Gifted Talented V Learning Disability It Dyspraxics Deal With The Inverted Peter Principal

To me it was a throw off cover my butt last minute paper. The conditions in which I did it would have most self respecting teachers howling in disapproval.  To my Latin Teacher it was a fairly brilliant and astute observation. In the Song “Carry On My Wayward Son” by Kansas I referenced the line “I was soaring ever higher but I flew too high.” Even in 1970s Pop culture Deadalus and Icarus still had some cultural context. I was displaying a rather typical dyspraxic strength I spotted a link of a myth from the Classics and pointed out how the concept remained even in present pop culture. Kansas was a popular band and still was relevant to teenagers of the 1990s. From my stand point the paper which was done a very short time before it was due….I mean very short! If I recall correctly it was done within an hour of due time. It was a glorified piece of bloviation. I needed to pass the course to do extra-curricular activates and I had neglected the assignment. Mrs. RS spotted in it what I did not. I was using a strength of dyspraxia rather unknowingly (it was almost reflexive) and in somewhat desperate circumstance. Dyspraxics see relationships and concepts real easily. Heaven knows when I had first heard the song and made the link to the myth. It might have been as early as 7^th grade when I first saw the relationship. I pulled the paper out of the hopper in 12^th grade.  In all practicality I had compensated for dyspraxic weakness (lousy organizational skills) and used a dyspraxic strength a quick dip to very high order thinking skills to cover up my DOH! Moment.  

Teacher’s perspective: Brilliant Innovative and dead accurate conceptual paper and presentation.

Students perspective: Well duh! I am being praised for stating the obvious I did this like 30 minutes before class time.

I will say this Mrs. RS was skilled at spotting BS. She was a highly trained eccentric who was a master with freaks. The fact I used very little effort and confessed out of guilt. She made it clear that did not take away. She rightfully belongs in the teacher’s hall of fame. She made it clear despite my C in Latin I was to take Latin II honors! Mrs. RS was blunt you can get a C in regular course and be bored or get a C in an honors course helping my GPA and be less bored. 

Now lets contrast this moment with a moment and series of moments in complete darkness

I saw the 10 commandments of math in a Teachers Classroom at Taft high San Antonio. I remained professional carrying out the plans of the teacher who I was substituting for but I was at a core level irritated. If the human brain were a desk top computer one aspect of dyspraxia amounts to a defective sending unit within the big box that messes up the printer. So the statement“Thou shalt ignore the teachings of false prophets to do work in Thy head” simply put the computer processing speed overwhelms the ability to print out. The result is the academic equivalent to the want of a nail poem. Having agonized in Algebra it was not due lack of cognitive ability it was due to that defective sending unit that was prone to interference at the base of my brain! So due to the output issue the grades are not reflective of cognitive ability but rather a test of what dyspraxia effects MOTOR SKILLS !

Requiring all steps to be written out results into the neurological equivalent to a massive electric storm in the brain. The cerebrum is usually on step 4 or 5 on a problem the output of the hands is on step 2 or 3. Can anybody spot what will happen? Now for grins throw in the fact dyspraxic are more emotional. It goes back to the Want of a nail proverb.

Being an effective classroom teacher can often mean being a detective of great skill.  Lets see how a teacher with limited background knowledge took a series of clues and quickly went through chain that Clifford Stoll describes.  Taken from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/clifford_stoll.html "Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom."  Mrs Welborne integrated seemingly unrelated pieces of data and derived a high level of understanding. 

Now its time for third point let’s integrate the two rival concepts. Mrs Welbourne who taught me honors English the bulk of 1991-1992 and the 1992-1993 had been briefed by my mother (it helps having parents in central office) about the motor aspects of my disability.

She talked to me and said she had noticed the reality of my disability. She had actually gotten used to seeing ideas implied or hinted at with ball point and paper detailed and developed with computer keyboard! She had spotted the incongruity between work performed with my wheel chair (keyboard) and without it. She paid attention to classroom discussions and how I performed therein. She then developed a very accurate picture of what was going on from an academic standpoint. The shorter essays were not a product of incomplete thought but rather time limits on tests and motor issues.  I still had to write essays in class on tests I still had to do projects.  Yet whenever possible she understood why I used the computer.  In the days of lap tops and emails what she discovered points to the fact that computer keyboard in the English class is little removed from the wheel chair for those with poorly functioning legs!

Mrs. RS always the rebel defied what the advice and guidance would be from central office on North East Independent School District. She recognized the conceptual and cognitive gifting of dyspraxia. Her advice on Latin II honors was superbly practical. Latin 2 honors catered to my greater strengths. For all practical purposes Latin II honors was the EASIER course for me! Should I have done the assignment earlier? Yes. Could I have drawn other examples Deadalus and Incarus myth lingering in modern even pop culture? Yes. It was B+ paper that got a B plus. I passed that six weeks and got participate in track!

Mrs Welborne while being trained in an era when dysrpaxia was yet to be fully explained forensically put together the pieces of the puzzle and became a more effective teacher because she did. She understood the strengths and the struggles. My grades reflected my effort (sometime less then stellar).

In conclusion dyspraxic are conceptual global learners. They see complex relationships with ease. There mental existence is on the deep thought end punctuated by at times intense emotions. This is hidden by poor organizational skills and limited fine motor performance. This motor performance makes math a monumental struggle where often then not math teachers turn dyspraxic against further study of math by focusing on weak points. This inverted Peter Principal is one of two reasons why remedial courses are for a dyspraxic far tougher then say an AP or honors course!  The two teachers whose actions I described put me on the proper end of the power curve.  They among others understood that disability made harder menial skills!   I got into Schreiner and went my whole freshman year without being in the LSS program those two teachers are part of the reason.