Learning perseverance
Students with learning disabilities can find support in community, trusted teachers
Schools are full of students with different backgrounds, passions and learning styles. Some may learn best through listening, hands-on learning, reading and writing. And within those styles are even more differences in how young people learn. Symptoms of learning disabilities such as ADHD, ADD, dyslexia and the dyslexia subtypes — dyscalculia, dysgraphia and dyspraxia — can show up in and out of the classroom. Learning disability diagnoses have a variety of effects on a person depending on their disability and the support they receive.
To learn more about how our education system has evolved in its treatment of learning disabilities and what resources are available for students and families, I spoke to a person who has learning differences like myself and another who advocates for students. Even though we use words like “disability,” it’s important to remember people with learning disabilities are as capable as anyone else. They can still do mathematics, they can still read and write, they can still learn. They just function differently.
Schooling for students with learning differences has always been difficult. From the discovery of learning disabilities 119 years ago to the present day, a lot has changed. When researchers and the public started to learn more about these disabilities in the 20th century, terms to describe those with learning differences included “brain-injured child,” “minimal brain dysfunction” and eventually, “learning disabled.” These terms were coined by researchers Alfred Strauss and Laura Lehtinen, who used “brain-injured child” mostly, according to the online timeline provided by the Learning Disabilities Association of America. However, people who have learning differences are far from these descriptors, and their rights have been expanded through laws like the 1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which later became the IDEA Act.
Although changes to the law have helped people with learning differences, personal wins mean the most to the community. For author Paul Valdez, a family friend with ADD and dyslexia, it was the publishing of his book The Marquis Incognito in 2023.
“I think my biggest advice is to self-advocate. If you have dyslexia, number dyslexia [dyscalculia], if you have ADD, always let your teachers know. Empower yourself,” Valdez said.
Valdez added that if students with learning differences aren’t vocal or don’t alert teachers that they need help aids or other conditions that set them up for success, they can often “be overlooked by a teacher who might not be looking for those things.”
Valdez and I also talked about stigmas. Stereotypes of students with disabilities or in special education lacking intelligence or learning ability are common but plainly incorrect. I know this from personal experience as someone dealing with the label of having a learning disability. There have been times when others thought I wouldn’t be able to accomplish things academically, which is wrong: I have accomplished much academically — including a 4.0 GPA this previous semester, getting admitted into Breakthrough Santa Fe and moving closer to my career goal. Many people with learning differences continue their education through college, and many, from Albert Einstein to Cher, have become extremely successful.
Many people help create support systems for people with learning differences. For my mother, who also has a learning difference, and Valdez — good friends in school and now — it was one of their teachers: Mrs. Tafoya at Santa Fe High School.
“There are certain teachers that just shine out,” Valdez said. “They are your friends. They understand you, they care about you.”
While Valdez and my mom graduated high school in the late 1980s, this statement stands true whether you have a learning difference or not. Teachers such as Mr. Baladad at Piñon Elementary School, Ms. Sharif at Ortiz Middle School (formerly at Milagro Middle School), Mrs. Trujillo at Milagro and Mr. A at New Mexico School for the Arts have all helped me greatly with my learning difference by making sure I use my help aids, or assisting with assignments in detail, or checking in on me. They have helped me to function in the math world instead of suffering through new concepts, which is substantial as I have dyscalculia.
Another thing Valdez brings up is friends. For him, my mom’s friendship was a big support in school when he needed help with writing and spelling.
“I could ask her how to spell things without feeling stupid, and she would take the time,” he said.
To learn more about advances in support for students with learning disabilities, I also spoke with New Mexico Special Education Ombud Michelle Tregembo, who works with the New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Council and is a family advocate. Tregembo’s position is pretty new, created by a law signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2021.
“We support families struggling to navigate special education in New Mexico,” she said in a recent phone interview.
The website for the Office of the Special Education Ombud lists four central goals, including to identify problems and advocate for “systemic change” in special education. For example, Tregembo is advocating for a universal template for Individual Education Plans, or IEPs, to be used across the state.
As Tregembo continues to advocate for students with learning differences, she also has advice for them.
“Just ask questions. And to understand that all of us have strengths and weaknesses,” she said.
Some of those strengths and weaknesses, Tregembo added, might come with a label of a certain disability that students must navigate.
Resources for families, teachers and educators about learning disabilities are a Google search away — from grassroots education sites like Discovering Dyscalculia, run by mother and advocate Laura Jackson, to organizational websites like the Learning Disabilities Association. Even the news can be a resource, like the article “Math disabilities hold many students back. Schools often don’t screen for them,” by Jackie Mader of the Hechinger Report, published in on Oct. 22.
Students are faced with numerous issues in today’s world. Learning shouldn’t have to be another. With the advocacy, mentoring and support the community brings to the table, young people of all learning backgrounds are able to adapt.