LDExperience

Some teachers find me a bit frightening! Well perhaps it is not me personally, but people like me – a parent of a child with exceptional learning needs. It is not hard to imagine that it could be difficult for some teachers to muster up the courage, particularly if new to teaching, to share their [...]

I had lunch with a colleague yesterday, who is, to put it mildly, a sophisticated political operative. He has amazing insight into matters pertaining to the political process. I thoroughly enjoy speaking with him about democracy, citizen engagement, and the evolving nature of our society. Both of us commented on how many people feel disenfranchised. [...]

I recently attended a conference on Brain Development and Learning.  I often describe myself as a “sociologist gone bad!” I am not a clinician nor am I an educator. My interest in the conference was to learn more about emerging research on learning, and brain physiology associated with learning disabilities. While at the conference, I [...]

I helped organize a panel discussion on special education that took place this week. The target audience was people in our city running in the fall election as school trustees. I am one of a small group of active parent special education advocates within our local school district. With the impending election, we all had [...]

It seems like Einstein really was onto something with the theory of relativity. Time really is relative. Our son, affected by learning disabilities and ADHD, has been in the school system for a decade. Sometimes that decade feels like it has gone by in a heartbeat. At other times, I feel like time is stretched [...]

This article is available in audio in two parts. Burke, Kathryn Waking the Sleeping Dragon Part 1 Burke, Kathryn Waking the Sleeping Dragon Part 2 Please bear with me in reading this column. It is about learning disabilities – even though that may not be too obvious from the initial paragraphs! You have not accidentally [...]

Listen to this article in MP3 audio format — Power of Love- March 29, 2010 Recording I love Harry Potter. I consider the series author, J.K. Rowling, brilliant. The Harry Potter novels present an engaging story of magic and good versus evil. I could write for several pages about how the series can be used [...]

I am a self confessed data geek. I find numbers compelling. But, I know, from experience, that while people are able to accurately regurgitate statistics, population figures or incidence levels, they may not have internalized the meaning and implications of the numbers. I have seen a faraway look come into the eyes of audiences when [...]

I am not normally an angry person. But, I have been angry the last few weeks and this feeling has been building for a while. Why? Our son is at a pivotal transition point in his educational career. I suspect that I am not just angry, but frustrated and apprehensive. Those latter two emotions are [...]

This is the second version of this article that I have written. Last week, I had a different version of this editorial completed and ready to post. I decided to let it “cure” for a day or two. It always amazes me how leaps of logic and other writing misdemeanours jump out when a draft [...]