Compensating strengths

James is a learning disabled young man who is in my small group (12:1) 7th grade math class and is also seen by me for reading and writing assistance. This is my second year working with him. Although James has not been diagnosed with dyslexia, he seems to have many of the characteristics of a dyslexic student. As far as his compensating strengths go, he is pretty coordinated for a boy of his size. (He is overweight.) He is one of the first ones chosen when sides are picked for basketball and I'm told by others that he is a talented football player. (American football.)

In addition to his athletic skills, I believe he is a popular teammate because he does not try to do things all by himself and when someone on his team makes a mistake, he's there for support and encouragement. At the moment, he is helping us with a new 6th grade student who is having trouble adjusting to the middle school life. James knows the 6th grader from their elementary school and the younger boy looks up to James.

James also brings these empathy skills to our small group discussions about literature. He's got a strong ability to put himself into the shoes of the characters we are discussing and coming up with possible motivations for their actions and predicting future behavior.

Difficulties of dyslexia

As I mentioned above, James is in my small group (12:1) class for math. Last year, as a sixth grader, James had very little of the multiplication table memorized. This slowed him down in everything from division to working with fractions. Already this year, I can see some improvement. He told me his mother worked with him over the summer. He still is lacking in this area, but I'm encouraging the mom -- who works as a school aide in another building -- to keep up the good work.

One of James's main obstacles when it comes to grade-level math work, is his difficulties completing multiple-step computations and word problems. For example, when dividing fractions, he will often forget to invert the second fraction. He sometimes inverts the second fraction needlessly while performing a multiplication of fractions problem. I have noticed a bit of an improvement when it comes to changing mixed numbers into improper fractions, and back again. I think this is a result of his working more on the times tables.

As far as word problems go, I have to frequently ask him to figure out what the question is asking and what a reasonable answer might be. Then we can work out a plan to solve the problem. I want him to decide whether we have to we multiply or divide, add or subtract, what step comes first and an effective "check" for our answer. Getting him to think about the problem before putting pencil to paper is helping him organize the skills needed to successfully complete the work.)

Causes of dyslexia

During last year's annual IEP review, James's mother and I were discussing James's health history. (That's not a usual point of discussion in these annual meetings, but I had just read the section dealing with causes of dyslexia in the course book.) She informed me that James was "in and out of hospitals" with "ear problems" up until he was three. In all that time, she told me, no one had connected James's difficulties in school with the ear infections. She then told me that James was a "late talker" compared to his cousins. James's mother said that no one else in the family had these kinds of problems so I don't believe it is genetic. I recommended that she get his hearing checked but she has yet to do so. I guess I should bring it up again soon.

The mother also confided in me that she and James's father had been having "problems" for a while. She and the father would separate, get back together, then separate again. It made me wonder what that would do to James's ability to focus and how it would affect his educational life. I got the strong impression that one of the reasons he is such an empathetic kid is that he has lots of practice listening to and comforting his mom. (I received a phone call the first week of school this year and James's mom told me that she and the father were split "for good this time." One more thing to be conscious of when working with James.)

Case Study by T.M. (New York)

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