Did you smell that?

Can you smell this?!?
Of course I cannot replicate any kind of smells here on my tablet for you to breathe in as you're reading this on your device at home or in your office like I can reproduce a picture or a statement, but---- I can tell you some stories about them. So, here goes!

Scents, aromas, odors, smells...they are not part of the usual things people want to be corrected from. Correcting reading problems, improving focus, or increasing understanding of dyslexia are some of the typical things people ask me to help them with, but scents...not so much! Why is smell so important though, I find myself asking.

To show the power of the brain and the power we have within us alone as humans, let's look at the ability to smell. I'd venture to say when you are feeling great, full of energy and in good spirits odors round you might have no effect on how you feel, but on a day when you're weary, tired, etc, it can be a different story! For instance, cigarette smoke is one thing that can affect me.

In allergy season the odor from a cigarette can cause me to have an allergic reaction, when in non-allergy seasons I don't notice any effect from that same whiff of smoke!

Brain Science 
Here are some facts from an article in Lions Talk Science out of Penn State College of Medicine (link below):
"Incoming smells are first processed by the olfactory bulb, which starts inside the nose and runs along the bottom of the brain.  The olfactory bulb has direct connections to two main areas that are strongly implicated in emotion and memory: the amygdala and hippocampus."

Penn State "Smells"

Perfume
The article goes on to say that 'visual, auditory (sound), and tactile (touch) information do not pass through these brain areas.  This may be why olfaction, more than any other sense, is so successful at triggering emotions and memories.'

Emotions and memories, these are right up our alley as dyslexic learners. But what happens with scents?  Let's talk about perfume for a minute.

White Linen perfume was created in 1978 for Estee Lauder. According to Estee Lauder it's an "intense fragrance built on the harmony of aldehydes, flowers, wood, amber and musk' and with tones of Bulgarina rose, jasmine, orris, violet, vetiver and oakmoss.

To my daughter Amanda, White Linen isn't the harmony of flowers blended together, it is the memory of her grandmother, my mom Linda Henkle, whom she loved dearly. My daughter to this day (who happens to be celebrating her birthday!) when she catches even a lingering smell of White Linen perfume instantly remembers her loving grandmother.
Even though it's been over a quarter of a century since my mom was here on earth the simple essence of White Linen perfume still lives on in eternity in my daughter's brain.

World Prematurity Day
Here's another aspect: tomorrow has been labeled as World Prematurity Day. This day is important to me, because soon it'll be my son's 37th birthday. After my son Tim was born more than six weeks prematurely, he required life-saving surgery and was transferred to a large area hospital with a neonatal unit.  The surgery that saved his life was intense and it required a period of hospitalization.  I instantly flashback to that neonatal care unit when I get a whiff of a disinfectant smell like the one they used in that hospital! The cleaner, as you can imagine, was used frequently to maintain the cleanliness of the intensive care unit. But one whiff of this disinfectant and my brain is flooded with memories from that time.

Superpower
Why is this important?  Dyslexia, it's not about smelling, no, but it is like a super power, intensifying the barrage of information that our senses send to us as we navigate through each and every day of our life.

To those of us on the visual-spatial spectrum, if we are not in charge of our focusing ability and emotions, confusion can quickly disorient and cause us to make mistakes.
Even when it might smell a little!

#worldprematurityday
#givethemtomorrow
#happybirthdayAmanda
#happybirthdayTim
#dyslexia #davisdyslexia #onpointlearning #cathycook #columbiamo #como #emotions #learning

Which Path to Take

Which Path to take

In the special education profession there are several paths available. The obvious path follows the beaten trail; it's down the lane where everyone expects you to go. Then there's the other path.  The second passage, that's the one that had my name written all over it!

I went from horticulturist to special ed teacher and at first I was fine with this transition. But, the status quo or 'normal' approach of treating our learning disabled kids wasn't giving me or my students the results they deserved. The kids weren't blooming. All kids deserve the best we can give them.  I wanted the kiddos to have the opportunity to weave down paths where they could bloom. To bloom like the roses I'd cared for in the past.

Once I maneuvered onto the unknown trail in search of 'roses' there was NO turning back.

The trail began innocently. In a way I think it started when a student needed a place to stay over a weekend. They would spend time with me and my family. Or, a parent would confide in me their concerns for the child's education. I'd make special arrangements to hang out on a Saturday with another student and learn more about them then I could at school. A parent would come into my office in tears. I'd try to help and I could at least listen. These special events, they impacted me.

Tourette's and Autism info

But there was more. These kids had enormous difficulties in reading, writing effectively, solving math problems and more. Even greater was their dislike for school. I needed answers. Parents needed answers.

I started out researching in an area where a student was having difficulty. Then another area of need would arise..for that student or for another student.

At the top of the picture that's in the center of this page is the receipt for the Tourette's conference I attended in St. Louis. One student had received a Tourette's diagnosis and I wanted more info on how to work with this disorder. It was a stepping stone on my path.

Categorizing my searches into areas like dyslexia, diagnostic teaching, brain processing and multi-intelligence helped me to sort out the massive amounts of info I was collecting. These binders held my mounds of paper; research I'd tucked away and forgotten about until I started cleaning out the storage area!

I have to admit that at first I was excited when I found these old things...only because I figured here's something I can get rid of!

Then I realized these verify my early searches. Now the question is do I keep these as reminders, or recycle them and free up space?

Early dyslexia and speech implementer info 

Save or recycle? In the meantime I'm amazed at the journey I've been on. 

It's a LONG Journey

"For me it was the beginning of a long journey. Long journey, oh how those words don't even begin to convey the truth...exhausting, challenging, overwhelming, lonely, intense, and long, yes, it's been a LONG journey!"

That writing above is from my last post. I reviewed the post, hit PUBLISH and immediately realized the 'exhausting, challenging, overwhelming....' part gives a false impression. The journey WAS all those things, but mostly... it was an unknown, lonely and alien path.

Have you ever been on your journey of life and in the back of your mind thought everything was hunky-dory or normal; on autopilot? Yes, I was on autopilot until W H A M!  I slammed head first into a MAMMOTH wall.

Simply put, the path of my life suddenly diverted from autopilot to grad school for a master's degree in special education. Meanwhile, life took a thousand twists along the mountainous path of raising my four children by myself. Here you can insert EXHAUSTION!

At one point I quit grad school out of frustration. Learning the history and theories of education didn't seem relevant anymore.  Eventually God turned my heart around and I was back in school. It took me more than a few years to get that master's degree, but I did it! Before the ink had dried on my diploma my phone was ringing and I had a request to interview for a special education position. After one interview I found myself heading to the classroom, this time as a teacher!

I'm forever grateful for that opportunity to work in elementary education. It was a new road to say the least  (after all my bachelor's degree is in applied science, agriculture, emphasis on horticulture, where my favorite saying was, "I like working with plants because they don't talk back! HaHa!) 

Working on a master's degree, holding down at least one job and substitute teaching pre-school through high school, raising my kids by myself, while maintaining a house and eight acres was absolutely exhausting but oh, so worthwhile.

You see over the years I knew my kids learned in a different way. My true journey had begun with my own children when I realized their strengths and weaknesses in learning. Finding the best way for them to learn to read, write, do math, had been my first goal. DYSLEXIA back then was not an unheard of thing. Unknown no: forbidden describes it more clearly.

Finding myself as a teacher would mean that for the first few years I'd be back on autopilot, until I couldn't stand it anymore! 

What's next?

The Final Straw: Let's go back a bit first

Previously I wrote about my overpowering desire to learn about dyslexia and to figure out how in the world I could help my students. I wanted to learn beyond what I already knew about special education, learn from my past, from my experiences, to ...  really, I did not know what to expect!

There seemed to be too many unknowns and no answers!

30 Years
Over 30 years ago... I was, minding my own business walking through the education wing at church, when the children's ministry director, Cindy McKee, stopped me.

"How would you like to teach Sunday School?" she asked.

"ME?"
"Oh, NO."
"I am NOT a teacher!" I protested (Loudly!)

"I really need a teacher, Cathy." She said. Her tone was serious and the look in her eyes said she wasn't messing around!

Who was I? I was just a young mom with a degree in applied science, an agriculture degree for goodness sake! What could I possibly know about teaching?!? I just knew there was nothing in my background that prepared me to be a teacher! I had two young children and in my eyes there was no way, NO WAY, I was remotely equipped to teach!

Cindy continued on. "I need a 1st grade teacher."

"No. I can't do it." I was not the answer to her problem!

Little did I know, while I thought I wasn't the answer, here was one of the beginning points in my career in special education.

AND teach Sunday school I did! Cindy's persistence won out. Here's how we handled it: I agreed to not be THE teacher but to be the HELPER! In the end three ladies rotated, each teaching one month at a time, while I served as the support person. I was the helper. In the background. NOT teaching.

Children's Classroom, Cathy's Research lab!
Did I say I was NOT teaching. Silly me, because that's exactly what I did! The year started off with me sitting quietly there helping the teacher when ever I could, but at some point I realized something ----> I was as much a teacher as anyone in that class. Having three teachers originally seemed like a great idea. But it turned out that I knew the kids' personalities, their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses better than anyone because I was there every week. (Only missed one week when I gave birth to my daughter. After that my baby girl came to Sunday school, too!)

The class had about a dozen students, but one little girl to this day stands out in my mind's eye. One beautiful little girl, each week, would grow quiet when her turn to read approached. You see, the ladies who were teaching felt that having the class take turns reading the lesson was a great idea. Sounded good.  At some point that year I realized it was not the best choice for this sweet little girl.

I had no training in learning disabilities or any idea what dyslexia was at that time, it just made sense to let her choose whether or not she wanted to read.

She didn't.

That was 30+ years ago. I still remember thinking: how can someone who's so pretty, and has no obvious disability, struggle to read.  Now I know better. To this day I will occasionally hear someone comment "that child's too cute, they can't have a disability." Still so many people to educate.

For me it was the beginning of a long journey. Long journey, oh how those words don't even begin to convey the truth...exhausting, challenging, overwhelming, lonely, intense, and long, yes, it's been a LONG journey!