"The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn." 
Alvin Toffler

I'm Not Mentally Retarded!

I.Q. tests have been challenged on many fronts. Do they really test intelligence? Are they culturally biased? And on it goes. Eight year old "Billy" didn't know anything about this debate when he challenged his I.Q. test results. However, this is not an article about I.Q. tests. It a true story of one child's struggle to learn and feel self-esteem and how he succeeded.

Billy started school as a normal 1st grader, having gone to daycare and kindergarten. He was cute, stocky, and outgoing, curious and observant, but he struggled to read. In an effort to address his reading problem, Billy was assigned to the "blue bird" reading group. "Everyone knows those are the dummies," he said. His ego was assaulted and he continued to struggle and become more frustrated. With every positive intention, he was tested and considered appropriate for the Learning Disabilities class for second grade. His parents, who had two "normal" daughters, were very hopeful that Billy would get the help he needed.

Perhaps Billy was not developmentally ready for reading. Studies have indicated that boys' brains mature for reading as late as 9 to 1l years old. One can be VERY far behind, very steeped in failure by 9 years old if a student's difficulty is not recognized. We can only guess at this point "why" he did poorly. We do know that his ability to process information in an academic setting grew progressively worseBy the end of the third grade, Billy seemed to be having more difficulty in his ability to learn. He was retested. I.Q.–75. Mentally retarded. The test "proved" it.

One thing we know if that the more emotional Billy became about reading and consequently, other types of learning, the more his natural thinking strategies would "glitch" or short circuit. His "glitch" included mental interference that blocked his natural thinking ability. The result: he felt "dumber and dumber" in school.

There is an old Chinese proverb which states, "Treat a man as if he has the wisdom to understand." Fortunately for Billy, his two grown sisters and his parents did just that–treated him "as if" he were smart. At home, he was clever and glib, even quite humorous at times. What happened when he went to school? Did his "lights go out?"

In his confusion and embarrassment about being labeled "Mentally Retarded", Billy "pitched a fit" and refused to go to school the next year if they were going to put him in a "retarded class." He was adamant and quite vocal. His anguished parents brought him to counseling, hoping to effect an "attitude adjustment" so he would understand that the MR class would be "best" for him.

Building Rapport

I began my sessions with a sullen, depressed looking little boy. He reminded me of a little cornered animal. As rapport increased and we talked about subjects other than school, I found him to be talkative and he appeared to be bright and alert. If I hadn't known his diagnosis, I would not have suspected mental retardation by observing his behaviors and following his patterns of thought.

I decided to check out his processing (thinking) with a basic spelling exercise. I had noticed much visual accessing and wondered if spelling would be as difficult for him as reading reportedly was. I asked him if he would "be willing to spell for me". (I never use "try to" spell as it presupposes difficulty.) He said, "Yes", but his chin practically hit his chest as he looked down and heaved a great sigh.

Since we had discussed my horse earlier in the session, I chose the word "horse" for him to spell. His eyes moved about rapidly and randomly and he did not get any closer to spelling "horse" than beginning with "H"! After a few rapid fire attempts at various versions of the word "horse", he slumped back in his chair, looking like I had just fed him creamed spinach.

I attempted to take him through a spelling strategy, however, at this point, his beliefs about learning and his emotions prevented a simple strategy shift. As the session was nearing a close, I opted to re-establish rapport. Having discovered that he liked and collected match box cars, I asked him to bring some in for me to see at the next session. He happily agreed.

His Memory Works

At the next session, he arrived proudly bearing two boxes (24 in each) of his match box cars. We inspected his favorites, and I "oohed" and "aahed" appropriately. We had them all over the office floor when I suggested they be put away for another day. Being helpful, I stuck the cars in the little "egg crate" type carton in a random fashion. Quickly, Billy corrected me and said, "The yellow Vet goes here and the silver truck goes here..." "Hmmm," I thought, "Billy really has a pattern coded for some of these cars."

I asked Billy if he knew where EACH car "lived". He said, "Yes." I asked him how many spaces he could identify with the correct car. He said, "How much will you pay me?" (A budding entrepreneur!)"A nickel each," I said. "Make it a quarter." (Finance must be his strong suit!) He visualized the box by de-focusing his eyes on the lid and following each space with his finger. He proceeded to name ALL of the spaces! No mean feat for someone who is mentally retarded!

I explained to Billy that picturing words and letters in his head was much like remembering how his cars went into their cases. He could "run a video" of cars or words or old movies or whatever he chose. He wasn't too sure about this at first, and every time I even mentioned school or learning or thinking, he got the "creamed spinach" expression again.

Change of State

It would be necessary to get Billy into a better emotional state before his brain would even cooperate with us. (To learn more about how one's state can interfere with learning, see "ADD...or IS It?".)

After Billy could think of school and spelling without feeling scared and sad, he learned to use the spelling strategy successfully. Billy began to have some success spelling names and words he previously could not spell. However, it was just the beginning. Billy is a very kinesthetic learner; he "feels" his way through the material, so to speak. Unfortunately, his LD teacher did not recognize that the amount of time Billy took to answer was directly related to this type of processing. When Billy was asked a question, he would take a deep breath, look up then down to the right, another deep breath and then down to the left and THEN (maybe) he would answer the question. Billy reported that his teacher, who taught him for second AND third grade, would "get in my face and yell 'just think, Billy, just think'." Anyone who has had to think under emotional pressure can understand that Billy could NOT think at that point.

Billy could not "think" with this kind of pressure, because the emotions and the yelling would short circuit (change) his thinking strategy. The visual and kinesthetic (learning channels) components of his thinking (internal pictures and positive feelings) were interrupted and he often would shift to auditory, his weakest link at that time. This process left him "blank", feeling bad, and guessing at answers–sounding very learning disabled and actually becoming unable to think clearly.

The Director of Guidance at a well-known private school in Dallas stated that as high as 80% of Learning Disabilities (non-physiologically based) are induced by behavior or ignorance such as Billy experienced. I have seen it over and over. And I have seen teachers and counselors effect "miracles" with multi-modal approaches like those taught through The Learner's Edge plus respect and justice.

We continued to work on building his self-esteem, showing him how easily he DID learn things when he was comfortable and thoroughly teaching him new coping skills for stressful situations. He began to feel confident, but was STILL angry and determined NOT to go to the MENTALLY RETARDED CLASS!!!!!

At my request, his parents had him retested in August. He scored an 85. His basic knowledge still needed remediation, although his strategies were now more effective. He was placed in an LD class with a different teacher. This teacher was willing to listen to the work Billy had done with me and to support his positive self-image. He blossomed. Billy graduated from High School with B's and C's! I'm glad his family heard when he said, "I'M NOT MENTALLY RETARDED!"