Abilities Panel Encourages Students to Connect, Share Strengths
"Say it to yourself, 'I'm AWESOME,'" Process This founder Megan Hayden said to an auditorium of students living with learning disabilities. She went on to explain that the purpose of the day’s panel and activities would be to celebrate different learning styles.
The “Abilities Panel” took place at Science Leadership Academy-Beeber on November 15, 2016 and was organized by Ms. Hayden, who co-founded Process This, an organization that champions students with learning disabilities and encourages self-discovery, empowerment, and leadership through a strengths-based approach to learning abilities.
Ms. Hayden started the Abilities Panel event last year. She lives with a learning disability herself and believes that she would have benefited from an event like this as a student. This year, Ms. Hayden collaborated with Special Education Liaisons Sara Turnoff from SLA-Beeber and Adin Michelen from the Workshop School to plan and host the event.
Before commencing the panel discussion, Ms. Hayden paused to ask her audience, “Can you all hear me?” She went on to explain, “Part of my learning disability is hearing, so…”
Ms. Hayden continued her introduction to the panel in a tone that was equal parts humor and honesty. “I have a learning disability,” she stated clearly to a full auditorium of students from SLA-Beeber and the Workshop School. “I had an IEP growing up. When I was in school, I was super ashamed.”
“I got pulled out of classes,” she continued, adding in her comical-yet-fiercely-authentic tone, “It sucked! Have any of you gotten pulled out of class?” Nearly all students in the audience raised their hands.
“Look to the person next to you,” Ms. Hayden said, “and realize: we don’t have to live in the dark.”
Indeed, the goals of the Abilities Panel were to expose the strengths of individuals with learning disabilities and to emphasize to students currently living with learning disabilities that they are not the only ones facing such challenges.
“Out of this panel, I want you to understand that you’re not alone, that there are other people,” Ms. Hayden told the group. “I want you guys to be kind to yourself.”
The event aimed to showcase the realities of living with different learning abilities, and it also served to demonstrate the similarities that people with learning disabilities have, both in terms of challenges and perseverance.
“When you are in Special Education or have a learning disability, it is a secret,” Ms. Hayden explained. “You don’t want to tell anybody because it’s embarrassing, therefore no one really talks about it even though about 20% of any classroom has IEP students. This event was designed to put everything out in the open. To not be embarrassed and to talk about strength when all we hear about is deficiency.”
Ms. Hayden described the goals of the event in three parts: one, to bring students together; two, to hear from each, the struggles and the triumphs; and three, to see how many other people are just like them.
The panel included two seniors, Mark and TJ, both from SLA-Beeber, as well as Emilia Giordano, a teacher and co-founder of Process This. Ms. Hayden posed questions and facilitated the panel, and she opened the discussion by asking all panelists to share their learning disability “story.”
Ms. Giordano told her story first. “I was diagnosed very late,” she said, explaining that it was not until she was a junior in high school that she finally received support for her learning disability, which she had struggled with for years under the radar. She spoke about how embarrassed and ashamed she was to finally take the step to get diagnosed, and she kept her learning disability a secret throughout the rest of high school. When she finally told her friends about her learning disability years later, she was surprised to learn that many of them struggled in similar ways; they all lived with learning disabilities, but none of them felt comfortable sharing their different learning styles out of shame.
“I enjoy working with students with learning disabilities because I had to create my own systems,” she said. After living with an undiagnosed learning disability for so long and having to build strong coping mechanisms, Ms. Giordano recognizes the strength that her students have. Plus, she knows that once a learning disability is diagnosed, it doesn’t necessarily go away. Learning disabilities must be dealt with throughout life, something that takes a special kind of strength and skill.
TJ, a senior at SLA-Beeber, spoke next, explaining how his learning disabilities are somewhat connected to his glasses. TJ did not start wearing glasses until the eighth grade, despite the fact that he desperately needed them. He joked that he used to sit extremely close to the board, squinting just to get by. But in his opinion, his lack of proper eyewear might have contributed to or exacerbated some of his learning disabilities, such as anger management. If a student cannot see the board, chances are they'll feel an added sense of frustration.
TJ got suspended four or five times at the school he attended before coming to SLA-Beeber. “The way I think isn’t the way they teach,” he explained.
When he first met the Special Education Liaison at SLA-Beeber, he admitted that he really did not like or trust her. Then she went to his church—she met him in his safe and sacred place—and asked if they could have a meeting so she could get to know him. This changed everything for TJ, and he now feels at home at SLA-Beeber.
The other SLA-Beeber student, Mark, then shared his story. “I didn’t realize the bad looks that kids get when they’re pulled out of class until I was one of them,” he admitted.
In elementary school, Mark was never part of IEP meetings, which seemed to him to be “top secret” affairs between parents and teachers. And while receiving a formal diagnosis through an IEP meant that he received extra support, it also meant that he was looked over in class as someone couldn’t possibly contribute to discussions or have the correct answers because he had a learning disability.
“Not much was expected of me,” he said. “After I got my IEP, I was never called on in class, even if I had my hand raised.”
When Mark entered high school at SLA-Beeber, he was beyond excited. He thought it was his chance to start over—no one would know he had an IEP; he wouldn’t be tagged as the “learning disability” kid anymore. “For a long time,” he explained, “I always felt like my IEP was a prison guard.”
On his first day in the new school, Mark was pulled out of class. "I cried," he admitted to the auditorium full of his peers. He was worried that high school would be a repeat of his negative experiences in elementary and middle school as a student with an IEP.
But this time was different. Mark was reassured that he wouldn’t be excluded from class discussions or have lowered expectations because of his different learning style. That wasn’t the way SLA-Beeber treated their students.
Ms. Hayden then asked the panelists what they considered to be their strengths. Mark answered first: “Comprehension. I may read slow, but I comprehend a lot.”
Ms. Giordano said, “My core strength is empathy.” She draws from her lived experiences as someone who has a learning disability to understand and help students who likewise have learning disabilities. Plus, as someone who lives with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), Ms. Giordano says one of her core strengths is also creativity. She tends to think non-linearly, in part because of her of her ADHD, and this helps her think of solutions to problems in unique and innovative ways.
TJ confidently listed a variety of his strengths. “Speaking, caring, and compassion,” he said, and then added, “I’m completely honest with myself. I think that’s a really good quality.” He spoke about the importance of self-love, and how this is a strength especially for students who live with different learning abilities.
TJ also spoke about the importance of self-advocacy as a strength. Asking for help and resources when you need them is a serious skill, he explained to the audience. Mark agreed, adding, “We’re not born intelligent…we all need resources to help us,” whether living with a learning disability or not.
After the panel concluded, Ms. Hayden led the large group in an activity that expounded on the discussion of strengths. “Shout out your strengths,” she encouraged students.
One student bravely volunteered first: “Obsessive!” she said. When Ms. Hayden asked her to explain why “obsessive” is a strength, the student said that she has learned multiple languages, and she can even decipher among ancient languages. While “obsessiveness” may have a negative connotation, this student viewed her tendency to be obsessive as a good quality, one that has helped her learn about difficult and obscure subjects.
“Organized,” another student volunteered. This student explained that he keeps things in certain places, always knowing where to find them. “Can I take you home with me?” Ms. Hayden joked.
Another student said her strength was being open-minded. “I think it’s a good quality in a friend,” she explained, while another student described his strength as “over-caring:” “I even cry during video games,” he laughed.
Students continued to share their strengths, becoming more and more confident as they heard from one another. Strengths included respectful; friendly; grasping onto concepts and ideas quickly; not giving up; determined; leader; ambition (to which Ms. Hayden admitted, laughingly, “I don’t know how to spell that!”); free-spirited; creative; good speaker; and fearless.
After students shared out, they took time to write their strengths on post-it notes and stick them on the walls of the auditorium for all to see.
“It was fun because I met kids who had the same thing that I struggle with,” Zakhil, a 15-year-old student, explained. “One kid talked about his problems with reading and how he overcame. We had to speak in front of everyone about our strengths. One student talked about his anger issues, and I related to him because I too have anger issues. I would like to go to another event like this one.”
Another student, Stephone, 15, said that the Abilities Panel helped him feel like he wasn’t alone. The event helped him recognize that other students his age face the same challenges everyday.
“What I liked the most about the Abilities Panel is that it made me feel human again,” Stephone said. “I often don't feel like a normal kid due to me not being able to keep up with the rest of the class or me learning at a different pace than everyone else, especially when we start new projects. It was a really refreshing surprise when I saw other people facing the same struggles as me. It’s definitely something I would want to do again.”
Ms. Hayden also encourages parents and family members to support students who have different learning abilities. “Families can support their children by asking themselves, ‘Is the action I am about to take helping my child become a self-advocating, independent adult?’” she said.
“Parents need to be honest with their kids!” Ms. Hayden emphasized. She explained that parents/families need to help their students not only academically, but socially.
“Most IEP students struggle with social norms. Even for myself, effective communication with friends and family can be challenging,” she explained. “If there is an issue that comes up, talk to your kids! Most of the time they need help learning the norms because they don't see them.”
Ms. Hayden is currently building an app for students to communicate their academic needs and feelings to parents and teachers in real time. She believes strongly in the power of supportive family members.
“Students are able to succeed in life beyond high school when they have space to excel in a certain area such as cooking, sports, art, coding, etc.,” she explained. “I call them the little successes. There needs to be something positive outside of the classroom that helps anchor our students.”
For more information about how parents/families can support their students, please see the article that Ms. Hayden wrote:
http://mommybites.com/col1/toddler/acknowledgement-new-year-resolution/
Visit her organization’s website:
http://www.processthis.org
Or watch and listen to her podcast!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjL_AOJSX8w&t=970s
