Review: What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability?

Dwyer, Kathleen M. What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability? New York: Walker Publishing Company, 1991.


What Do You Mean I Have a Learning Disability? is a book about Jimmy, who has a reading learning disability. He is generally a very quiet boy, but that is only because he doesn’t want anybody else to hear him mix up his words when he speaks. He hates going to school because he thinks he is “dumb.” Spelling and math is just a nightmare, and instead of the teacher being responsive to his needs, he unintentionally embarrasses him after he tries to do a math problem front of the class and marks up his spelling paper with big “SP’s,” which indicates he is wrong. Jimmy believes nobody understands how hard he is trying. Finally, one of his teachers, Mrs. Brown, realizes that Jimmy should be tested for a learning disability. Sure enough, Jimmy learns from his doctor that there is a reason why he is having difficulty in school and that he is not stupid like he thinks he is. With the help of a tutor, Jimmy does many exercises, like rhythmic writing, sounding out syllables, and visual puzzles. The extra work is worth while because on his next test, Jimmy receives an A. Finally, Jimmy knows that he is not stupid and he realizes how good it feels.



What information I think is good to relay to children in this book is how a child gets tested for a learning disability, which is why this is a useful book. In the text, Jimmy thinks he is stupid because he is having trouble in school. It creates a very relatable story that other children can understand to become sympathetic toward the struggles of those with a learning disability. The illustrations in the book are actually photographs of a real life child with also eliminates biases depicted in drawings.

The author is very well educated in learning disabilities, being that she is a LD therapist and has written many teaching books for children with learning disabilities. She even operates a clinic for children with learning disabilities and ADD. Obviously, she has geared her life to helping these children learn about and learn how to work with learning disabilities.