5 things I want you to know about me and my learning style: I write slowly. Writing doesn’t help me learn, in fact it impedes my learning Don’t grade me on my handwriting or how fast I can write or you’ll miss what I actually know. Don’t grade me on coloring or messiness – if I could write neater, I would, trust me. I’ve taken handwriting classes 3 times and what you see is a hard earned miracle. I often miss nonverbal cues If you use sarcasm, I may think you’re serious If you use inference, I may not get it If you tease or allow teasing, I will likely feel attacked If you are kind to me, I relax and do better but I won’t be able to explain why If you don’t say it specifically, I may not get it What seems perfectly clear to you may be mud to me, if a computer wouldn’t understand, I won’t either I often need extra time on quizzes and tests and note-taking. Because my pencil moves slower than 99.9% of the population and my verbal skills are better than 99.9% of the population, asking me to tell you what I know with a pencil is asking a lot for me and a little extra time is more than fair. Please provide me with handouts of notes you write on the board or the overhead projector

5 things I want you to know about me and my learning style: Brunch, lunch and PE may not be abridged for discipline If I have to sit inside all day, whatever’s wrong will probably get worse. I need to physically move my body to pay attention to you, to think about social rules and to organize my stuff. I can either sit still or listen but not both at the same time. I’m a good kid, I don’t fib, I follow rules and if I could do better I would. My ability to think and know is at the superior level but my ability to show you what I know is in the average level, that’s a gap that makes me nuts. If you help me with just a few accommodations, when I grow up to be President of the US or write my novels and win the Pulitzer, I’ll remember you fondly when I give my acceptance speeches... "When I was six years old and my parents had some testing done for me, we discovered I had NLD. At that time, I had a disability but with the interventions and my hard work and the care of my teachers and therapists, I now just have a learning style that may be a bit different than other kids. Nonverbal Learning Disorder affects 1 in 100 people. It is a disorder that affects motor performance, social cognition, visual-spatial-organizational skills and sensory processing. While I’ve worked hard and many people have helped me, I still need help to be as successful as I can be."