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herefore, notwith-standing the advent ofan otherwise preco-ciousness of an inde-terminable outcome,henceforth and so forthcoming shalltranspire whilst any other contingencywhence it be deemed gibberishl'If you are having trouble under-standing the abovementioned sen-tence, you are an idiot.'That is exactly how a child withattention issues feels.No matter what is being taught,that is exactly how it sounds to him. It

sounds foreign and it sounds different.He can't decipher it because his atten-tion span isn't long enough to be ableto consume it and digest it all in onesitting. The end result is almost alwaysthe same. The child doesn't 'get it,' sohe is labeled an idiot in class.

If we were to attach a microphoneto a child with attention issues andhave it record everything straightthroughout the entire day, the predom-inant word that we would hear whenwe played it back would be 'Stupid!'What happens to a child when hehears the words 'stupid' or 'idiot'be-ing spoken at him many times everyday? What kind of affect does thathave on a child and on his psyche?How much can a child tolerate of thecontinuous beating down until it actu-ally becomes a self-fulfilling prophe-cy? How much can a child take until hejust breaks down and gives up?When a child stops trusting him-self, when he stops believing that hecan do things, when the child starts tobelieve that he is incapable and that hereally is what everybody says abouthim, then a whole new world of prob-lems has been laid at our feet. The

work with this child is now tripled be-cause now we are dealing with a childwho has a poor sense of self and a dis-torted view of reality on top of his at-tention issues. Try fixing that one.The fact is, a child with an atten-tion problem is not an idiot. He is ex-tremely smart. He just works different-ly. His mind just sees, hears and 'getsthings' differently.Many times children with atten-tion issues can literally run circlesaround their peers with their talent,knowledge, insight and understanding.Such children will build complex cas-tles and cities out of lego while theirfriends are still sorting out the pieces.There is only one steadfast rulewhen it comes to educational problemswith children in school. It is never thechild's fault. The child did not chooseto be the way he is. He just is that way.He is a product of his environment, ofnurture or nature, or both. He did notwalk over to a big box of leaming dis-abilities and arbitrarily pick one be-cause he loved the way it sounds.Every child is different. Not betteror worse, but different. Just as theirfaces and personalities are different, soare their thought processes and meth-ods of logical deduction and acquisi-tion of knowledge.Now this question bears asking. Ifwe can readily accept that each andevery child is unique, why do we find itso difficult to believe that every childaccumulates knowledge differently?Why is it that even though there aretfuee or four children in each class thatsit around learning nothing all year andare constantly getting into frouble, werefuse to admit that there is somethingwrong with the system? Is it okay topresume that those three or four chil-

dren every year are the small price topay for the education of the others?We have to learn to stop seeingchildren with learning issues as bad ordamaged. We have to start seeing themas children who are as able and willingto learn as others when presented withthe right opportunity. It is our job tofind their way of learning and to givethem that opportunity.Adults have no problem openlyadmitting about themselves their stylesor methods of learning and absorbinginformation. An adult will readily ad-mit to you that he doesn't like to readan instruction manual but would ratherwatch an instructional video. Anotheradult will find no problem in beingopen about the fact that he despises in-structional videos but finds instruc-tional audio most helpful.This is because it makes all thesense in the world that each personwill have their preferred method oflearning how to do something. Eachperson gets the job done correctly. It'sjust the way they get there that differs.Then why is it that the sameteacher that enjoys reading the funniesin the paper but skips the op-ed refus-es to teach his students according totheir own unique way? Why is it thathe perfectly understands his preferredmethod of learning but not his stu-dents'?There is a good reason why thosethree or four children sit around doingnothing every year. It is not becausethey are stupid. It is because they arenot being taught to, they are beingtaught at. They have absolutely no usefor all the assignments and perfectlyprepared lectures in class. They haveno use for all the spelling words andstories with underlying math problemsbeing presented in class. They justdon't get it, plain and simple. Theycan't, don't, and won't learn that way.They have a completely different wayof learning.

Truth be told it isn't only thosethree or four 'dummies' that learn intheir own way. It is way more thanthat, only the others don't have anychoice. It is either go with the flow andtake what you're given, or you fall outand become one of the 'lazy idiots'who don't want to leam.So now you may ask, how can a

Listen to The Counlry Yosi Rodio Show, Every Tuesdoy Night, 7 - 8 PM on WSNR 620AMFor Mogozine or Rodio Advertising Coll: (718) 851-2010

7/27/2019 Different Not Dumb Country Yossi Article

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*ur',.,, ,,,{({zr}r{ MAY 2or 2 )")san1:''oteacher possibly teach thirty childrenall in their own way? The answer is,you don't! You have to offer every-thing up and allow and facilitate sothat each child can absorb the informa-tion in his or her own way.So now you may ask, what haschanged? Our current method of teach-ing is thousands of years old. Why dowe need to teach everything differentlynowadays? What changed with chil-dren all of a sudden? The answer is,nothing! Children have not changed. Itis the teaching that changed. The waywe teach today is not the way childrenhave always been taught.Two thousand years ago leamingwas not done in a classroom. It was allhands-on. You didn't teach math, youjust took your child shopping and helearned how to calculate.Two thousand years ago you did-n't teach a child about clouds from abook. You laid out in the fields andlooked up to the heavens where, lo andbehold, you observed real clouds.That was how children learnedand grew. Every child was able to ab-sorb knowledge at their own pace.

Each child was able to take from thesituation in their own way. Some byseeing, some by hearing, and some bytouching and feeling. Each child wasable to experience the same situationand walk away with their own uniqueperspective. The child was then able toprocess the information and formulatefrom there their own opinions andbuild on it in their own way.We can read more books in class,solve more math problems, but untilwe accept and embrace the fact thatevery child is different, and we actual-

ly do something to demonstrate that,we will always have those three or fourchildren that will just fall to the way-side and go through the stages of life ascasualties of society. @

Yehudah Zellermaier, LMSW is abilingual Yiddish speaking socialworker. He provides counseling andplaytherapy services in yeshivas and inprivate for children and adults respec-tively with academic, emotional, andsocial dfficulties. Yehudah can bereached at 7 I 8-43 5-6473.

Listen to The Country Yossi Rodio Show, Every Iuesdoy Night, 7 - 8 PM on WSNR 620AMFot Mogozine or Rodio Advertising Coll: (718) 851-2010