Tonight was Massage Theory (2.25 hours) and Anatomy & Physiology (2 hours). First class, slow but tolerable. Second class, punctuated by LD Woman's need for clarification, reassurance, and attention.

I sat there, listening to her attempt to create an analogy to explain her grasp of a particular concept, and her failing miserably at both the analogic construction process as well as understanding the conceptual content. Over and over, and, you guessed it, over.

"So, what you're saying is that the atom is like a rubber ball and we're throwing it around and it's bouncing all over, and then we are like the proteins (I think she meant protons) and that's what makes it a carbohydrate?"

She can't discern what information is important and what is carrier verbiage. She can't tell the difference between story, metaphor, and actual description. She lacks the background knowledge for high-school level biology and chemistry.

Oh my goodness, I found myself thinking, I've just become like that parent who freaks out and gets huffy when a special ed kid is in their kid's classroom. Am I the person thinking that this student doesn't belong here?

Okay, calm down. Think of alternatives, of compensatory strategies. Maybe if you told her she could pray while someone massages her head, so she gets the experience without thinking the therapist is "opening dangerous spiritual doors". Maybe if you somehow find the words to tell her that we're here to do honor to God's creation and her physical temple.

Maybe if you just told her to shut up and save her questions for her tutor.

I actually thought that. I'd never say "shut up," but I could see myself saying that she might want to just absorb what she could during lecture and then go over the material more thoroughly in the tutorial.

I did stumble on a few rationalizations, one of which was that this is not a public school, and as such, is not required to retain her as a student, nor to provide accommodations. Those of us who paid for a learning experience would rather not spend about 10% of our time each night holding our breaths until she quits talking or the professor uses yet one more subtle (or not) deflection technique. Even in public school, a student's education plan takes into consideration both the student's needs and that student's potential detrimental effect on others.

Today, for a minute or two, I was the person who thought that someone with a learning disability didn't belong.

I'm not sure what to do or how to think about this situation. I've just planted my butt firmly on the fence and joined the growing relativist ranks. I'm not solving this one. Just breathing, "and another deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth . . . "