UNIT 20 Disability

藝弊悝汜炾釬

Friends Through It All

by Jessica Schulbmehl, Bishop Maginn High School

Sara had always been my best friend. It didn＊t matter that she was different. We had fun together. Then we started middle school and our whole world was flipped upside down.

Sara and I were thrown into a larger school with more people than we had ever seen at one school at the same time. After a few fear-filled weeks, I became comfortable in my new surroundings and was doing well. I wish I could say the same for Sara. I didn＊t understand why she was having so much trouble. All the work we did was no harder than the things we had done in grammar school. The only real difference was how the material was presented to us, and I didn＊t see how that could affect her learning.

I was worried about Sara; she was getting teased a lot and always appeared so sad. She told me that she had a problem that she was working on with her guidance counselor. Sara asked if I would go with her to the guidance counselor. I went to see Mrs. Vance with Sara. Mrs. Vance told us that Sara＊s evaluation revealed a language disorder.

Sara had an impairment in the ability to use words. Mrs. Vance said that when Sara read, she understood what the words meant. When speaking or writing, however, her words didn＊t always come out the way she meant them to. That explained why Sara got the answers wrong to questions she knew.

I found out that 1 out of every 10 children in America have language disorders. These problems may mildly, moderately, or severely impair the learning process. Students with these kinds of learning disabilities may exhibit a wide range of traits, including problems with reading comprehension, spoken language and writing. These problems are not the result of a lack of intelligence, rather they are resultant from an obstacle to communication of ideas.

After our meeting, I sat down to talk with Sara. At first she was embarrassed, but after a few minutes I got her to talk. We spoke about her disability, study solutions, and ways to help her do better in school. I offered to help her in any way that I could. We started studying together. I read aloud to her and wrote in large, dark print. During the remainder of the school year I saw an improvement. She was getting better grades, answering questions correctly in class, and making new friends. With the assistance of the Guidance Office and her friends and family, Sara made excellent progress. I was so happy for her.

It has been a few years now and Sara is a completely different person. Sara and I are still best friends, and we see each other regularly. As everyone knows, there＊s more to life than school, and Sara and I make sure we enjoy it! It seems like I＊ve known her forever, and we do all the important things together, like shopping, parties and just hanging out. Sara＊s just a regular person who needed a little extra help. Don＊t we all need that now and then?

If you know someone with a disability, talk to them. Try to understand their disability. Don＊t be part of the problem for them, become part of the solution!

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蔬劼吽噪蔬詢撰笢悝