Henry Winkler—Every Child Has a Gift
Most of you know Henry
Winkler as the Fonz, the high school drop out with a heart of gold. You
may also know him through Hank, the fun kid with learning disabilities
who gets in a world of trouble in his popular children’s
books, Hank Zipzer: the
World’s Greatest Underachiever. The real
Henry Winkler is a composite of these characters and more. He’s a
man who has learning challenges, a man who cares deeply about others, a
man who wants so much to help children with special needs find their own
gift—and their self-esteem--that he is willing to share his
struggles with the world. Meet Henry Winkler, CEC’s keynote
speaker for the 2008 CEC Annual Convention & Expo.
Many people with
disabilities are successful, but they don’t write books about it.
Why did you decide to write books about children with disabilities?
A friend
asked me, why don’t you write children’s books about your
dyslexia? I said, “Absolutely not. No way. I’m stupid. I
have nothing to say.” I didn’t even say, “Let me think
about it,” because it was not something I thought I could
do. Two years later,
I was asked again, and this time I said ok….You don’t know
what you can accomplish if you’ve got something in mind and you
are passionate about it. You put one foot in front of another, and you
end up where you want to go. It’s as simple and as difficult as
that.
Has being an author changed your
perceptions of yourself?
I still have
those feelings. How you feel about yourself on the inside and how you
live life on the outside don’t necessarily gel. But, outside of my
kids and my family, it has made me proud. The one thing I am proudest of
is the fact that these books exist.
Your main character,
Hank, reflects your experience in many ways. Is that difficult for you
when you are writing?
In my
11th
book, Hank must do well or he can’t be in the play.
Hank gets in an argument with his father—he got best the best
grade he ever received but not the grade they had made the deal on.
I had that argument with my dad when I was 11. Now I’m 62, and it
was like it was yesterday. I was on fire. I couldn’t speak fast
enough. I feel better now, because I realize one part of my brain is not
stupid. But, I can’t believe it completely.
How have your learning
challenges impacted your life?
As a positive. I
used to think I would like to cut them out of my brain like a disease.
But I’m sure that if didn’t have that challenge, I
wouldn’t have fought as hard as I did to get where I am. Maybe it
was the very fact that I had learning challenges that was the gasoline
in my engine. There is something in my brain like a blow up doll that
always came back to center.
Not everyone has that
resiliency. What enabled you to keep going?
I don’t know
what was in me that allowed me to get back up when I went down. There
were times when I thought, “Oh my God, this is horrible. I
can’t get any thing going and I’m constantly failing. A
couple of days later I just said, “Okay, I will try this
again.
How can we help students
who have met with failure or rejection keep pushing for success?
If you want
something, you figure out how to get it. There are no rules except to do
no harm to anybody or to anybody’s things. People will tell you
all the time that you can’t do something. If you feel your plan or
wish is the right thing, decide you are going to do it. You can’t
push too hard.
Recently, I
couldn’t find a publisher for my books in
England.
They kept saying they were too American. I acted in a play in
England two years in a row and told everyone about the books. I also
gave the books to the kids in the play. Now I have a publisher. I
didn’t know I could do that, I just wanted it.
What is your message to
children?
You will have no
idea what your gift is, what the greatness is inside, until you look for
it. It’s there. All I know is that by looking at you and the fact
that you walk on earth, there is something great inside. Your
responsibility is to figure out what your gift is. When you do, you will
feel differently about yourself
What can we do when
children have a gift that is not overtly valued in school
or society?
Give them
examples of people who have the same problem who are
successful. For example, who had that
particular problem and was a governor or started a major company. Who
are great surgeons who couldn’t get into medical
school?
How important are
teachers who truly care to children with disabilities?
Kids with
disabilities know when a teacher cares, because they actually feel it.
Kids with special needs have a heightened ability to read a
teacher’s sincerity. Educators can turn kids, even schools, around
when they are sincere and truly care for their students.
What role do
extracurricular activities have for students with disabilities?
I couldn’t do
extracurricular activities because my grades weren’t good enough,
and that is where I excelled. Those activities would have given me a
sense of self, a sense of accomplishment.
How can we help the
general population understand that those with disabilities are very
capable?
Teach capabilities.
When groups are formed in class for a project, give the student with
disabilities a task he or she is good at. Then the student with a
disability is very much a part of accomplishing the task and everyone
getting a good grade. It also allows all the students to see what a
great job the student with a disability did. Or do role playing in
class, maybe take a sense away from a child. Often children without
disabilities can’t imagine how difficult life or learning can be
unless they are put in a similar position.
What advice would you
give to special educators?
First, I would say
thank you for being there, because I needed you and didn’t have
anyone like you. I would also say that self image is the beginning and
the end. We can’t say enough how wonderful a child is …their
sense of worthlessness is already so engrained.
How can teachers help
parents who have children with disabilities?
They can help
parents understand that they should not be embarrassed because their
child is having difficulty. Also, help parents understand that their
child is not this way on purpose. They are not being difficult or unruly
or shy or however the disability takes its form on purpose. Helping
parents understand this and what their child is going through is
essential. That understanding makes it easier for parents, and the
child, than to just dive in and figure out what is going on
academically.
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