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SPD-200
Beyond F.A.T City-Video Analysis
In the video Beyond F.A.T City: A Look Back, A Look Ahead- a Conversation About
Special Education, Richard Lavoie dives into how people should treat those with learning
disabilities. F.A.T Stands for Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension. The purpose of a previous video
as well as this video is to enlighten teachers and parents on how to understand their children and
students with learning disabilities. One of the Key Quotes that really resonated with me was at
the beginning of the video Richard states that it takes a village to raise a child but even more for
one with special needs. I couldn’t agree with this more.
Another huge take away from this video is Richard’s outlook and definition of fairness.
Richard explains that typical students will say that fairness means everyone gets the same thing. I
struggle with this so much and so do my current students. We view things as unfair just from
looking at what someone else has in comparison to ourselves without thinking about the reason
why. Richard describes fairness as getting what a person needs. The reason why someone else
has more than we do is because they NEED it more than we do. He then explains that for parents
to not try to ignore the fact that they are giving one of their children more time, attention, or
resources. Do not try to balance or try to make it fair, this will only make the situation worse.
Richard Lovoie could not have been more spot on than when he talked about
assumptions. I feel like assumptions play a huge roll in how society views those with disabilities.
Often time we talk or treat those that we can physically see struggle with more compassion. We
often assume those with disabilities are “normal” and can properly function with simple tasks.
SPD-200
Beyond F.A.T City-Video Analysis
In the video Beyond F.A.T City: A Look Back, A Look Ahead- a Conversation About
Special Education, Richard Lavoie dives into how people should treat those with learning
disabilities. F.A.T Stands for Frustration, Anxiety, and Tension. The purpose of a previous video
as well as this video is to enlighten teachers and parents on how to understand their children and
students with learning disabilities. One of the Key Quotes that really resonated with me was at
the beginning of the video Richard states that it takes a village to raise a child but even more for
one with special needs. I couldn’t agree with this more.
Another huge take away from this video is Richard’s outlook and definition of fairness.
Richard explains that typical students will say that fairness means everyone gets the same thing. I
struggle with this so much and so do my current students. We view things as unfair just from
looking at what someone else has in comparison to ourselves without thinking about the reason
why. Richard describes fairness as getting what a person needs. The reason why someone else
has more than we do is because they NEED it more than we do. He then explains that for parents
to not try to ignore the fact that they are giving one of their children more time, attention, or
resources. Do not try to balance or try to make it fair, this will only make the situation worse.
Richard Lovoie could not have been more spot on than when he talked about
assumptions. I feel like assumptions play a huge roll in how society views those with disabilities.
Often time we talk or treat those that we can physically see struggle with more compassion. We
often assume those with disabilities are “normal” and can properly function with simple tasks.
