Okay Kevin. James Dillon

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      A Story to Help Children Discover

       How Everyone Learns Differently

      James Dillon

      Illustrated by Kara McHale

      Kevin never smiled at school.

      He didn’t talk much either.

      But he was different at home.

      He jumped up and down and

       did a little dance when his

       favorite football team

       scored a touchdown.

      He screamed,

       “Cannonball!” when he

       jumped into a swimming

       pool and made a big splash.

      He used pretend voices for

       his imaginary characters when he

       played with blocks in his bedroom.

      On his first day in kindergarten, his teacher,

       Mrs. Brooks, read a book about the first day of

       school to the class. After reading a few pages,

       she asked, “Who can tell me why the boy

       was nervous?”

      As Kevin began to think of an answer, he saw

       five waving hands shoot up around him.

      Mrs. Brooks pointed to a girl with curly brown

       hair wearing a yellow shirt with a rainbow across

       the front of it, and said, “Emma, what do you

       think?” Putting her hand down and taking a deep

       breath, Emma smiled and said, “He was worried

       that he might make a mistake.”

      Mrs. Brooks nodded and said, “Good thinking,

       let’s read more and find out what happens.”

      Kevin bit down on his lower lip and thought,

       “That was my answer. I’ll try to be faster

       next time.”

      Kevin tried harder for a lot of days and a lot of questions, but the other kids kept putting their hands up even faster, sometimes even before Mrs. Brooks had finished saying the whole question.

      Kevin started to feel that he would never catch up with the other kids, no matter how hard he tried.

      At night, Kevin would lie in his bed trying to figure out why school was easy for the other kids and hard for him. One night he thought, “The other kids are just faster and smarter than me. They are okay and I’m not okay.”

      Kevin didn’t like being not okay.

      One day, Mrs. Brooks said to the class, “Boys and girls, I will be

       meeting with each of you to find out how much you have learned.

       You just need to try your best.”

      Mrs. Brooks called each student over to a little table in the corner

       of the room.

      Kevin watched Emma go over and sit next to Mrs. Brooks. After

       just a minute, Emma popped up and went back to be with the rest

       of the class. The same thing happened with Travis, Emily, Jamal,

       and the other kids.

      Then it was Kevin’s turn. He walked slowly over to Mrs. Brooks,

       who was smiling at him. She said, “Kevin, I have a list of the

       letters of the alphabet. I want you to say the letter that I point to.”

       He replied, “Okay, I’ll try.”

      Kevin looked at the letters Mrs. Brooks pointed to. He

       remembered some, like A, B, C, and K, right away. He had to

       think for a few seconds for letters like R, M, and F, and couldn’t

       remember other letters like Q, U, G, and L.

      Mrs. Brooks said to him, “Good job! Kevin, you know a lot of

       letters and we’ll help you learn the rest. Keep trying your best.

       Okay?”

      Kevin nodded and said, “Okay,” but he was thinking that the

       other kids sat down and got up a lot faster than he did.

      One day, his mother knocked on his bedroom door and said, “Kevin, we need to talk. I met with Mrs. Brooks and she told me that you are learning a lot and always trying your best. That’s very important! But you need extra help, so you can read on grade level.”

      Kevin asked, “What does grade level mean?”

      His mother replied, “That means that you are behind where you need to be. The other kids are learning to read a little faster than you are. With extra help you can catch up. You’ll work with Mrs. Martinez, the reading teacher, every day in the reading room. Keep trying your best and everything will be okay. Okay?”