LD or DL?
Okay, the week is over…and I can breathe for the first time in nearly five days. I came home, tonight, with about 30 minutes worth of school work instead of my usual 5 hours. This will be the most “time-off” that I have had in almost four weeks. I am not complaining…oh, hell, yes, I am! Can you say stress?
Alright…onward and upward.
The beginning of the school year is always filled with a whirlwind of meetings for kids who are ELL (English Language Learner), ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), EBD (Emotionally Behaviorally Disorder), TAG (Talented and Gifted), OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), DHH (Deaf/Hard of Hearing), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), and DAPE (Developmental Adaptive Physical Education), and of course, OHI (Other Health Impaired) for all students who have something wrong with them, buuuuuuuuuut…you just don’t know what that might be. (NOTE: As a teacher, I have labels, too. Sometimes they come from the kids, and sometimes they come from other people! Most aren’t really nice…and the letters spell bad words. 
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A while back, I was talking to my son about all of the labels we put on kids. It seems that if a kid looks at you wrong, they are tested for Special Education or EBD and placed on an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan). And…if they can fart and chew gum at the same time, they’re labeled gifted. My classes are gradually emerging as “half gifted”, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, as we were talking about the fact that kids have all of these labels…a complete combinations of all of the letters of the alphabet…and even some new ones letters that haven’t even been invented yet, I mentioned that many of my kids this year are labeled LD (Learning Disabled).
He thought for a moment and then spouted off information about labels. “Well, you know, Mom, when I was in school, most kids were either labeled one of two things: LD or DL. I was puzzled; DL was something I had never heard of, and since he is an IT (Information Technology) Guy, I figured he might have just gotten the letters wrong. So, I lorded over him my “teacher intelligence”. “Yeah, well, son, there are a lot of labels in teaching, but DL isn’t one of them.” I grinned to think that for the first time in many years, I was “smarter” than him. He smiled and said, “Ahhhh, but that’s where you’re wrong. See, your kids, as you have described them, are either LD or DL: Learning Disabled or Dang Lazy!”
And so, it seems we now have a new label to attach to kids who seem to show little or not effort in the educational arena. DL…Dang Lazy! And just for the record, my label back then would have been DL, too!
I challenge you to the assignment of a lifetime. Find a child in your classroom who is DL, and find a way to help them overcome their disability.
Mary…the Phat/Fat Teacher