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 Our Strategy
...KMRIA is an education alternative successfully reaching K to 19-year-old ...
Goals & Concept
...KMRIA is an education alternative successfully reaching K to 19-year-old ...
Terms of Operation
... we have a 'briefcase on wheels.' The community becomes a learning center ...
The Learning Evironment
... we have a 'briefcase on wheels.' The community becomes a learning center ...
Software Support
... we are certified instructors and use internationally recognized software to teach ...
Informal Learning
...we need to connect what happens in schools to wider opportunities for learning ...
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Case Studies / Student Profiles
#1 Age: 11 (Grade 5) ; Sex: Male
Diagnosis: ADHD - Nervous; mind wanders from task to task. Depression. Anxiety.
Status: Suspended / Expelled
Description: An immature youth who resides with his mother. His father is unavailable and is not on the scene. His ADHD, in large part, causes his regression into childhood fantasies and functions as a retreat from the harsher adult world. His immaturity has brought about his suspension / expulsion from (2) schools and may be responsible for his residential placement this coming fall. He resists adults who attempt to instruct him. His temper once ignited is uncontrollable and often results in his own demise.
#2 Age: 17 (Grade 11); Sex: Male
Diagnosis: Lower IQ. Reading and Math are poor (functions on a 2nd grade level)
Status: Suspended (failure to do any work)
Description: Remaining on task is a major problem. His struggle with reading and math becomes apparent when this avoidance technique is used. His functioning on a 2nd grade level in math and reading is generous when one attempts to get him to function in for example reading a newspaper. His skills are lacking in attempting to read even the basic comic strips. At an 11th grade level his skills in both math / reading qualify him for special education and are not conducive to the adult working world.
#3 Age: 14 (Grade 9); Sex: Male
Diagnosis: ADHD, Depression." Death Wish"
Status:
Suspended (failure to do any work)
Description: A longing for death before he is a teenager, is a strong characteristic of his life status. Mother is a drug user living in New Hampshire / father is a 7th grade drop out who clears trees for a living. Life is spent living between the two parents (mother is a liberal / father is a conservative). The parents are seldom at home & the child must make breakfast & lunch for himself (if food is available in the home). Dinner is prepared by this child when living with the father.
#4 Age: 18 (Grade 12) Sex: Male
Diagnosis: Medical disability - Enlarged liver with the capability for (5) people; prognosis - blood poisoning, lack of white corpuscles, tiredness, etc.
Status:
Medical disability (see Diagnosis)
Description:
The student was born with an enlarged liver that doctors agree could accommodate five (5) other human beings. As a result of his age surgery has been out of the question. A bright and talented young man who if "normal" would rank as one of the most gifted-talented in Vermont.
Prospects: I've tutored this student for the past five (5) years. Next year he has been accepted into Castleton State College and will graduate with high honors from high school. This is a young man who, when he was 13, was given no hope from his doctors of ever seeing the age of 15. He is an example of courage & tenacity for other students to emulate.
#5 Age: 17 (Grade: unknown - 9th) Sex: Male
Diagnosis: ADHD. Impulsive. Aggressive. Short temper; easily distracted.
Description:
An intelligent student who simply must be shown the way to learning. Field trips (Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, New York, Fort Ticonderoga, Calvin Coolidge Homestead, etc.) became models for his growth and interest in social studies, English & 'life skills". At the age of 16 he dropped out of school. Neither the State or the community took action on his behalf. In their defense, he had moved in both VT / NH seven (7) times in one year and five (5) times in the next year. There was no control over the actions of his mother (no father). At the last report he was working as a dishwasher in a dinner. He did achieve the three (3) years KMRIA tutored him a 7th, 8th and 9th grade status under the 'Home Study' program in the Department of Education.
#6 Age: 15 (Grade 10) Sex: Female
Diagnosis: Medical Disability - Spinal injury at birth.
Status:
Medical disability (in/out of school)
Description: The child was tutored by KMRIA in mathematics for a period of two/three months. She has undergone nine (9) operations to correct a spinal injury she has had since birth. Given puberty and her growth there is no prognosis in terms of how many more surgeries she will undergo.
#7 Age: 15 (Grade 11) Sex: Female
Diagnosis: Lives with grandmother / mother-father not in the area
Status:
Needed help in mathematics.
Description: The parents do not care about their daughter's welfare and have left her upbringing to the grandmother. The grandmother is concerned over the child's math test scores and has pressured her to achieve straight 'A's' in that subject. Such pressure accompanied by living alone with the grandmother, has created a loneliness in the child. A great deal of KMRIA efforts has been to overcome this feeling of being alone and bring the child into contact with her peers. KMRIA has spent two summers with the child.
#8 Age: 6 (Grade 1)
Sex: Female
Diagnosis: Spina Bifida. No one in medicine can offer any hope of finding a cure or offering a possibility of contesting the disease. Many doctors did not see the child reaching the age of 7 without expensive surgery, medicine & treatment plans. She was enrolled in 1st grade. Her courage equal perhaps to the other men/women I've mentioned, is an extraordinary miracle that no doctor could have predicted. Courage is a virtue that we all believe that it's a quality buried deeply within and it takes a personal crisis top bring it to the surface. No one not even this child, should have to demonstrate it every day of her life.
Status: Medical Disability - Spina Bifida.
Description: The student learned how to read and do basic math form our sessions. She functioned extremely well from her wheel chair in school and achieved a straight A average. Her ability to mix in with other students allowed her to participate in student government, girl scouts, and a host of other school related activities. At the present time she is now in high school and still maintains the 'A' average. Her extra curricular activities continues to be as strong as when she was younger. (I do not know her spina bifida condition at this point). It has been (4) four years since I've made contact with the family.
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