Category

Eileen

An Open Letter to my Track Coach, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

With National Student-Athlete Day being in April, I think about how lucky I am to have been coached by you, Penny. It truly allowed me to be a student-athlete which is unusual for someone like me who has an NVLD. There was never a day where you weren’t supporting me and making sure I always had equal opportunities. I know it wasn’t always easy, and I greatly appreciate how far out of your way you went for me. Read More

The Importance of Making Special Recognition and Awards Day Inclusive, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

While inclusion is normal and quite successful in the classroom for award ceremonies and special recognition assemblies, it is still a rare occurrence for an NVLD student. This is because NVLD students generally have more weaknesses than most students, so honoring them can be challenging as their overall achievements aren’t as obvious. This type of recognition needs not to be so rare as recognizing effort should be as important as recognizing overall achievements when giving out these awards. Read More

The Challenges and Rewards of Inclusion in Sports Part B, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

Running Cross-country was a similar experience to running Winter and Spring Track; however, the bumps I encountered were different. My gross motor and spatial skills deficits were often the triggers for these bumps. These skills are necessary to navigate the course and to run hills successfully. Because Cross-Country is trail running, gross motor and spatial deficiencies become more of an issue. While this challenge may seem discouraging, the successful memories will outweigh the hard times, like in Track. Read More

The Challenges and Rewards of Inclusion in Sports Part A, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

While I am a true believer that inclusion in sports is successful, given I was a three-season runner, I feel it is important for you to be aware there may be some bumps in the road as you become a success story. Being part of a team successfully requires many important skills, including having appropriate social skills/behavior, being a great communicator, a strong listener, and possessing a high level of determination, which can be for some students with an NVLD or similar disability at first challenging and very disheartening. However, in the end, I believe all the successful memories will outweigh the hard moments.
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Why Being a Three Season Runner Was Such a Positive, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

At the beginning of my varsity cross-country and track career, I was asked a lot, “why are you a runner?” as I worked so hard just to finish near the bottom. Later on, the question changed to “how did you get your coaches to like and respect you”? I understood where they were coming from in many ways as I was working hard just to finish the race while teammates were competing for top finishes. However, it was so disappointing that they couldn’t see the full picture of why I never gave up running. Couldn’t they see running lead to so many personal and social gains and learning many life lessons?

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An Open Letter To My Former Coaches and to Those With NVLD, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

There is nothing that frustrates me more than reading that few people with an NVLD or a similar disability are fully included in sports during the high school years. As my Cross-Country and Track coaches proved 20 years ago, in a sport like running we can have inclusion since it is all about doing your best and supporting all runners. So as you read this I hope you understand why I strongly believe this percentage needs to be so much higher.
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Physical Education and Having an NVLD, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

One of the hardest things about having an NVLD can be participating in Physical education, especially at the secondary level. What is often overlooked is that accommodations/modifications can be made for NVLD students to make gym class more enjoyable, and if done correctly, their classmates don’t even know it. This can be done by having a meeting with your gym teacher ahead of time to choose activities you can do for each unit so you won’t be faced with having to choose between two activities that include so many gross motor and hand-eye coordination skills, such as volleyball or Badminton.
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The Difficulty of Misunderstanding People at Times, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

Overcoming NVLD, my most challenging years were 7th grade through the beginning of 10th grade. I was becoming more and more aware of my disability since my sister’s achievements were around me quite regularly. For example, she was a starter on the basketball team, so the highlights often included her, and she was Vice President of our school’s service club, so her picture was often in our local paper for that. Due to this, it was hard for me to understand if my teachers and coaches really liked me or just felt sorry for me because I wasn’t gifted like my sister. I struggled to understand that each student has their positives and that each educator and coach enjoys the individual for a different reason.
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The Need to Increase Inclusion in Sports, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

One of the reasons why inclusion in sports is so rare is that sports are a privilege, not a right like education is. As a result, inclusion isn’t a common practice for those with NVLD as it requires a lot of resources and effort from the support staff and coaches for something that isn’t a requirement. However, I believe that parents, resource room teachers, counselors, and coaches need to become more open to encouraging those with an NVLD or similar disability to join the appropriate sports team so that more students can enjoy the privilege and reap the benefits of being part of a team too.
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NVLD and Traveling, by Eileen

By Eileen, NVLD Bloggers

One of the common misconceptions for those with a disability like an NVLD is that they can’t travel or enjoy special events such as Broadway shows. This is because they can struggle with over stimulation and furthermore doing these things can bring changes to their normal routines which can cause stress. The truth is, just like the academic and social challenges, there are ways to overcome these challenges which requires self developed practice and patience that both you and your family to put into practice.
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