Miranda Rickhoff

Marlin

It’s hard to explain how it feels to have a learning disability to those around you such as your parents, friends and classmates. Around the time you are in 1st to 3rd grade, lessons become more challenging to build skills and social interactions become key with progressing with education. This is also around the time students start to feel the academic pressure to follow along with their peers to keep up, however someone that has a learning disability this task becomes more challenging.

Learning disabilities range person to person and making subjects like reading, math and writing harder and frustrating. It’s hard to explain what a learning disability feels like, especially at a young age and with parents who are unaware of what a learning disability is and how it will affect their child’s life. With Marlin, a set of activities based around three Learning Disabilities (Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dysgraphia), Parents can simulate and experience common difficulties and frustrations their child could be having in the classroom leading them to understand how they could help. Marlin would be placed in the offices of school occupational therapists and social workers to assist parents on the next steps their child would need to help them grow.