Special Needs Kids

I have lots of parents call and tell me their son or daughter has been diagnosed as ADD or ADHD, and is concerned about getting them the extra help they need. These are very serious conditions, and can affect everything about not only how a young person studies and achieves in school, but how their self-image and self-esteem develops as they mature to adulthood. The whole situation of counselors and medication and not being able to concentrate, even though they desperately want to, can be truly crushing to a sensitive kid. (Of course, you know that already if your child is in this category.)

I am definitely NOT a psychiatrist or psychologist, so some of the "clinical" and diagnostic things involved are outside the scope of my knowledge, but I can say that in all the dealings I've had with such students, I find the one-on-one approach to be really helpful to them. When there's no pressure, no chance to be compared to anyone other than themselves, and no preconceived ideas on my part as to exactly what I'm going to be facing with them, they usually respond well, and we can have very productive sessions. The labels go away, and I find that what I'm dealing with, first and foremost, is a kid -- a person like no other person in the world. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that every tutoring student is a special needs student, because every single one of them has certain things unique to their particular situation that need to be addressed in a way unlike anyone else!

I've found this to be true with every student I've ever tutored, including the severely ADD, the deaf, the ones who don't have English as a first language, and so on. They're all just kids in the process of growing up, and they all just want to be treated like everyone else -- with respect and dignity. That's fine with me, because there's a lot of respect and admiration due to someone who works like crazy to get a C, and is ecstatic about having achieved that "best grade ever" in math. In a lot of ways, it's a better situation than the really bright kid who goofs off and gets a B when they should be making solid "A"s. It's all in the attitude we take toward turning our efforts into successes, and as long as the student wants to learn, we'll be able to make significant headway.