F. A. T. City

In the “How difficult can it be? F.A.T. City” (1972) video created by Richard Lavoie, M.A., M.Ed., Lavoie uses his personal experience to help others understand the challenges and frustrations individuals with learning disabilities face on a daily basis in and out of the classroom. Lavoie explains in a letter in the online “Teachers. Scholastic ” (How hard can it be), that after completing his special education degree, he began to tutor a student named Craig. While tutoring this student, Lavoie made a serious mistake by telling the student that he understood how the student felt. However, Lavoie could not have understood because he is not learning disabled (How hard can it be). At that moment, Lavoie recognized that he had a lot to learn about …show more content…
city is set in a classroom environment in 1972, at the Eagle Hill School, “outreach” in Connecticut. Rick has intentionally selected the students that will participate in this video. They are a social worker, school psychologist, recreation therapists, school counselor, health services director, general education teacher, special education teacher, parents, friends, a child with a learning disability, and a sibling of a child with a learning disability. These individuals have been selected, because they all have a direct contact, in some way, with a child or are family members of a child who has learning disabilities. The exercises that will be done, in this classroom setting, will allow the participants to experience the frustration, anxiety, and tension, that students face every day in the classroom and their environment. Rick explains, that this understanding is so important because the statistic that 6 to 10% of children in the US have a diagnosed learning disability (F.A.T). Equipped with this statistic, the professionals in this group will have direct contact with many students throughout their educational careers. Rick created this video to help anyone understand through direct observation, the participants responses and experiences, that closely relate to how a student with a language-based disability receives and perceives information. By understanding this information, professionals who have direct contact with the student, will learn how …show more content…
Early on, in our educational systems, students are easily identified when they possess deficits in academic areas. Students learn early on, that wrong answers quickly get them labeled as stupid. Rick proves this theory, by how he continues to badger a student in the video, over the perception of a cow on a page. When the student does not get the correct answer, he ask the student to look harder, to pay attention, to look again, then offers a reward for a correct response, but does not offer a way for the student to be successful. As the student’s anxiety rises, the ability to perceive the information becomes more difficult, and other students that can see the cow begin to wonder, what is wrong with the student that cannot see the cow, and they make the assumption that this student is stupid (F.A.T). Throughout elementary, middle, and high school there are many examples of how students self-esteem and willingness to learn are stifled by sarcastic comments and disapproving actions by teachers that further foster peers perceptions. It can be easy to pick out academic scholars, as they are frequently the ones that are praised for their success. While students who struggle, teachers try to rationalize why is student is not succeeding and it is ultimately somehow the student’s fault. In the classroom, students come to this