Learning is not easy for some of us
January 26th, 2010 | 
Author: Hi Everybody, Doc Meek here.
Learning is not easy for some of us.
I have been helping children overcome learning challenges for many years now.
I was reminded of Mrs. Elmer (not her real name) the other day. This great Mom came to see me at THE LEARNING CLINIC more than thirty years ago now. She brought her son Bob (not his real name) with her and said gently: “He’s in grade four, doesn’t read well, hates school, and fights on the playground all the time.” Bob nodded in somber agreement.
It was not easy for the three of us to get to the top of the mountain together. I’ll tell you how we got there in a future post.
– Doc Meek
Posted in Learning Difficulties, learning solutions | 
Tags: ADD, ADHD, Learning Difficulties, learning disabilities, memory problems, reading problems
It is indeed unfortunate that this boy seemed to have decided that he did not like school from a very early age. Obviously the people who were supposed to have been helping him were not doing so. It is so important to reach all of the children that a teacher works with. That is why it is so important for teachers to have an understanding of the different types of learners. There are some who learn from verbal instruction and others who learn from written instruction. I believe that there are many who learn kinetically or by doing.
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
Author Unknown
David Marshall B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education)
Sounds like a lot of young men I have met over the years. He is lucky to have found someone to work with him at such an early age. It is to bad that his problem could not have been identified earlier. I hope you were able to help him. If he were going to school in the United States right now there would be a push to put him in Special Education. Where he might do well but would be kept out of many mainstream classes, where he would learn to live in the real world.
Thanks David and Roger. I am grateful for your insights about children with learning challenges.
I can’t figure out how to subscribe to the comments via feed . I want to keep on top of this, how do I do that?
With all the doggone snow we have had as of late I am stuck inside , fortunately there is the internet, thanks for giving me something to do. 🙂
I like the first point you made there, but I am not sure I could pratcially apply that in a productive way.
Well, I don’t know if that’s going to work for me, but definitely worked for you! 🙂 Excellent post!
@chels I know what you mean, its hard to find good help these days. People now days just don’t have the work ethic they used to have. I mean consider whoever wrote this post, they must have been working hard to write that good and it took a good bit of their time I am sure. I work with people who couldn’t write like this if they tried, and getting them to try is hard enough as it is.
Glad to see that this site works well on my Droid , everything I want to do is functional. Thanks for keeping it up to date with the latest.
Thank you “marktop75” for your Droid comment. I wish I could learn what this means. :o) I am open to almost all kinds of learning, and my technical knowledge is so limited I think. Help! – Doc Meek
I think is a great website, Doc Meek, something everyone can learn from. I hope you keep doctoring the world because we sure need it. I loved you reference to Tonga, because what you wrote is so personal to me. I think this site is a great idea. I love it! Keep helping us all.
So good to hear from you, Kim! My time in Tonga was one of the great learning periods of my life, and my association with you and your family was one of the highlights of that learning time.
Interesting, I am curious what the statistics are on your first point there…
Hi “San Diego,” I am not sure of the kind of statistics to which you are referring. About one-third of every grade one class struggle to learn to read. Their brains are not neurologically ready to learn to read. Yet we “torture” them with the idea that they are not as smart as the rest of the class. This low self-estimation of brain power tends to stay with them throughout their learning career, unless they are lucky and connect with a teacher who believes all kids are smart. My clinical work leads me to believe that we need to pay more attention to what we do and teach in grade one. The last thing we want to do is to teach children that they are not smart and that they cannot learn, right!?
So not really on the same topic as your post, but I found this today and I just can’t resist sharing. Mrs. Agathe’s dishwasher quit working so she called a repairman. Since she had to go to work the next day, she told him, “I’ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I’ll mail you the check. Oh, and by the way…don’t worry about my Doberman. He won’t bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT under ANY circumstances talk to my parrot!” When the repairman arrived at Mrs. Agathe’s apartment the next day, he discovered the biggest and meanest looking Doberman he had ever seen. But just as she had said, the dog simply laid there on the carpet, watching the repairman go about his business. However, the whole time the parrot drove him nuts with his incessant cursing, yelling and name-calling. Finally the repairman couldn’t contain himself any longer and yelled, “Shut up, you stupid ugly bird!” To which the parrot replied, “Get him, Spike!”
More reviews like this one in the future please?
Dear “Pilkey,” Yes, we are hoping to create new and interesting articles for THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE daily. Not easy to write daily! Blessings, Doc