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When My Son Was Younger, I Was His Audiobook

Categories: Disability Type, Giving, Learning Disabilities, Parenting, Uncategorized

Guest blog by Pamela, mother to Marcus, who has a learning disability. Marcus Playing BassWithout access to literature, people with disabilities are at a disadvantage. They will not be able to perform up to their potential.  This can chip away at a child’s self-esteem. With access to literature, people with disabilities are empowered and enabled to perform fully and experience success in the classroom. When my son was younger, I was his audiobook.  We realized he did much better when I would read to him.
 We would read everything twice. He would read to me and then I would read to him.
As he advanced in school to higher grade levels, the amount of reading started to increase and we were spending an enormous amount of time reading to each other.  His educational therapist, Jan, told us about Learning Ally.  As soon as he got it, he was able to fully work independently in all of his subjects, including the dense reading subjects like Literature and History. It has shortened the time it takes for him to do his work and he is able to fully display his knowledge in all subjects. "I understood it better when I heard the stories and read them at the same time," he tells me. "This is important because it helps me participate more in literature class discussions and I am able to get high grades." Family at the Rose BowlHe is now in the 11th grade and was recently selected for the National Society of High School Scholars. As a kid with a different learning style but normal abilities, audiobooks leveled the playing field and allowed him to really demonstrate what he knows. Learning differences do NOT necessarily mean intelligence differences. With the right support and accommodations, children with learning differences can be on honor rolls and earn scholastic achievement awards, etc. As a mother who has seen her son directly benefit from the services of Learning Ally, I chose to donate to this not-for-profit organization because it is such a worthy cause. Learning Ally allows the “playing field” to be leveled so that children with learning differences can fully display what they know. Access to your audio books has made tremendous difference in my child's educational performance. Thank you, Learning Ally! Learning Ally LogoLearning Ally is a national not-for-profit that provides services, like audiobooks, to students with print disabilities. Our library of over 82,000 human-narrated audiobooks contains both textbooks and books for pleasure reading. However, we are so much more than audiobooks.  Your tax-deductible donation allows us to provide free training both in person and online to teachers, students and parents. Consider making a donation today at LearningAlly.org/Donate.