“Danny, Danny!” Marylise came running across the playing field shouting at the top of her voice. “You’re wanted in the office.”
“What’s up?” asked Danny anxiously as he passed her.
Marylise shrugged. “Dunno, Mr. Hubner just said to give you the message. But he didn’t look mad,” she added.
Danny heaved a sigh of relief and headed for the school office.
“They’re not here, they’re meeting in the sick room,” said the secretary waving him down the corridor. “You’re to wait outside till they’re ready.”
Apprehensively, Danny headed for the sick room. “I hope it’s just that Carol’s here,” he muttered to himself.
The door was closed, but Danny could hear a hum of voices inside. “Good. It is Carol.” Relief washed over him as he recognized her voice, but it was short-lived. His heart gave a lurch when he realized Mr. Berg was also inside… and he sounded angry.
Danny looked up and down the corridor. It was empty, so he hesitantly crept close to the door and listened.
“I’m afraid I cannot agree to that,” Mr. Berg was saying. “If I allow one student to get out of doing the report, why shouldn’t the other students ask for the same privilege?”
Carol’s voice was much quieter, but her clear tones still carried well.
“I am not asking for Danny to be excused doing the report, Mr. Berg. I am asking for him to be allowed to present his work in a different manner. By insisting that Danny present his report in written form you are allowing him only to show how badly he can write and spell. You are not giving him a chance to share his knowledge of the subject he’s chosen. What are you testing the students on Mr. Berg… indepth knowledge of the subject they have researched, or writing and spelling skills?”
“Ms. Wakefield,” said Mr. Berg grimly, “spelling and writing skills are an integral part of education.”
“Of course,” agreed Carol. “But Danny is a student who has a learning disability in that area. Are we going to prevent him shining in other areas because we insist on him presenting information only in the ways he finds difficult?”
“So you think Danny’s pretty bright?”
Danny strained but couldn’t hear Carol’s answer.
There was a pause.
“Look Ms. Wakefield, I’m not sure how much Danny’s going to be able to do even if I let him attack his project a different way. Between you and me I think some of the learning disability stuff is a cop out. But I’m willing to give the kid a chance. He’s had a tough year and a bit of a break might help his confidence and self-esteem. Let me just figure something out for a second.”
In the silence Danny heard a faint rustle of paper then the rumble of Mr. Berg’s voice again.
“I have set up the project marks in 5 groups: 20% for presentation, 20% for content, 20% for research, 20% for organization of the information, and 20% for writing and spelling.”
Danny could hear the smile in Carol’s voice. It was a nice smile. “So if Danny doesn’t present a written report, he could still get 80% of his marks?”
“I suppose so,” agreed Mr. Berg gruffly. “But what makes you think that Danny Budzynski would get anything like that?”
“Because,” Carol’s voice was softer now, “all he needs is a chance to prove to you just how bright he is.”
Shaken, Danny moved away from the door, leaned his back against the cold concrete wall, and slipped down till he was sitting on the floor. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Mom always said eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves,” he thought. “But I can’t figure out if what I heard is good or bad. Am I dumb or not?” Danny stuck his head in his hands and waited for his brain to stop whirling.
The voices in the sick room rose and fell for some time, then suddenly the door opened and Mr. Berg strode out. Danny shrank into the wall, relieved when his teacher marched the opposite way without noticing him.
Light footsteps came to the doorway and Carol looked up and down the corridor. Her face brightened. “Ah. There you are, Danny. What are you doing on the floor?”
Sheepishly Danny scrambled to his feet. “Just waiting,” he mumbled.
Carol stood aside while Danny entered the sick room, then she carefully closed the door, came over and looked searchingly at his tense face.
“What’s the matter, Danny?”
Danny dropped his eyes.
“Danny Budzynski, have you been listening at doors?” Carol wagged her finger in mock anger then came over to him, put her arm around him and hugged hard. “So now you’re all mixed up and don’t understand anything?”
Danny swallowed hard and nodded.
“Well sit down, and I’ll try and explain.” Carol ignored the chairs and led Danny over to the bed where they could sit side by side.
“Are you worried?”
Danny gulped. “Kind of. Mr. Berg sounded mad.”
“He wasn’t really. He was just annoyed with me because I challenged him to rethink his teaching approaches.” Carol gave Danny another squeeze. “Besides, Mr. Berg is fair and he never stays angry for long.”
“He thinks I’m dumb though. He doesn’t believe I can do things,” Danny muttered dully.
“Mr. Berg’s a good teacher, Danny. He’ll give you a chance, then it will be up to you to make the best use of it. OK?”
“OK.”
“So… do you want to know about your brain? It’s pretty neat!”
“I guess so,” said Danny unenthusiastically.
“You’ve got a good brain, Danny. The tests show that not only are you very bright, but you have what is probably one of the best brains in the class.” Carol grinned. “Surprised?”
Danny looked thunderstruck. “As good as Marylise?”
“Maybe even better,” said Carol firmly.
“Then how come I’m so stupid?”
“You’re not stupid, it’s those glitches. The glitches affect your writing and spelling, and your ability with numbers. If you didn’t have to write things down you would pass nearly all your tests with top marks because you understand most of the information.”
Danny thought carefully. “That makes sense,” he agreed. “I know things and I know what words I want to use. They just don’t come out right.”
“Everyone learns in different ways,” Carol continued. “You learn mainly through seeing, touching, and experiencing, not from reading and writing. You find school difficult, because you are being asked to write down what you’ve learned. Because you can’t do that, there is nothing for teachers to mark so they can’t figure out how much you know.”
Danny nodded sadly. “So I’ll always be bottom of the class.”
“No,” said Carol. “This is the exciting part. We’ll find some ways for you to work using your best skills. What are you best at… the thing you do most of without any effort?”
“Talking,” said Danny cheekily.
“Right,” laughed Carol. “So we are going to start by letting you present your report not in written form, but by talking.”
For once Danny was speechless.
“There are going to be some big changes in your life Danny, and they will help you immensely.” Carol patted his knee. “Are you having trouble absorbing all this at once?”
“I… I guess so…. It’s kind of hard to think straight.” Danny stammered.
“That’s shock. Don’t worry about it. Just hang onto the fact you’re really bright and we are going to find some ways around your brain glitches.”
Danny nodded.
Carol leaned over the side of the bed, pulled up a paper carrier bag, and took out two small boxes. “Here. These are to help you with your work.”
Danny took the smallest one first and opened it. “A CALCULATOR!” he yelled. “A calculator! Hey, now I can do my times tables.” Danny pressed buttons frantically. “What’s 9 times 7, Carol… Do you know?”
Carol laughed and shook her head.
“It’s 63!” Danny turned the calculator around so she could see the answer. “Let’s try a hard one… What’s 1897 times…”—Danny thought for a minute— “er…. 42?”
Carol threw up her hands in horror.
“See… it can do it. It says 79,674!” Danny jumped off the bed in excitement and walked around the room while pressing the magical buttons and watching wonderful combinations of numbers compute before his eyes. Then he closed the calculator with a snap and hugged it close to his chest. “What about Mr. Berg?” he asked Carol. “Will he take this off me?”
“No,” said Carol decisively. “But he’ll tell you when you can use it. You won’t be able to use it all the time, Danny. It’s important for you to learn the methods of doing math, then when you understand what you are doing, you will be able to use the calculator to get the correct answer and to help with your homework.”
Danny gave a sigh of relief. “Does it belong to the school?” he asked tentatively, “or is it mine?” he finished hopefully.
“It’s yours. Your parents have paid for it, but I chose it to be sure we got the right one for your needs.”
Danny lovingly placed the calculator in his pocket and looked over at the other parcel. “And that’s mine too?”
Carol smilingly handed it to him.
Danny eagerly lifted the lid of the box. “HEY! a cassette tape recorder… and tapes!” He looked wickedly across at Carol. “Are these the Barenaked Ladies?”
“They’re blank at the moment, but they are going to be your stories.”
“They are?” Danny looked baffled and turned the tapes over and over in his hands. “I don’t get it.”
“The tape recorder will help in several ways Danny, but first in language classes. Normally when you’re asked to make up a story, you have trouble writing it down, don’t you?”
“Yeah… I only get one line done so, no one ever gets to know what my stories are about,” said Danny sadly. “And I’ve thought up some great stories.”
“Exactly.” Carol tapped the tape recorder. “So now you get to make up your story by speaking into the tape, telling it first. That way your teacher can listen to the story and mark it on content and the way you’ve organized your thoughts, then we’ll get you some help to write it down.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “Someone will help me write?”
“Sure. The stories will still be your ideas and words, but a teacher’s aide or your mom or dad will help you with the spelling.”
Danny hopped around the room excitedly. “Hey, I have this terrific story about a giant grasshopper that eats people. It’s a mutant caused by an atom explosion way out in the Pacific Ocean and there’s only one person who knows how to alter the grasshopper’s DNA molecules and kill it.”
“Enough, enough.” Carol waved her hands in the air. “Get it down on the tape tonight, Danny. It sounds terrific, but I’m running out of time.”
“OK… I’ll shut up.” Danny plonked himself down on the bed again and grinned at her. “This is like Christmas. What else is there?”
“Greedy.” Carol ruffled his hair. “There’s nothing else, but there might be later on…” she paused teasingly.
“Well, go on… what is it… come on Carol, tell me?” Danny pleaded.
“If all this goes well, we might be able to arrange time for you on a computer in the months ahead.”
“FANTASTIC.” Then Danny calmed down a little. “But how is a computer going to help me in school?”
“It will help you with your writing and spelling Danny. It won’t happen overnight, but by learning to use the word processing program on a computer you will be able to write more and to correct your own mistakes. This will help what we call the ’patterning’ of your brain. Gradually, the more you write on the computer, your spelling will improve.”
Carol paused and looked seriously at Danny. “You are very lucky, Danny. Not every child with learning disabilities has parents and a school prepared to help them with the tools they need. Look after them.”
“I will, I will,” said Danny fervently.
“In the meantime your mom will bring you into Calgary every Saturday so you and I can work together on patterning your brain with numbers and letters.”
Danny shook his head to clear it. “Wow, my brain’s mush. I can’t take in any more.”
“I’m not surprised.” Carol stood up and stretched. “I’m feeling pretty mushy myself. Off you go to class. Discuss this tonight with your folks. Mr. Berg will talk to you about the report presentation and I’ll see you next Saturday.”
“Thanks Carol.” Danny hesitated at the door then flung himself across the room, hugged her, and ran.