Student Helps Teach Peers with Learning Differences

Everyday Inspirations is a series that features people in Patch communities who inspire others through their work, or people who have faced extraordinary situations and grown from them. They have been featured by other people in the community that have been inspired by the nominees.

Name: Adam Rogers
Town: Solon, OH
Nominated by: Deb Rogers

Why is this person an "Everyday Inspiration?" 
Adam is my 15-year-old son. For the past two years he has volunteered as a "madrich," a student teacher, at religious school. His assignment? To "shadow" a child with learning differences (Asperger's, ADD) to help him succeed in a mainstream classroom.

Over time it has evolved so that he now works with this student one-on-one to teach him Hebrew, and he has recently added a second volunteer day per week to work with a second child with similar challenges. He has attended training classes to learn more about strategies to work with them and help them get the most out of their time spent at religious school.

As a result, both children are able to participate and succeed in the mainstream classes. When he found out he would be granted a stipend for his work, he decided to sign the check over to the temple instead of keeping it - "I'm a volunteer, they don't need to pay me!" he said.

Has the nominee's life been changed in an extraordinary way? 

Adam has always been empathetic. The rabbi recognized it in him years ago during religious school when she observed him quietly helping a younger student who was having a meltdown.

With Adam's help, the student calmed down and was able to rejoin the classroom activities. As he's worked as a madrich, I've seen him gain confidence and intervention skills not only in his work with the students, but with his peers. He is sensitive to situations where clique-ish behavior excludes or puts down other peers and speaks up to promote inclusion and a sense of community. I am so proud of the young man he is becoming!