F.A.T. City.
The video F.A.T. City, featuring Richard Lavoie, raised many thought provoking ideas and theories in terms of understanding the needs and struggles of students with learning disabilities. The ideas in the movie really made me stop and think. I think that this is because the concepts that are presented challenged what exists in my schema and understanding of the world.

The most striking concept that was brought forth in the video for me was Lavoie's alternative take on fairness. He states that a child, when asked to describe fairness, will say that it means everyone gets the same. He challenges us to change our concept of fairness to mean that everyone gets what they need rather then the same. From a logical stand point I believe that everyone getting what they need is a proper method of instruction, but it is not the definition of fairness. In my opinion this adds to the shock factor of some of the messages that Lavoie was trying to convey. He takes a concept or idea that is clear to us in everyday life and redefines it causing us to step back and reconsider the true definition of the word.

Lavoie also talks about the difficulty that some students have with visualizing a finsihed product, thus it is difficult for them to complete a task. The process of learning to read is especially difficult for students with learning disabilities. Lavoie attributes these difficulties to the inability to visualize what a word looks like when it is spelled out. A great example of this that Lavoie uses is the ability of a regular child to clean their room. In order to complete the task the child can mentally visualize what the room will look like when it is clean, from this the child can take the logical steps to change the room in order to make it look the same as it did the last time that it was clean. A child with a learning disability lacks the ability to visualize their room in the same way as the so called regular child. I think that knowing this information can help us as educators to see that if we can understand the disability it is simple to make accomodations for the child so that they are able to learn just as well as the regular children in the classroom. I believe that understanding the root of the disability rather then just the symptoms can be instrumental in implementing inclusion in the classroom. Instead of dealing with the symptoms and the behavioural disruptions that a disability brings about Lavoie encourages us as teachers to make accomodations so that the disability is not detrimental to the childs learning experience.