A lack of awareness and
understanding of Learning Differences is a problem in schools and communities
today. The Student Empowerment and
Advocacy Group at Roxbury High School, under the advisorship of Ms. Lori Baker
– Special Education teacher at RHS, has the goal to educate both the academic
and general community on the subject of Learning Differences.
For many years, students in
special needs classes have been looked upon as being different.
Self-esteem issues often result, as do behavior and motivation problems.
Many peers, teachers, coaches, religious educators, siblings,
administrators, parents and employers are not aware of the challenges
individuals with learning difficulties face.
The students, themselves, are frequently not aware of what it means to
have a learning difficulty and the challenges, which they themselves encounter.
“As with most challenges, if
they are met head on, they can be attacked and defeated.
This is the belief of S.E.A.'s members,” states Ms. Baker. The goals of
these students are two-fold. One is
to help people understand the true meaning of learning differences. These students have met their challenges head on, and have
worked and continue to work on being successful regardless of these challenges.
Secondly, the students address the need to advocate for themselves.
They need to make others aware of their difficulties, and what they require to be successful in the educational or employment
environment.
They work to achieve these goals
by sharing their experiences. They
have spoken to other special education students, including those in the younger
grades. They have spoken in
mainstream classes, at school club meetings, and at student conferences. They have shared their experiences at local Board of
Education meetings, at the State Board of Education level, with teacher groups,
and other adult groups in various communities.
They have addressed parents and siblings of students with learning
difficulties.
By sharing their own experiences,
they are able to educate people on the meaning of learning differences. They
share what it is like to be a person who possesses a learning difference, how
they have come to be aware and accept their weaknesses and build upon their
strengths, accommodations and compensations they employ, and how they now can
love who they are. They now have
goals that they are pursuing, and are on their way to being successful members
of society.
The S.E.A. program began in March
of 2001, when Ms. Baker registered ten of her students for a student leadership
conference entitled Reach Out, Speak Out:
Achieving Empowerment. Following
the conference, the representatives of the conference contacted Ms. Baker to see
if her students wanted to become presenters in the next event. Ms. Baker and her students agreed to this
wonderful opportunity.
To prepare for this opportunity,
Ms. Baker and her assistant Mrs. Betty Capra consistently integrated concepts of
self-awareness, self-acceptance, goal formation and achievement and
self-advocacy into their daily classes. “Preparing the presentations came very
easily, as the students possessed the ideas needed,” states Ms. Baker.
“Upon conducting the
presentations, the response from the 140 people in attendance at the conference
(2 groups of 70 people) was overwhelming! As
a result, we came to the conclusion this was something that needed to be built
upon and not be just a one-time presentation.
And so it did.” shares Ms. Baker.