A parent once asked me “How hard can it be? I mean really, a little extra help and they should be fine.”

The short answer? Very hard. One of my favourite speeches is a workshop I do called “How Hard Can It Be?” where I put parents and teachers into situations where they can experience just a shimmer of what it’s like to have a learning disability. Tears often prevail, both theirs and mine. As someone who grew up with three learning disabilities myself, I am all too familiar with the pain they cause.

I stumbled on a short video today and wanted to share it with you. It does an amazing job of showing the pain experienced on a daily basis of someone who experiences Sensory Overload.

Breakthroughs once worked with a boy who resisted touching sheets of paper because it was as irritating as nails on a chalkboard. Imagine the trauma he must have experienced in the classroom. We were able to quickly bring relief by using plastic sheet protectors, and for the first time he started willingly doing school work. This was just a short term intervention strategy to offer relief as we began his Individual Brain Development Program which included desensitizing his nervous system.

Watch this short two minute clip.

Sensory Overload (Interacting with Autism Project) from Miguel Jiron on Vimeo.

I will leave you with that powerful image.

If your student or child is struggling to learn, get help, sooner rather than later. You can’t begin to imagine what they’re experiencing.

I would love to hear about some of your experiences with learning disabilities, and your thoughts on the video.

About the Author

From an early age Matthew loved to talk, and now he gets paid to do just that.

Having grown up with Learning Disabilities and overcome them, Breakthroughs is an opportunity for him to give back. Now Matthew is an Educational Therapist with over 20,000 hours of experience working with children and adults with learning challenges.

When not in the office Matthew can be found seeking adventure with his wife and children, preferably on a mountain or in a kayak.

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