Em Powers

What About Em?

Why won’t She Work?

Emily was born in the late 1900s, where autism and ADHD didn’t exist, especially in girls, so no one was sure what was weird about her, but there was definitely something odd.

Hyperlexic and an enthusiastic learner who tested well, no one could understand why once she was in secondary school she seemingly lost all interest in her education and wouldn’t even attend unless she really had to.

Her lust for learning had been completely extinguished and she ran out of school as soon as she could.

She ended up rather quickly running back into it, though this time as a mentor for a child who was “acting out” and wouldn’t stay in classes. He’d already had a mentor for a year by the time this 19 year old that left her school days despising them went to work an 8 year old boy who had seemingly reached the same conclusion even earlier.

It didn’t take long for her to realise that only some subjects caused an explosive reaction. He never stormed out of maths and actually seemed to enjoy it. English though, well, that made him very angry indeed.

After asking him to read some simple sentences, it became apparent that he didn’t know his letter sounds. In fact, he didn’t know his alphabet at all.

Well, of course he was finding English frustrating!

He didn’t understand the very basics.

How had no one else noticed?

He was being written off as having behaviour issues because no one had ever sat down and taught him the alphabet!

So Emily taught him. The only way she knew how. With the ABC song.

And it worked. He got it. Immediately.

He didn’t have behaviour issues and his capacity for learning was vast. He’d just never been given the tools for the task.

He’d been overlooked. Called difficult. When the system that was supposedly designed for his learning had completely missed teaching him the fundamentals.

The turnaround in his engagement, behaviour and attainment was immediate, and he didn’t need me any more.

But lots of other children did.

There were so many disengaged children that schools would recognise as being disruptive or problematic.

Boys who wouldn’t read, girls overly bothered about bodies, kids who didn’t talk, ones who wouldn’t stop talking, angry kids, those with no friends, some who seemed oblivious to their surroundings, the difficult ones, the misbehavours, the ones who just won’t work.

Emily designed and delivered programs for them all. Hundreds of them. In 10s of schools.

None of them were being deliberately difficult.

They all wanted to learn.

They all loved engaging.

They just needed to feel they were safe, understood before they could.

So if you’re an adult like Emily that feels school killed your passion for learning. Or if you care for a child and you’re worried the education system is sucking the joy out of them, I want to help you be the adult you needed then and they need now.

Kids shouldn’t be barely surviving school, they should be thriving.