Dear Journal,
I’ve been hearing a lot from parents how teachers will think their child is being defiant by not answering a question. It’s not that these kids don’t want to answer questions, it’s that their brains have trouble formulating the speech needed for on-demand answers. When I was a child, my speech disorder called me labeled as defiant by my math teacher; this is my story.
I was in sixth grade, and I was in a math class. The teacher would try to ask me questions, and I couldn’t answer back. Why? Because of my speech disorder. I didn’t understand what I was reading, so I couldn’t do my work. To make matters even more complicated, I couldn’t ask questions about the course material. So, I was just stuck in what I like to call Jordan’s World. The world where my thoughts and needs were trapped inside my mind, but I was unable to articulate them to the outside world.
The teacher had me sign a piece of paper that I couldn’t read, and I didn’t even know what I was signing. The piece of paper said I agreed I refused to do my work when this wasn’t true. I didn’t understand it, and I needed extra help. However, the public school system refused to give you what you needed.
My mom would come in and explain to them about my speech disorder. She yelled, “He has Apraxia. He didn’t even know what he was signing.” I would sit there feeling defeated because nobody but my mom was on my team and actually understood. Apraxia goes so much understood, that these kinds of assumptions get made.
This is why I make videos and resources for teachers and school faculty now as an adult. To make sure no other child has to go through this. No child should be labeled something such as defiant because they can’t articulate what they want to say.
Love,
Jordan Christian