Janet Curcio Wilson
M.Ed., Inspirational, Spiritual Speaker
NH, USThere is No Such Thing as "Special" Education!
Having died two times before the age of eight due to febrile seizures, I knew firsthand the difficulties of learning. This single event solidified my life's purpose directing it down two specific roads – one aimed toward spiritual exploration in an effort to explain my near-death experience and the other aimed toward educating children with special needs. Throughout grade-school I struggled with mathematics, retention of facts and conceptual understanding, leading educators to label me a "slow learner." In high school I was told I was "not college material," leading to a promise I would later fulfill – to attend Harvard University.
Despite such judgments, I completed my college education in just 3 years, maintaining honors. Information processing while listening and reading were arduous and headaches were nearly constant. What would take peers a single reading took me as many as five or six attempts. I soon became determined to understand the power of alternative pathways to knowledge retention for differently-abled learners.
This single-minded effort led me to become a Special Education Teacher, A Principal, A Waldorf Educator, An Improvisational Dancer, An Artist and a Writer. Whole-brain learning became the hallmark of my teaching methodology integrating movement, drawing, music, the arts and real world skills training as early as 1978. My ability to reach even the most challenging student became noticed. Colleagues would often defer to me when met with an "at-risk" student or an irate parent.
After 40 successful years educating youth and adults, my message is clear: There is no purpose in calling any learner "special" because all children are special – we need only find their strength, their unique talent or "giftedness" - that thing that "curls their hair!"
I am proud to say my determination has paid off as I have been the recipient of numerous awards and am now the owner of a Brain Retraining business – Inspired Learning Coaching in Amherst, NH, where I teach children as young as 5 years old (through adulthood) self-hypnosis and "Percussive Suggestion Technique" how to rewire their own brains for optimal learning.
Awards Include:
• President Barack Obama's Transition Team Nomination
• Ted Sizer's Excellence in Education Award
• Full Sail University's Professor's Choice Film Award
There is No Such Thing as "Special" Education!
Having died two times before the age of eight due to febrile seizures, I knew firsthand the difficulties of learning. This single event solidified my life's purpose directing it down two specific roads – one aimed toward spiritual exploration in an effort to explain my near-death experience and the other aimed toward educating children with special needs. Throughout grade-school I struggled with mathematics, retention of facts and conceptual understanding, leading educators to label me a "slow learner." In high school I was told I was "not college material," leading to a promise I would later fulfill – to attend Harvard University.
Despite such judgments, I completed my college education in just 3 years, maintaining honors. Information processing while listening and reading were arduous and headaches were nearly constant. What would take peers a single reading took me as many as five or six attempts. I soon became determined to understand the power of alternative pathways to knowledge retention for differently-abled learners.
This single-minded effort led me to become a Special Education Teacher, A Principal, A Waldorf Educator, An Improvisational Dancer, An Artist and a Writer. Whole-brain learning became the hallmark of my teaching methodology integrating movement, drawing, music, the arts and real world skills training as early as 1978. My ability to reach even the most challenging student became noticed. Colleagues would often defer to me when met with an "at-risk" student or an irate parent.
After 40 successful years educating youth and adults, my message is clear: There is no purpose in calling any learner "special" because all children are special – we need only find their strength, their unique talent or "giftedness" - that thing that "curls their hair!"
I am proud to say my determination has paid off as I have been the recipient of numerous awards and am now the owner of a Brain Retraining business – Inspired Learning Coaching in Amherst, NH, where I teach children as young as 5 years old (through adulthood) self-hypnosis and "Percussive Suggestion Technique" how to rewire their own brains for optimal learning.
Awards Include:
• President Barack Obama's Transition Team Nomination
• Ted Sizer's Excellence in Education Award
• Full Sail University's Professor's Choice Film Award
The Etymology of the Word, Education is Educare and it Means "To Draw Out."
Having died twice before the age of eight does not make me an expert in education, but it helps. You see, one would immediatly expect that an experience of this magnitude would frighten a child, but instead it changed me...
