Growing up while I was blessed with an incredible support team I faced a few more challenges compared to others with disabilities. One of the reasons for that was that NVLD is a very misunderstood disability so not everyone was really sure what my exact difficulties were. This led to me being underestimated at times which caused some self-esteem issues. So in this piece, I will discuss the ups and downs that can come with an NVLD and how to make things better.
The first example is I was told at my 8th grade annual review meeting that unfortunately I could no longer do sports and that I would need to be a manager. This was because my gross motor and social communication skills deficits would be too much to accommodate on the varsity level. This hurt because I knew this wasn’t true with how the track coaches developed a strong professional relationship with our family so if it was going to be too difficult they would have talked to us directly. So we spoke up professionally and explained we already had developed a plan of how I could be an athlete. In addition, we explained we were prepared for possible failure and did have an alternative plan. Fortunately, everyone trusted our decision as I love being part of athletics. Being part of athletics is also very important for students with a Nonverbal Learning Disability as it gives them wonderful opportunities to make improvements in their gross motor and social skills deficits.
The next example is when I was going to take my Biology regents. My support team thought I was pushing myself too far by making it a goal to pass the regents. I had been studying incredibly hard with both my mom, who was a resource room teacher and a college student who was a Biology major. So it hurt no one was being supportive of my goal. What my team didn’t realize was that my parents had prepared for possible failure and made sure I wasn’t pushing myself too far as they understood my disability. Sure enough I was one of the few Learning Disabled students who did pass and my resource room teacher was beyond proud of how I achieved my goal.What many don’t realized is the students with the disability do best when they have to be challenge.
Another example Is when our family decided for me to attend Eagle Hill school summer program for bright learning disabled students. Sadly few close to me believed I could do this. They felt because I spent more time at home than other 9th graders I would miss my family too much.What they didn’t totally realize was it was harder for me with my social and motor skills deficits to do a lot of things independently. Another reason for this was they thought some of my challenges being away from home would be too difficult to handle. This truly made me more nervous than I needed to be. Sure enough my parents trusted their opinion that I was ready to leave and I ended up having a remarkable experience. My resource room teacher even talked about how each year I gained tremendous growth through spending my summers there.
Also, I made the decision to continue taking all academic courses through graduation. The reasoning for this was through my own research I learned this would help my chances to get into college with comprehensive support. Unfortunately my support team believed my parents were pushing me too far. This resulted in my resource room teacher encouraging me to drop Math. I didn’t listen to her and continued to put a lot of hours into courses I didn’t need to graduate but that would help get into college. My strong efforts led to me passing my math regents and everyone was so proud of me. After this my resource room teacher gave me the most sincere apology for underestimating my abilities.
Now to wrap up Part A I will end on a positive note. The first rewarding experience for me was joining the cross-country team in 9th grade. It truly was an eye opening experience for me as my coach,Jim Adams, couldn’t have been more caring and supporting. This was after being told just four months before that the varsity coaches wouldn’t be able to accommodate me. This was somewhat confusing for me and honestly I wasn’t sure if his support was sincere or not. However by the end of the first week I knew it was by how he interacted with me. What was special about this was that I loved how he treated me just like everyone else but would check to make sure I was alright too. In addition I received the team sportsmanship award my first season. So while it may seem there are more bad experiences than good experiences it’s so important to remember the good first as you will have a lot of good experiences and a great support system.
Eileen
Eileen is a Project Social Ambassador and blogger for The NVLD Project. She loves helping others understand they can achieve their goals and dreams through hard work and dedication.
