Why is this little boy so excited? He is excited because he has the power to unlock the secrets of reading!
You act as if you cannot relate to being that excited to be able to rad?
An interesting topic that has come about in class and in my personal life is the discussion on making reading accessible for people with disabilities.
I am fairly open on discussing my visually disability, while it makes reading challenging it has never and will never make reading impossible, in fact I like to think that the challenge is what forced me to work harder to be a competent reader.
While there are straight-forward accommodations to a physical disability it is the mental challenges that are the most difficult to find a solution too. Some accommodations, such as shorter lines and larger font, are similar between physical and mental challenges for making the text easier to read. The one that even I was unaware of myself was that the loathsome-comic sans was a solution to reading difficulties.
My young cousin has several factors working against his reading and I took the opportunity to speak to his academic therapist regarding recommended accommodations for reading disabilities. She informed me that each child is different, and while there are trends in accommodations that work for children with special requirements. Some children with less advanced cases will work better with more discrete accommodations depending on age, confidence, and acceptance level of the difference between themselves and their peers. I never gave as much thought as I should have about how much bravery it take for a child to be different and seek help to excel in literacy and how grateful I should be to thise who research techniques for accommodations.
I really loved this, Sarah. What you’ve written is so true. I take so much for granted because I have the privilege of being able-bodied. When I think about what my sister has to deal with in regard to her learning disability it reminds me of how lucky I am, and that it’s so important to be patient and kind with others. Especially when we have no idea what challenges they might be facing.