LD Expert Rick Lavoie

Rick Lavoie, M.A., M.Ed.

Rick Lavoie is an award-winning expert in learning disabilities who has three degrees in Special Education, served as an administrator of residential programs for children with special needs for 30 years, and has served as a consultant for numerous publications and national organizations.

Richard Lavoie, nationally known expert on learning disabilities, offers practical advice on dealing with behavioral problems quickly and effectively. He shows how preventative discipline can anticipate many problems before they start. He also explains how teachers and parents can create a stable, predictable environment in which children with learning disabilities can flourish.

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Playing with friends is a daily ritual for most children. But kids with learning disabilities are often isolated and rejected. Rick Lavoie addresses the social problems these children face — and offers some practical solutions for parents.

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Rick Lavoie talks about the importance of teaching a child with LD the necessary social skills to build solid friendships. In this excerpt from the PBS program “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend,” parents learn how to plan a successful playdate.

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Rick Lavoie shows parents why it’s important to take action. “Parents sometimes worry that they’re overreacting when their child isn’t reading in first and second grade,” says Lavoie.

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Jugar con los amigos es un ritual diario para la mayoría de los niños. No obstante, los niños con problemas de aprendizaje suelen verse aislados y rechazados por sus compañeros. Rick Lavoie aborda los problemas sociales que enfrentan estos niños y ofrece algunas soluciones prácticas para los padres.

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Rick Lavoie served as an administrator of residential programs for children with special needs for 30 years. He holds three degrees in Special Education and holds two Honorary Doctorates in Education from the University of Massachusetts (2003) and Mitchell College (CT – 2007).  He has served as a visiting lecturer at numerous universities including Syracuse, Harvard, Manhattanville College, University of Alabama, University of Melbourne and Georgetown.  His numerous national television appearances include The TODAY Show, CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, ABC Evening News, and Walt Disney Presents.

He has served as a consultant on Learning Disabilities to several agencies and organizations including Public Broadcasting Service, New York Times, National Center for Learning Disabilities, USA Today, Girl Scouts of America, Child Magazine, INSTRUCTOR Magazine, and National Public Radio.

In 2009, Rick was the recipient of the Learning Disabilities Associations of America’s Samuel Kirk award.

He has delivered his message to over 500,000 parents and professionals throughout North America, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.  He has the distinction of having delivered Keynote Addresses for all three of the major special needs advocacy organizations in the United States (Learning Disabilities Association, Council for Exceptional Children, Children with Attention Deficit Disorder).

Rick’s intensive experiences at residential schools provided him with a “living laboratory” in which he developed and refined his methods and philosophies related to the education of children and adolescents with special needs.

Rick is the author of the book “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success (Touchstone/ Simon and Schuster, 2005). The book addresses the direct link between learning disabilities and social skills issues that many children face. Rick provides specific strategies for parents, teachers and caregivers about how to assist the child in making and keeping friends. The Library Journal praised the book as “a breakthrough.”

Most parents and professionals know Rick through his videos “How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T.  City Workshop”, “Last One Picked, First One Picked On: The Social Implications of Learning Disabilities” and “When the Chips are Down: Learning Disabilities and Discipline”.  

In 2007 his book and PBS DVD on student motivation “The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning On the Tuned-Out Child” were recently released.

You can learn more at his website http://www.ricklavoie.com/.

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Education’s Most Damaging “Urban Legend”

An “urban legend” is a story or belief that has been told, retold and told yet again. Because the tale is repeated so often and so widely, it comes to be viewed as “fact”.

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Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child

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From the Mouths of Babes: What Kids Tell Us About Friendships

Rick Lavoie brings teachers information on how to integrate children with special needs into their mainstream class. The Council on Exceptional Children asked students with good social skills for their suggestions to school staff.

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