Ron Danyi has been Bradley Hagerty's teacher for four years. <\/p>\n
During that time, first at Northeast Middle School and this school year at Freedom High, Danyi has come to see a transformation in the boy whose life was dominated by a seizure disorder and learning disability. <\/p>\n
\"He just didn't have the self-confidence,\" Danyi said. <\/p>\n
Bradley's seizures have kept him from getting a permit like other teens approaching driving age. And Bradley's learning disability kept him from comprehending directions, so he'd rarely speak up in class except to apologize for not understanding. <\/p>\n
\"The self-esteem building is the hardest thing in teaching,\" Danyi said. <\/p>\n
Especially when a student is wracked with fear. <\/p>\n
\"With his seizures, his fear is when he has them, kids may make fun of him if he falls,\" said Bradley's stepfather, Ken Haas. <\/p>\n
The 15-year-old freshman has found confidence in an unlikely place: the stage. <\/p>\n
\"Theater is one of the great equalizers,\" said Freedom English teacher Jennifer Wescoe. <\/p>\n
Drama I has been offered as an English elective for years at Freedom. And when the Bethlehem Area School District revamped high school special-education services by moving Danyi from Northeast to Freedom, Wescoe opened Drama I to Danyi's students. It's Freedom's first full-inclusion drama class, in which 17 special-education students are learning and performing plays and musicals alongside five regular-education students. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read more: Ron Danyi has been Bradley Hagerty's teacher for four years. During that time, first at Northeast Middle School and this school year at Freedom High, Danyi has come to see a transformation in the boy whose life was dominated by a seizure disorder and learning disability. \"He just didn't have the self-confidence,\" Danyi said. Continue reading
\nFreedom High special education students make academic and social gains via drama class<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"