosen for those other two. So they'll pick something else I don't have.

 

00:31:47:23 - 00:32:08:23

Unknown

I told you in English in grade 12, we did a project and I put a costume on. Didn't speak the other to me. The other two reading teacher gave me, like, a, six year or something like that. I'm like, perfect. Thank you. I didn't care, I passed, but I did. I chose the the costume. For the read so I didn't have to read.

 

00:32:09:01 - 00:32:31:14

Unknown

Right. I stood there with this costume. Can't say what it was. It was twinkle and wouldn't fly. Now, this would be good, but, go back to that. You know, back to that point is if we choose specific things to get out of it. Right? And if it's, again, that track record, remember how these kind of things started, right?

 

00:32:31:14 - 00:33:05:01

Unknown

Oh, like that person, that kid keeps doing that and it's not me. And you don't need to call them out. Just have a side conversation or make something easier for them. Right? Just. Hey, I got you on this. I'm telling you, that kid is going to be like, okay, that teacher season here is me, and you're going to change that kid's life because I can tell you, every single teacher that did something positive for me, I remember them, and I can tell you every teacher that made me feel crap, I can tell you exactly the moment, exactly what I'm where I'm standing, exactly the feeling I can even smell the room of it because it's

 

00:33:05:01 - 00:33:23:18

Unknown

so ingrained in when someone made you feel not good. But I can also, on the flip side, remember when a teacher said something positive? Usually. Then as the year went on, then it went negative because then they were like, you're not trying. What's happening was all right. It's just because I can speak and you know, and do those kind of things really, really well.

 

00:33:23:19 - 00:33:44:02

Unknown

But that's the other thing. If you see a student that is super verbal and really great and then all of a sudden that their written work is really coming across not as good, don't say, oh, you're not trying, or oh, what's happening? If it's time and time again, there's usually probably it's probably a dysgraphia that you are not aware of or it's a dyslexia that you're not aware of and they're not aware of.

 

00:33:44:04 - 00:34:09:14

Unknown

And I think increasing on fears. One of your friends told me that, I was a teacher. I wanted to say said something. I'm. But, you know, I've written had to do written project and I was, you know, we were talking. I said, well, why why doesn't somebody do a verbal project to that project? You know, in verbal, oh, there's a lot more to it, blah, blah, blah.

 

00:34:09:14 - 00:34:32:10

Unknown

You know, those kinds of things. And you really go on, you know, I'll tell her that. And I think her, she's like, oh, I've never, ever thought about that right now. That's a different form of learning. Now you're going to find more about those kids if, if, if what that verbal project matches up to everything that's going on throughout the year or if it's really off, there might be something.

 

00:34:32:10 - 00:34:59:23

Unknown

And I think you said she said, you know, they can't because it has to be part of the curriculum or something like that. But just, you know, I use that and I speak to that as an example of just trying something, you know, a little bit different and you'd find out a lot of answers. Also, and the verbal thing that, I mean, I fought all the time for, not for Montgomery because his school, that was a dyslexic school, they gave the tests orally.

 

00:35:00:00 - 00:35:21:23

Unknown

Oh, really? And he was great. He was great. And I remember so much like studying and cramming and knowing the information so well. And then getting the stupid paper in front of you. I mean, Penelope's had this a couple times where she's like the I flipped the words when she was writing the answer, and she put like one word in front and they take off and I'm like, okay, well, now they're not going to take off anymore.

 

00:35:21:23 - 00:35:40:13

Unknown

But because she got a 5 or 4. But those are the sort of things that I was like, oh, wait a second. And that's where it's really frustrating because you know the information so well. But then the way it's worded, even if it's worded a little differently, the teacher puts it a little differently. Or you read it like we talked about the texting, right?

 

00:35:40:13 - 00:36:08:11

Unknown

Like the texting and and reading things wrong. As a teacher, if you instead of doing like, yeah, ABCd D none of the above you know a the answer the little slight change and see something different. If you did not a slight change if you did the answer and 2 or 3 very different answers, you get very different results.

 

00:36:08:11 - 00:36:37:01

Unknown

Right? Because now we know right now we're not going to slip up like you flip one letter or you flip one word on us, we'll never see that. So again, there's another way of doing it again. If you do a couple times in a row, you're going to see. Yes. Can you say they cheat and. Well, you can, but you know, or you're a teacher, you can you can watch behaviors or things you're going on, but there's another way of writing a test or a quiz, right?

 

00:36:37:01 - 00:37:02:10

Unknown

If kids know right, you again, go back to when I said, you know, if you do all that one right answer and 2 or 3 other ones very different, they're not going to go 100% guessing. But you know, if you instead of doing one right answer two and you're very slim or you slip a word or letter or something like that, and then your other couple ones, you know, there's another way of doing an A, you know, a quiz.

 

00:37:02:10 - 00:37:20:00

Unknown

You're called whatever you want to be able to find out if the kid understands or learns differently, because that plays into us knowing the information and not getting lost on a word or a letter. But that's the thing we're not learning. And that's what's worse. I mean, Montgomery, even still, he's a mom. I didn't learn anything ever, because it was always trying to figure it out.

 

00:37:20:06 - 00:37:42:12

Unknown

But like I do know that teachers will say, especially in the higher grades, there's a curriculum and they're not even making the test. The test is coming from the people that make the curriculum or like make the you make a class, I don't know, I get I'm not. Yeah. No. So that a lot of times the quizzes are come from it's like, okay, here's the unit and there's a they're not the teachers are not even making the unit.

 

00:37:42:12 - 00:38:01:03

Unknown

It's like the, the textbook or the whoever came in that way. However, I think that there is a chance, if you know, you have kids, that you're like, wait a second, you can adjust it. Now, listen, I know that this is said easier said than done. And we throw a lot out at you guys to kind of think about.

 

00:38:01:09 - 00:38:24:22

Unknown

But if you can take 1 or 2 little points of this and be like, okay, you know what, I can do that I can kind of think about this for a kid. Or if you see the kid that's trying so hard and they're like, like so overly anal, like there's there's something there too. Sometimes it's the kids that have dyslexia and they're just over achievers and they're really, really been working harder well and perfection.

 

00:38:25:01 - 00:38:45:18

Unknown

There's no such thing. If you find a kid that needs to be a perfectionist, there's something to it that's not how the body's wired. The brain is not wired to be perfectionist. What is going on in their head to make that way, or at home, or where their friends surroundings? That's a sure sign something happened or something is is going on.

 

00:38:45:18 - 00:39:10:07

Unknown

Also, because nobody wants to be a perfectionist, what happened to make you a perfectionist? Exactly. So if you guys have any questions about any of it, or there's stuff that we can help because we can we can do podcast without cursing. No. You didn't. Oh, I know I did. I am so proud of you. I totally did.

 

00:39:10:09 - 00:39:33:18

Unknown

But I did. I really tried to calm the energy and everything. I was like, okay, I'm going to be here. And then if there is something that would be helpful, we're happy to talk about our experiences. That is what's going to help the experiences we hear from others, experiences we hear from, you know, parents, one of the next ones that we're going to we're going to record is some of these IEP meetings.

 

00:39:33:18 - 00:39:55:10

Unknown

I know we're going to touch on this on how to help the parent instead of making it where it's the parent has to become defensive. There's a lot of stuff that can be different in there. Again, we know that there's systems and you have to do things in certain ways, but there's always a gray area and people can step out of the of the the area I know that.

 

00:39:55:10 - 00:40:14:02

Unknown

So like it's very frustrating when that is like nope, it's just cut and dry. This is how it has to be. So we will definitely talk about that. But if there's anything, just let us know. So how many episodes we're doing on the three series teacher support, is that where we're calling? Yeah. Teacher support. We'll see, we'll see.

 

00:40:14:02 - 00:40:33:21

Unknown

We'll see if we have any questions after this. This will go out in two weeks. And then we have definitely some questions that we've asked. I've asked some of the teachers in my world, you know, and they all were like, oh, let me think. So they're thinking, you know, if we have more, then we'll address them to the best of our ability.

 

00:40:33:23 - 00:40:51:04

Unknown

But we're not this is not like a gang up on teachers. I know some of the people that listen have said to me, people that I know, they're like, well, you're going to make us defensive. And I was like, we're not talking about the good ones. We're talking about the ones that everyone can be better in their job, their life, everything.

 

00:40:51:04 - 00:40:57:00

Unknown

And this is just giving some tips and tools on how to.

 

00:40:57:02 - 00:41:22:22

Unknown

You know, and as a teacher, always young, you remember, you know, I and the best references is you know, the love languages right. We all have different language languages. So sort of the kids, you know, learning and some of them brain are wired differently. So it's going to be different than your thought process or what you would do.

 

00:41:22:22 - 00:41:43:01

Unknown

And why do you why would you do. So just just remember, you know, as you're sitting there, you know, we see what, you know, when you're doing a speech, speech in front of a picture, everybody naked as a teacher, just picture everybody having a different brain. Exactly. I mean, thank you guys for joining word blindness dyslexia exposed.

 

00:41:43:01 - 00:41:46:17

Unknown

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