My Year With Harry Potter: How I Discovered My Own Magical World

This book was written to help children understand that being “different” is not only okay, it’s what makes people and our world more interesting! Through positively designed activities, children with disabilities become confident and learn to accomplish tasks in their own way, while children without disabilities learn to value diversity.

Ever since first grade, Ben’s been in trouble, even though he’s really not a bad kid. He just can’t seem to stop doing things that get him sent to the principal’s office. His parents and wise older sister, Meg, swear he’ll be fine in his own time, but when a new kid shows up in Ben’s fifth-grade class, he’s not so sure. Trout sticks to him like glue, and it’s clear from the start that Trout is a much bigger troublemaker than Ben ever was. So when Ben gets diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), just like Trout, and then has to take Ritalin, just like Trout, he’s not sure what to make of his friendship — especially when he starts to get a bad reputation. Is Trout’s badness rubbing off on him? Can Ben make people understand it’s the ADD, not Trout, causing the problems before it’s too late?

Until the 1960s a learning disability was a hidden handicap wearing many guises and treated ineffectively. Today, shows the author, founder of the unique Lab School in Washington, D.C., and herself the parent of a learning-disabled child, there is growing evidence that such difficulties can be either overcome or modified by teaching strategies that address the student’s specific strengths. The stories of adults—some of them celebrities like Cher, who suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia—who coped with learning problems throughout their school days illustrate the depths of the disability said to afflict more than 25 million Americans. Distilling her experiences with learning-disabled students, their parents and teachers, Smith demonstrates that a variety of approaches to learning can yield later career success, thus offering hope to children and adults so burdened.

Gary just can’t seem to fit in. He doesn’t have any friends, his school work is always sloppy, and his teachers endlessly criticize him. But Gary has a way to escape—he spaces out. Then one day Gary accidentally hurts someone, and now he’s being sent to a new school for kids with different learning styles. Will Gary finally be able to catch up and fit in, or will he remain the Spaceman forever?

Twice-exceptional children — those with both a disability and a gift or talent — present education proffessionals and families with significant challenges. This guide focuses on the identification considerations, common characteristics, obstacles and learning difficulties, roles and responsibilities for educators to ensure the academic success of the largest group of twice-exceptional children — those who have a disability and are also academically gifted.

View a PDF of The Twice-Exceptional Dilemma.

An ADHD boy helps rescue his dad because he pays so much attention to what is going on around him. He is the one who knows where to go get help.