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Theory Into Practice, Spring, 2005 by Sally M. Reis, Lilia Ruban
Joe: A tall, heavy set, intense-looking young man
with dark curly hair, a beard, and glasses, was a college
junior with a major in physics who had experienced
many problems in school due to the interaction
between his learning disability and his
academic talents. His verbal IQ was over 140 but he
struggled with reading throughout school. His father
was an attorney, and his mother, who attained a
bachelor's degree in English, was a researcher. Joe's
older brother was pursuing a doctorate at the same
time that Joe was in danger of flunking out of college.
Joe's academic problems began at a very early
age, as he struggled to learn to read. In fact, he experienced
so many learning problems in the primary
grades that he was placed in a self-contained special
education classroom for students with disabilities.
During his time in a self-contained classroom, Joe
became depressed and his academic progress was
compromised. Reading remained a struggle for him
throughout middle and high school, and although he
eventually learned to read slowly, he continued to
struggle with reading new material. He was involved
in a university learning disabilities program, but
whether he would complete college was questionable
as he was on academic probation due to low
grades he had received in the required liberal arts
classes outside of his major area. He also continued
to struggle to attain compensation strategies and to
self-regulate his learning.
Sara: An intense young woman with dark eyes
and hair was not identified as having a learning disability
until fifth grade, but she experienced academic
difficulties in several areas from the time she
entered first grade, despite her verbal precocity and
broad knowledge base. Each year her teachers tested
Sara and reassured her parents, professors at a large
state university, that she would eventually learn to
read and understand math. After Sara had received
remedial help for years, her parents, frustrated with
her lack of progress, asked for a full psychological
and educational evaluation. Despite her advanced
verbal abilities, Sara was identified as having learning
problems in several areas, including dyslexia, information
processing, auditory processing, mathematical
computation and nonverbal learning
disabilities. The low scores she received in some areas
were matched by extremely high scores in other
areas, including verbal abilities, general knowledge,
problem solving, and reasoning skills. Sara's parents,
working closely with her teachers, provided individualized
reading instruction at home, accompanied
by their commitment to help Sara learn good
work habits and self-motivation strategies. Television
watching was curtailed, time was devoted each
evening to homework and studying and during the
next few years, Sara learned to apply herself, work
hard and earn high grades in middle school. When
she entered high school, Sara experienced difficulty
in her advanced classes due to her reading and processing
problems and was forced to make difficult
choices about the number of challenging classes in
which she could enroll. Over time, she learned to
make choices about the advanced opportunities she
could pursue. She is currently attending a competitive
college, and although she does not earn high
grades in all classes, she has continued to work extremely
hard and excel in the areas she most enjoys.
(p. 39-40)
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