[Specialed] Spring 2011 National Scholarship Competition for College Students with Disabilities

[Richard Evans]

Spring 2011 National Scholarship Competition for College Students with Disabilities
Hi, please share with your students disABLEDperson, Inc. Spring 2011 National Scholarship Competition for College Students with Disabilities. The award is for $1000. Competition ends on March 4, 2011. Details at www.disABLEDperson.com
















Finally my first book has been published
Living with A Learning Difference (Disability) by Richard A. Evans, Jr, Ph.D.


http://outskirtspress.com/webpage.php?ISBN=9781432779245<http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Foutskirtspress%2Ecom%2Fwebpage%2Ephp%3FISBN%3D9781432779245&urlhash=i9r9&_t=tracking_disc>

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-with-a-learning-difference-jr-phd-richard-a-evans/1108090351?ean=9781432779245&r=1&<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-with-a-learning-difference-jr-phd-richard-a-evans/1108090351?ean=9781432779245&r=1&%20>

>From the Book
In 1976 while I was struggling in high school, special education was just finding a foothold in the hallways of America's educational systems. By the end of that year, regular and special educators were discussing such issues as roles, responsibilities, needs, and resources to fulfill the mandates of federal legislation (PL 94-142), but during that time I became just another high school dropout. I dropped out of high school never understanding why school was so difficult for me until 1992 while having a psychological evaluation for depression. I was diagnosed with two distinct learning disabilities (Developmental Reading Disorder and Expressive Writing Disorder). Later Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder would be added to the list. You would have thought this might only add to my depression but it did not. Quite the opposite, just knowing that my problem had a name and that I was not stupid gave me hope. I now know that just because I learn differently and write poorly, it does not mean that I am stupid.

In 1992 I returned to school after getting a GED and enrolling in college and through much trial and error I found that I could function in an academic setting. In 2004 I completed my academic endeavors by earning a PhD in Educational Psychology from Texas A & M University.  I am now currently an Associate Professor in Special Education/ Teacher Education. It is my unique understanding of learning and reading difficulties that allows me to better prepare future teachers to teach special needs students.
This book is written to be a source of hope for everyone that reads it, especially for individuals with learning challenges, their parents, their teachers, their family, and their friends. It exposes some of the struggles individuals with Dyslexia, Learning Disabilities, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may experience.

My learning disabilities are only part of the problem, and because of them I have developed other problems such as emotional or foundational baggage. Foundational baggage consists of painful memories, hurts, and negative experiences which, when carried forward from the past, inevitably impact future emotional experiences. Combinations of these differences create even more problems. It is like telling a lie and then having to tell other lies to correct the original. My life has been filled with a variety of primary problems. Through the years, I tried unsuccessfully to compensate for these problems. The more adjustments I made for the primary problems, the more messed up my life became. It would have helped immensely if someone had told me that it was okay to be a little different-that just learning differently did not mean I was stupid.

Learning differently does not mean that I am altogether different from what is considered to be normal. It just means that I do some things differently. For me, it means that I work most effectively out of the right side of my brain, not the left side which is preferred by most people. It means I need to see the whole picture first and spend time experiencing the idea. It means I live in a three-dimensional space in which I experience each of these dimensions and even get lost in them sometimes. It means I want to discover the parts of the idea or object for myself even though I often need help. It means I must discover in different ways the knowledge that others learn through memorization.

I also know that learning differences are not a curse; they are a plus when students work hard, are taught what they need to learn, and are not afraid to utilize their strengths. There are many people with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD (attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder) who are very successful. They succeed when they develop self-confidence and knowledge about who they are and how they think. When their ideas and approaches are different from the mainstream, they do not just assume they are stupid; they courageously test the possibility that it is their own creativity at work.


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Richard A Evans, Ph.D.
SPED Undergraduate and Graduate Advisor
CoE - Dept of Teacher Education
Angelo State University
2601 W. Avenue N
San Angelo, Texas 76909
CARR # 120
325-942-2052
Fax: 325-942-2039
Member of the Texas Tech University System

Please excuse what appears to be obvious errors in my email. Unfortunately my learning disability affects my ability to detect what appears to most individuals as simple errors in writing. Even though I used a spell and grammar checker, some mistakes will still get overlooked.

"The difficult things, we handle immediately; the impossible takes a little longer." Dr. Thomas Walton, President of Texas A&M University 1939.


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