Mountainview

When I arrived at the Mountain View Elementary school today, I never imagined it would be my most challenging day yet. Stephanie was indeed a very special young girl, but in more ways than one. Stephanie's teacher had informed me that the little girl was diagnosed with a learning disability, and although she was in the 3rd grade, she worked on a kindergarten level.

My task for the day was helping Stephanie with two digit subtraction. I tried every way imaginable to get this child to understand, but there was no success. As frustration set in for both of us, I suggested we sit back, take a deep breath and start over. I pondered for a moment and then it clicked. I had remembered the strategy that my teacher used to get me to understand when I was in the third grade. Make a number line! At this point I felt anything was worth a try.

The first step was to find a quieter spot without all the classroom distractions. The rest was like magic. Even though she needed to use the number line that we made together, by the end of the day Stephanie was subtracting on her own. With practice I believe she will eventually be able to wean herself away from the number line and do it totally on her own.

The first important key I needed to realize was that the child was being distracted by pencils tapping, whispering, squeaking chairs and other normal classroom disturbances. Not all children can shut out distracting sounds like others, and Stephanie was one of them. It was very obvious from the smile on this little girl's face that our hard work and determination was worth it. She couldn't wait to go home and share with her parents what she had learned. I must admit, I displayed quite a broad smile myself as I packed up my things and left for the day.

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