Something's not Right 2nd Edition

Nancy Lelewer

Description

A story about a mother told to institutionalize one of her children, and she said no. The book covers how her children and grandchildren with dyslexia and other learning disabilities became triumphant.
Learning disabilities (LD) are a root cause of major problems in our society. Vast numbers of youngsters are not receiving appropriate education. Nancy Lelewer’s story began when even less was known about learning disabilities than is known today. In a gripping and fast-moving narrative style, this book brings home the fact that LD persons need to receive instruction via different routes and the earlier the better. This Second Edition is a complete update of the award winning first edition that came out in 1994.

Sujets

• ADHD
• Trastorno por déficit de atención con hiperactividad
• Síndrome de Asperger
• Learning disability
• Biography
• Asperger
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• Autobiography
• Trouble du déficit de l'attention
• Syndrome d'Asperger

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 06 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665734677
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Praise for the first edition
Parents’ Choice Award labeled Nancy Lelewer’s autobiography, Something’s Not Right: One Family’s Struggle with Learning Disabilities , “… a breakthrough book that may well lay the groundwork for seminal scholarship in the field of learning disabilities.”
“… is the best account of effects of dyslexia of anything I have ever read. Its point in reality is very simple: In dyslexia, as with so many problems in life, intelligent persistence pays off in the end.”
—Charles Drake PHD, founder of the Landmark Schools
“… should serve to present to the lay public an understanding of learning disabilities to broaden their awareness of the impact this can have on individuals, families, and society.”
—Frank Hopkins Duffy MD, director of Developmental Neurophysiology at Children’s Hospital; associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School
“… goes a long way to help reduce the needless, corrosive guilt that is often born by parents when their children fail to develop normally.”
—Howard T. Hermann, MD, professor of psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine

“… is an honest, thoughtful affirmation of a child’s most valuable resource: an observant, caring parent with unspeakable hope, patience, persistence, and resourcefulness.”
—Carolyn Oliver, director of admissions at Landmark College, Putney, Vermont
“… is a well-written, easily read but compelling account of a mother’s struggle to understand her learning-disabled children’s world … Parents, and professionals also, should find much of value here in developing their own understanding of the daily challenges faced by dyslexic or otherwise, learning disabled children.”
—Laura Lehtinen Rogan., PhD, Co-author of Psychopathology and Education of the Brain-Injured Child , Collaborator on The Other Child , Co-author of reading material for learning disabled children
“… could be a timely contribution to the growth in understanding of LD. Written in a style that is informative while being engaging and sympathetic, this story should appeal to parents of young children (whether or not learning disabled) and to educators, researchers, and clinicians in the field of learning disabilities.
—Per Udden, MD, founder and executive secretary of the Rodin Remediation Academy, Kerns, Switzerland
SOMETHING’S not
RIGHT
 
2 ND EDITION
 
 
 
 
 
 
An autobiography by
NANCY LELEWER
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Nancy Lelewer.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3468-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3466-0 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-3467-7 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022922604
 
 
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 09/12/2023
About the Author

(Photo by Steven Wagner)
In 2004, the Massachusetts branch of the International Dyslexia Association awarded Nancy Lelewer the Alice Garside Award for her outstanding contribution to the field of dyslexia. While acknowledging she shared the same lifetime dedication to the field as past recipients, they noted she, unlike other recipients, was completely self-taught. This was the first year since the award’s inception in 1985 that it had been given to an individual who had never taken an Orton-Gillingham training program or one of its spin-offs. In fact, in the award’s history, Nancy was only the second dyslexic to be chosen.
Nancy’s interest in dyslexia grew out of her own struggles with it as a child. As an adult, her awareness of her children’s dyslexia and other learning disabilities served to deepen her interest in the field. To help her children grasp concepts such as taking turns and winning and losing when they were young, Nancy invented nine board games called “Have Fun with Me. Play 1, 2, 3.” Nancy obtained three patents, a trademark, and copyrights for them in hopes of marketing them when her children were older. She also invented and copyrighted a calendar that can help children understand the time of day (morning, afternoon, evening); the day of the week; and the month of the year. Both the games and the calendar were manufactured and marketed by major companies.
Nancy has served on three dyslexia boards and spent five years as chairwoman of the board for a school for dyslexic boys. Once her children were grown, she turned her attention to research into the causes of dyslexia. She became a research affiliate at MIT’s Man Vehicle Lab (Center for Space Research) and an associate in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Her work contributed to papers that were published in Cortex and Annals of Dyslexia .
Nancy was the US cofounder of a Swedish wheelchair company (Permobil), which she ran for the first three years in the United States. Today, Permobil is the largest computerized wheelchair company in the world.
If you wish to find out more about Nancy please check out her webpage www.NancyLelewer.com or email her at [e-mail]
Dedication
To my mom and dad, who taught me about parenting through their examples of consistency, structure, nurturing, and love and always found time to listen. And to my four children and eight grandchildren, who expanded my knowledge of learning and loving and allowed this invasion of their privacy in the hope it would help others.
Contents
About the Author
Preface
A Poem on Learning Disabilities
Introduction   My First Reading Test
Chapter 1       Brian’s Introduction into the World
Chapter 2       Struggling with Chaos
Chapter 3       Invited, but Not Invited Back
Chapter 4       A Slap In the Face
Chapter 5       The Long, Hot Summer
Chapter 6       From the Frying Pan Into the Fire
Chapter 7       Saying No to an Expert
Chapter 8       Learning Is Possible
Chapter 9       Beginning to Get Some Answers
Chapter 10     Kelly’s Downhill Slide
Chapter 11     Games Give Brian Space and Time
Chapter 12     Struggling within the System
Chapter 13     The Right School Makes the Difference
Chapter 14     Penny Opens Up
Chapter 15     How Did My Children Grow Up So Fast and I Get to be This Old?
Chapter 16     The Grandchildren are grown up too
Chapter 17     Lessons Learned
Resources
Acknowledgments
Preface
Although neither of my parents was ever diagnosed as dyslexic (the syndrome was almost unknown when they were growing up), I suspect they both had learning disabilities, including dyslexia. Reading was not a major activity in my home. My parents read parts of the newspaper daily, some magazine articles, and books occasionally, but no one in my family ever sat for hours reading.
My mother, a college graduate, had always been plagued with letter reversals, number inversions, and malapropisms (misused words). Attempts to avoid these problems often led to rephrasing, so “the voice of the turtle” might come out as “the turtle speaks.”
My father, a successful businessman and exceptional athlete, was a low to average student. In elementary school and high school, he was more interested in playing sports than he was in studying, and after two years of college, he dropped out to go into business. While very successful, he never forgot an experience that had little to do with his success but much to do with his elementary education. When he was seven years old, his headmaster came into his first-grade classroom and asked each youngster to spell a word. He recounted, “When I spelled away a-y-a-w, he said, ‘You flunk and will have to repeat high first.’ My teacher told him I was a bright and conscientious child and convinced him I should be promoted to low second.”
That experience remained with my father throughout his life. At the age of ninety-eight, ninety-one years later, he would still speak of it. After he married, he began taking courses, as he felt that he had cheated himself out of an education, and there was much that he wanted to learn. He was always good at math. Even throughout his nineties, he could add, subtract, multiply, and divide large numbers quickly in his head. Dad never used a calculator or had to write anything down.
Over the years, professionals from various disciplines have used many names for the frustrating problem of a child’s failure to learn to read even in a good educational environment and with good motivation (until defeat has begun to erode it). Among them are minimal brain damage , perceptual handicap , learning disabilities , learning differences , and dyslexia . While these names label the problem, they do not explain the problem.
Perhaps the simplest way to explain dyslexia is to say it is a syndrome of complicated conditions that inhibit the ability to read and comprehend what has been read. Many dyslexics, for example, have trouble learning the sounds of some letters until the sounds are taught to them along with how to segment words. Still others have problems with comprehension. Most are poor at spelling. For all of these issues, having