Rick Lavoie

Last night I had the privilege of hearing Rick Lavoie speak for 4 hours.  Rick Lavoie is a guru of education, namely special education.  He has been presenting on special education and working with kids with learning disabilities for over 30 years.  My mom is probably one of his biggest fans and has used his famous videos, "F.A.T City" and "When the Chips are Down" in numerous presentations.

He has a daughter who has special learning needs and whose story is similar to mine, he read the forward to one of his books, which is dedicated to her, and it was like listening to my story.  It was a truly informational and inspiring evening.

He spoke first to the religious and day school teachers in the community and then later to parents in the community.  His topics were "The Motivation Breakthrough" and "It's So Much Work to be Your Friend."

 

It really was an amazing evening. I had seen videos of Lavoie before, but then I was just a student who related to his message, now I am a grad student in special education who recognizes that I will need to head his message as an educator.

There are so many highlights and stories from the evening to share, but this post could go on forever! But I will share this.  Lavoie is a Bostoner and a huge Sox fan.  He told the story of inheriting a baseball signed by the Sox's 1967 Dream Team.  He said that when he was given it his 4 year old son suggested they have a catch with the ball when they got home.  Lavoie told his son, they can't play ball with that specific baseball because it has writing on it.  Upon returning home his son disappeared and came back and said they could play ball with the signed baseball now, since he had licked all the autographs off of it.  Lavoie realized that he had to see the world and the situation through his son's eyes.  He saw a problem and fixed it, and Lavoie realized that while it wasn't the best solution it was a simple innocent child's response.

So folks, see the world through your child's eyes - through the innocence of childhood, try to understand the world as they do, and understand that they see it differently!