Teacher and author focuses on special needs, gifted students

Silver Spring man shares his classroom experiences so others may learn

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006

by Meredith Hooker

Staff Writer

Click here to enlarge this photo

Rich Weinfeld,sitting with his sons, Nic (also on the couch), 12, and Jake, 17, inside their Silver Spring home, hasco-authored several books on learning. Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette

Rich Weinfeld was interested in special education before he even really know what it was, helping children to remove barriers keeping them from succeeding. And when a special education curriculum was implemented in the county, he immersed himself, focusing specifically on children who had special needs but were also gifted.

Now the Silver Spring resident and former Montgomery County Public Schools educator spends his time advocating for learning-disabled students, doing consulting, teaching a class about children who are both learning-disabled and gifted at Johns Hopkins University, and writing about his experiences working with learning-disabled students.

His latest book, ‘‘Helping Boys Succeed in School: A Practical Guide for Parents and Teachers,” co-authored by Terry W. Neu, focuses on educating boys and giving them the tools they need to succeed. Parents and educators are worried about the education of smart girls, Weinfeld said, but also need to focus on their male peers, particularly increasing their participation in humanities classes. Traditionally in those classes, boys don’t do as well as girls, Weinfeld said. Instead of changing boys to fit the school, schools should work to accommodate their needs.

Statistics show 12 percent of boys drop out of high school, compared to 9 percent of girls. And that concerns Weinfeld, who has two sons.

Weinfeld said he has always been interested in education, even when he was a student at Forest Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring. When he attended Northwood High School, he spent part of his day as a teacher’s helper at Weller Road Elementary School.

‘‘I loved it,” he said. ‘‘It was really rewarding work. ... It was always the main thing I was interested in.”

Weinfeld, 53, began his career as an MCPS teacher in 1975, before special education existed in the county. There were children in his class who were bright and engaged but not succeeding, and Weinfeld said he was determined to change that by connecting with them and removing their obstacles to success.

Sometimes, he said, students need to use alternative methods to learn, like creating a diorama or giving an oral report.

‘‘Some kids need alternatives,” he said. ‘‘Some kids don’t respond to standard education.”

He recalled a 10-year-old girl in his class whose previous teacher told him the student’s written communication was poor. She wrote in lowercase letters with no punctuation.

‘‘I took the time to read it,” he said. ‘‘She really was a good writer, poet” and simply needed to work on some related skills. When she did, her writing improved.

Weinfeld turned his focus to special education, then became the coordinator for a middle school program that focused on gifted and talented students with learning disabilities.

From there, Weinfeld and three other MCPS colleagues wrote ‘‘Smart Kids With Learning Difficulties: Overcoming Obstacles and Realizing Potential.”

‘‘We wanted to share what we’d learned, share our knowledge with the school system and with parents,” he said.

That book was a team collaboration, said Linda Barnes-Robinson, a Rockville resident and one of the book’s co-authors. ‘‘We all brought different situations and experiences to the project,” she said.

All the co-authors worked for MCPS in different capacities, she said. They met each other while working with learning-disabled, gifted children.

‘‘Rich had done extraordinary things for young people,” she said, citing his special education background and work he’d done with middle school students.

Weinfeld is working on a third book about children with Asperger’s syndrome—a form of autism—with MCPS psychologist Stephan M. Silverman. That book, Silverman said, will help parents and teachers in working with and identifying best practices for children with Asperger’s.

Weinfeld has since retired from the school system, but he has stayed busy. In addition to writing books, Weinfeld shares his knowledge in other ways. He runs Weinfeld Education Group, doing advocacy work and consulting for learning-disabled students, helping parents find the best place for their child in the education system and also working with schools on their teaching practices.

‘‘In some ways, I’m busier now than before I retired from the school system,” he said. ‘‘... You still see a great need. You see a lot of kids with a lot of potential getting overlooked ... because of the learning challenges they face, and I really feel like I have something to offer.”