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    Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof
    Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof
    Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof

    By Jon Van Loon

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    About this ebook

    A must have for individuals with learning problems (10% of the population thus suffers severely with many more with a lesser difficulty); this small book outlines the experience of my struggles and victory over a severe learning disability. Despite being bullied and hounded from a variety of doubters and academic skeptics I turned my life style failures and academic mediocrity into a major academic and professional success. As a Full Professor with an earned PhD at the University of Toronto I published 6 text/research books and 120 peer reviewed research papers mainly in Environmental Chemistry. This book demonstrates that the initial discouragement of a learning disability for young people in particular need not prevent the attainment of a successful academic and professional career.
    Readers with learning disabilities are normally concentration challenged due to the nature of their problem. Thus a relatively concise treatise of a subject is welcomed. I have presented this material in lectures to students, parents teachers and a variety of other professionals including psychologists, school principals and specialists and have always had an enthusiastic response.
    Books describing this level of achievement from persons with severe learning problems are seldom available from individuals that have experienced this type of success. Most books on Learning Disabilities come from special educational specialists and are not nearly as uplifting and encouraging.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJon Van Loon
    Release dateNov 18, 2012
    ISBN9780991785919
    Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof
    Author

    Jon Van Loon

    My life has been complicated by 3 factors. A severe learning disability and a bipolar condition could have easily doomed me to a troubled, non productive existence. However a prodigious unrelenting manic drive was the burr under my saddle that propelled me to unexpected achievement in academia. Of interest here in this regard was that developments in my laboratory at the University of Toronto lead me to opportunities to work, teach and live for short periods in many locations on the 6 continents over a 25 year period. During these intervals, I chose to live in local category accommodation thus maximizing my exposure and participation in parochial experiences. In contrast to the calamitous relationships dogging present world interrelationships my experiences were entirely welcoming and solicitous.I was born in Hamilton Ontario Canada. My interests include jogging and other fitness programs having run in and completed 4 marathons together with numerous 5, 10 and 20 km events. My prowess in sport to say the least was very average. Non-the-less I participated in and then later coached ice hockey both in Canada and Australia. My reward for all this activity is that I have a healthy cardiovascular system and have endured 3 knee replacement operations. Most particularly I have a passion for work related to environmental concerns. In this regard I have 120 peer reviewed research papers in Environmental Chemistry, one of which nearly landing me in jail.

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      Book preview

      Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners-Here's Proof - Jon Van Loon

      Learning Disabled are Really Special Learners

      Here’s Proof

      Jon Van Loon

      Copyright 2012 by Jon Van Loon

      Smashwords Edition

      Preface

      I am going to prove using my own experience that the phrase Learning Disabled is a poor description for those with learning problems. For most the phrase Special Leaner is much more appropriate.

      Ten percent of the general population has what are presently termed severe learning disabilities. Many more possess lesser problems of this type. Numerous in the Zoomer (elderly) age group have never been diagnosed thusly and struggled with this difficulty. Yet many of these have been very successful.

      Designed to be of comfort to those of you who have had learning problems, this manuscript outlines in detail my own particular experiences in life that were a major challenge. This is my method of commiserating and indicating that such problems need not be preemptive of a successful and rewarding life.

      The intent of this manuscript is to convince those of all age groups that most so called learning disabled individuals though they may struggle can and should be successful and therefore more properly designated Special Learners.

      You are about to read a monograph written by a person with only grade nine (first year high school) capability in spelling, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Due to a learning disability my visual and auditory memories are only in the 40th and 60th percentile ranges respectively. Despite these problems I have a PhD, was a Full Professor at the University of Toronto (Now Professor Emeritus-that is retired) and have several science books published by major publishers.

      The facts here-in have only with great difficulty been extracted from a miasma of memories and notes scratched on odd bits of paper. As a consequence of being unable to compose using conventional chapters strung together to form a continuous document this memoire is comprised of a sequence of short stories accumulated over a lifetime of success.

      It may be of interest that the keyboard technique consisted of one fingered hunt and peck. This methodology is given particular emphasis since it was quite common for the author to spend several seconds discerning the position of a letter before it could be struck. Additionally, a miss hit of a letter in close proximity to the one desired was a common difficulty. The spelling check program with Microsoft Word 2007 deserves particular praise for discerning errors in spelling in which the word typed often bore only a cursory similarity to the correct spelling. Thausarus.com must also be commended. This had to be frequently consulted mostly utilizing their innovative Clever Keys approach.

      It is crucial to emphasize that much of what appears in this book is to a degree related directly to my learning disability. But since there are a plethora of different combinations of problems that describe each individuals own learning disability, this manuscript has been formulated to be also typical of classes of strategy developments that will be excellent guidelines for all.

      IT must be strongly emphasized that in recognizing the uniqueness of learning problems it is important that each affected individual must in the end compile a group of strategies that works in their own case.

      It is crucial also to realize that person’s with learning difficulties normally prefer accounts that are of interest to them to be as brief as possible, concentration difficulties being agonizingly common. Thus in this book specific strategies will be presented but detail formats, most of which were responsible for my own success, will be left for another much longer version.

      Without a doubt the material in this book has been if not of direct help, it has proven to be an inspiration to students, teachers and parents in proving that learning disabled persons need not be constrained in their setting and achievement of goals. In the end a learning disabled student is simply a person who learns in a manner that is different than traditionally taught in the schools, that is a special type of learner.

      Mantra

      Optimism and unrelenting striving are your keys to success.

      Never look back.

      Make each day count.

      A learning disability should be an exciting challenge.

      Set your sights high.

      Let nothing block your road to your goals.

      Always remember this poem that I penned in 2008

      Ability

      The beauty of a fragrant lily

      May be discerned even in darkness

      Thus achievement arises

      On Its own merits

      Divorced from misconceptions of disability,

      Invisible celestial objects

      Are Detectable from Radiation

      Of other wavelengths,

      Ultimate ability is indiscernible both

      Through visual and biochemical means,

      Success is the property of

      Human Endeavour driven by

      Strength of desire, resourcefulness, perseverance

      Denial of handicap and physical boundaries,

      Ability and Disability are not related

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated to my family because of whose love and understanding I exist today. It is also to the fragrant memory of my grandfather Sprague Clement, who undoubtedly suffered so horribly back in the learning disability Dark Ages.

      Part 1 The Challenge

      Gun shots and mortar fire rang out in all directions. Yellow flames flashing in the darkness as I raced for the hotel door. The streets were crowded with trucks and cars filled with flag-waving and shouting belligerents. My first evening in Brazil cowering in the middle of a full scale insurrection!

      I had been somewhat taken aback and made a little bit nervous by Toronto newspaper reports, just before my departure for Brazil on a United Nations scientific mission, describing unstable governments and some fighting in a few Central and South American countries. But I finally passed these stories off as not relevant to the Brazilian situation.

      It was impossible to communicate with the hotel staff because no one spoke English. So I had no information on what was happening and what I should do. I tore up the stairs to my room and sat quaking on the bed amid the din and reverberations reaching me from the street.

      Suddenly the ringing phone jolted me back to reality. I picked up the receiver expecting an explosion of unintelligible Portuguese. Instead a friendly American male voice was saying with conviction, Welcome to Campinas. How are you enjoying your first evening in Brazil?

      Enjoying? I stammered, There’s a bloody revolution underway down here with guns, mortars, running crowds, racing cars and flags!

      Oh came a soothing but bemused voice. That’s how the inebriated local fans celebrate a football match victory in Brazil.

      Confusion, over reaction and lack of understanding of a very new type of jurisdiction, distorted my view of this occurrence. Such is typical of someone, like myself, with manic depression illness, exacerbating a learning disability.

      The term Learning Disability as a description of a group of difficulties in learning may be a poor choice, better might be Learning Challenged or Special Learner. However I shall still stick with the more familiar designation, learning disability.

      What causes learning disabilities is becoming clearer but has not been fully outlined. This difficulty has definitively discovered to run in families and geneticists are having some success in outlining offending genes. Head injuries occasioned at a young age can be a reason. Ingestion, by children of toxic elements such as lead can also be to blame.

      Physically and Developmentally challenged individuals are for the most part easily recognized, where-as a learning disability can remain hidden until the individual demonstrates the problem in tasks at home or in school. Even then, testing is necessary for its clear identification. Without identification as such, a person with a learning disability can be designated as a slow learner or simply stupid.

      There are no known cures for Learning Disabilities. This has recently been substantiated by the University of Michigan Health System, Department of Psychiatry. Despite this authoritative view, there are still individuals and institutions who claim to have one. My conclusion based on the programs and treatments available for to me for investigation is that when not an outright hoaxes these are simply strategies for coping.

      Learning disabilities last a lifetime. Thus the individuals unique difficulties are present in work, at home, during education, through vocation and retirement. Like wedding vows- until death shall you part. The difference is there is no divorce from learning disabilities.

      A learning disability can be masked by a variety of personal traits such as, laziness, apparent stupidity, irresponsibility, lack of motivation, inability to concentrate, poor performance at school and problems in the home related to untidiness, disorganization and mistakes in routines. As a result, until diagnosed a person with a learning disability can suffer continuous severe and unfair criticism.

      Encouragement that a bright future is attainable for the Learning Disabled is evident in the long list of high achievers who suffered the problem. These likely include Winston Churchill, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, H.G. Wells, George Washington, Walt Disney, Werner Von Braun, Tom Cruise and Alexander Graham Bell.

      Early evidence that I was unusual was a low IQ measurement, letter and number reversals, poor retention of reading, serious spelling problems, poor hand work and poor social interactions and yet a higher level of achievement in other ways. These traits were although not unique, were a mixture that is included within a larger list of disorders that type Learning Disabilities. The following is a list is an example.

      Reading Problems: These are often termed Dyslexia and appear as poor word recognition, poor comprehension and/or retention of the basic content and problems in word identification.

      Writing Difficulties;

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