A letter from Myles - a Learning Lab student’s mom

I fell upon the Learning Lab one summer as I was headed to a thrift store for some tennis rackets for the kids. My husband, Tony, at the time was laid off from the Minneapolis Fire Department and we did not have any available resources for our family at that time in our life.

After talking with Chris a bit I was let in on what the “Learning Lab” was and knew that my son Myles could use the help. Myles was born with Meningitis and has been assessed with a learning disability dealing with problem solving. He is actually very bright, witty, clever, loving and funny but learning has been slow for him all of his 11 short years. When he was 10 years old things kicked in a bit and he started to have that bulb turn on above him but he was still in the 4% for Reading and the 20% for Math.

Myles is lucky to be in a wonderful Minneapolis Public School and is removed from the class for 1 hour each day but it still is not enough to keep up with the demands of 5th grade. I knew we needed to make a change but on a Firefighters budget and 4 children I felt hopeless. I finally called and took the plunge to add Myles into this, what I now call, the little secret in the heart of our beautiful city.

Myles was very apprehensive to join this program. He was worried about how people would treat him and that they would make fun of him because he was not “up to speed” as we call it. At his school there is a strong fair feeling and the kids are surprisingly respectful of each others differences so there is not much taunting or name calling. Bad part about this is it makes kids a little soft and nervous to adventure into other areas. So after many fights and fearful hugs with Myles he joined in on the group. After the first week he was very pleased and felt confident.

It has now been 3 months into the program and the results are truly amazing. Myles leaves for school at 7:30 AM, gets home at 2:03 PM. I drive him to the Lab at 2:20 PM and he is home at 5:00 PM 3 days a week. His homework is done and someone has helped him. (We are clueless with some of his Math.) He has a social relationship with the staff and children. He respects his environment.

The things I just listed are the typical things. Now let me tell you the things that make this the “little secret.” Myles has learned responsibility for himself which has encouraged his self esteem. Myles has learned to focus and get his work done. Myles has learned that it feels good to have positive feedback from the staff for doing a good job. Myles has learned how to work with others that are different from what he is used to in his current school. Myles has learned to care for what he does. Myles has changed from a little boy who always had help on everything to having enough self confidence to just try it and do it. The new confidence in Myles just pours out daily. Myles has even “mellowed” out a bit and feels less angry at the world in general, he seems more happy if that is possible. I think it just boils down to the confidence.

So now that I have listed all the changes here is, by far, the biggest. Myles’s reading score went from 4% the spring of 4th grade to 48% in mid November testing. The Lab has worked endlessly on his times tables and we can now say that they are close to being mastered.

The Learning Lab has been an absolutely large asset to Myles’s life in many ways and I know that when Myles graduates from high school with a scholarship we can look back and thank The Learning Lab for some of the good educational values he learned. I feel honored that we have been a part of this program and hope to continue until it is needed and maybe even for our younger children.

Thank you.

Christina Nelson

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