TPP 266a: A Conversation with Poet and Advocate LeDerick Horne
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
38 min
1 speaker
4 chapters
transcribed 9 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the background and purpose of this episode’s conversation with LeDerick Horne?
Hey, it's Debbie. This fall on Playback Fridays, I am going back through the archives to share some of those conversations that have stayed with me over the years. So you guys know I've been doing this show for a very long time. And while I value every conversation I've had, there are some that have stuck with me because they either shifted my thinking, they inspired me, or they changed the way I show up as a parent. So those are the ones I'll be revisiting this fall. And I hope they do the same for you. Welcome to Tilled Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber. My guest today is poet, advocate, and motivational speaker Loderick Horn.
As a child, Loderick could not read or even recognize the alphabet. He was labeled neurologically impaired and placed in segregated special education classrooms. But somehow he refused to take this message to heart and instead decided he had something important to offer the world. Now, Loderic is a performance. Poet and uses his gifts for the spoken word combined with his personal experiences as an advocate for people with hidden disabilities. He's also the co-author of the book Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities: A Path to Pride and Success. In our conversation, Lederic shares his journey from special education to college, the pivotal moment when he decided to become a poet and activist.
What his advocacy work means to him and the impact he hopes to have on the world. I absolutely loved having the opportunity to talk with a Derek. I hope you enjoy listening in. Hey LaDarek, welcome to the podcast.
Hey Debbie, how are ya?
I'm doing well. I'm so excited to have you on the show and To just really make sure that my listeners are aware of the work that you do in the world, some of them may have heard you um speak at a summit or maybe a conference. But I would love if you could just start this episode by sharing a little bit about your story. Tell us um a bit about how you came to be doing the advocacy work that you do and who you are in the world.
Sure, so I'm a advocate for people with disabilities. My work primarily focuses in on uh education reform. Uh I am really well known as a performance poet, and poetry has a a key role in all the work that I do. I'm the co-author of the book Empowering Students with Hidden Disabilities, A Path to Pride and Success. And I come to this work 'cause I'm also a person who uh is dyslexic. and learns differently. And um I was first diagnosed when I was nine years old. Um I'm from New Jersey, so uh my school district when I was nine recommended me being placed in a special education classroom. Um and it was a less than ideal setting. I know it was a very segregated setting. I spent three and a half years at a classroom at the end of the hall.
Um one of my saving graces was that I I had a remarkable teacher though. And um her and and our teachers a lot in all the students who were in that classroom. Um got to the point where I was in high school, uh still on an IEP, still in special ed, terrified about what graduation was going to be and what was going to be available for me after that. And so I was about uh maybe 17 years old, my junior year, and fell into just a very, very deep depression. Um and I am fortunately someone who's very resilient. And so even in that dark space, I used it as an opportunity to rebuild and redefine who I was. And I came out of that just determined that I was gonna have a great future. And so I started talking seriously about wanting to go to college.
Started out at a local county college, was a part of a great support program for students with learning disabilities, taught me how my mind works, started using accommodations, all the great things that we know worked in order to empower people. Transferred with a 3.75 GPA, uh, got a degree in mathematics from New Jersey City University. Um, and my last semester there, I got sort of recruited by the New Jersey Department of Education's Office of Special Education.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the background and purpose of this episode’s conversation with LeDerick Horne?
0:00–11:42
2
How did LeDerick’s early childhood experiences and diagnosis shape his view of education?
11:42–23:25
3
What motivated LeDerick to move from special education to college and become an advocate?
23:25–30:15
4
How has LeDerick’s advocacy work impacted state and national special‑education policy?
30:15–38:35
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
TPP 522: A Whole Child Approach to ADHD with Phil Boucher, M.D.
TPP 091a: A Conversation With Steve Silberman About His Book “Neurotribes”
TPP 521: A Conversation with Dr. Peter Gray About Restoring Childhood
TPP 253a: Advocate and Author Jonathan Mooney on Why Normal Sucks
TPP 520: Dr. Özgür Bolat on Why Rewards Backfire and the Real Science of Motivating Kids
TPP 519: Brendan Mahan on Overcoming the Wall of Awful