3rd class

In the third class, we focused on the high-achieving individuals with LD and analyzed what it takes for them to succeed. To me, the class is more like an inspiring speech. We take those out-standing individuals as example and learn from them about how they overcome unusual difficulties to proof their value. I can relate to those key elements of success very well, since they also apply to any ordinary people, especially the majority.

First, people with LD are “niche-pickers”. They understand what they are good at, and what they cannot do well. Therefore, they build on their strength and avoid the shortcoming. This is also very applicable to me. I remember that when I was in high school. I was very good at some subjects, such as English, Chinese and History, but cannot understand Math or Physics at all. When choosing my major in college, I was highly encouraged to choose accounting or finance because they were the more profitable career. However, I knew that I wouldn’t figure out all those numbers and my life would be miserable then, so that I decided to choose English, which was not recognized as promising field. Because of my passion and confidence in English, I did pretty well in college, and realized my dream to come to America. All these stories have proved again and again the importance to find my strength and stay on it.

The second key element of success of people with LD is resilience, because of which I respect them the most. They do not give up easily when knocked down. I understand how hard it is to persist in one thing that you have failed for many times, since that is the reason why I gave up playing piano, dancing and many other things. Now, I do regret that I was not hard enough on myself and was not resilient. Fortunately, one thing I have not given up is English, which is my passion and leads me to my dream. Therefore, just as Dr. Gerber said, to be resilient, it is crucial to find the niche and one’s passion. Only when the person is enthusiastic about what he is doing, can he control his frustration and stick to it.

Also, in the class, Dr. Gerber talked about the Deficit Model. I didn’t think about this before, but it is so true! We do define people as what they cannot do, but not focusing on their capability. Once heard about this model, I cannot help wondering the reason. I guess one of reasons could be that we won’t some kind of guarantee in other’s capability. When dealing with people, we want to know what is not so good about this person in order to decide how to interact with him or her. For example, if I know that a very kind, smart and nice person cannot keep secret, I will still be friend with her, but not sharing my privacy with her because that may hurt my interest. I don’t know if this make sense to others, but it is how I feel about the deficit model.