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The Greatest Love of All: Teaching LD kids to love themselves

Season 2 | Episode 3
Airdate: December 2021

Perhaps you remember the classic song, “The Greatest Love of All” and its defining lyric: The greatest love of all | is easy to achieve | Learning to love yourself | It is the greatest love of all. Yet, for children who learn differently, achieving this outcome isn’t always so easy. Classmates, and even adults, can stigmatize children as being weird, odd, or dumb. This discrimination undercuts their self-esteem. Not surprisingly, kids who learn differently often remain tight-lipped about their learning differences, afraid of being ridiculed, bullied, or seen as stupid. While not every child who learns differently experiences these feelings, many find themselves in a tug-of-war over feeling good about themselves — even if they pretend not to care. On this episode, you’ll meet an Australian mom who’s using her artistic talent to paint a more inclusive landscape for people who learn differently. Next, our “Ask the Experts” panel will share how parents can help their kids learn to love themselves. Later, you’ll meet our latest “Difference Maker,” a journalist and historian with several learning differences whose book “The Only Plane in the Sky” is widely considered the seminal account of 9/11.