“Every Wednesday at the Sydney M. Irmas Transitional Living Center in North Hollywood, Michael Guggenheim teaches a handful of students how to type their names and basic phrases in Microsoft Word and how to work with math, vocabulary and typing programs. At a recent tutoring session, Michael moved between the laptops used by shelter residents Alicia Lewis and Heaven Sanders, both 7. He coached them for 30 minutes on typing their names, then switched to a half hour of vocabulary and math games
“Michael, I’m lost,” Heaven said, resting her face on her hands. He quickly went to her computer and punched the “load” button on the keyboard to get the software working. Another student in distress, another rescue. But Michael is not just another teacher. He is 12, a sixth-grader at Los Encinos School in Encino. He can’t drive, vote or write much with a pencil, but he started a nonprofit when he was 11 and teaches computer skills to elementary students once a week.
He doesn’t regard his dysgraphia, a learning disorder that severely impairs writing, as a disability. Instead, he has turned it into a driving force. For starters, he was quick to discover that he could use a computer, and now he earns straight A’s using a laptop for course work. Later, he started the nonprofit organization that takes laptops and educational software to elementary school children in homeless shelters.”
(via LA Times)