Zoe Kozina, a new student at Trier High School who has lived with a learning disability since childhood, has self-published a children’s book highlighting the struggles and triumphs of people with invisible disabilities.
The story she wrote and designed, “Your Beautiful Mind,” follows Penelope the panda, who is diagnosed with a learning disability and attends a resource class.
Kozina, 17, had a similar experience after being diagnosed with a learning disability in math calculations in third grade. She was confused as to why she had to leave the class while her classmates remained.
“I think it’s common for children, especially young children, to be diagnosed with a learning disability and not really understand what it means,” Kozina says. “This book was aimed at helping children understand what it means to have a learning disability, but also that it doesn’t define you and that you are still able to support your friends and those around you. It was meant to help you understand that you are just as capable and just as smart as people. You.”
Kozina said it is difficult for children to push through their feelings of being different when they are young, but once they are able to do so, it shows their strength.
Penelope displays this strength in the book when she meets her new friend, Emily the elephant. Penelope considers this Emily to be very smart and capable. One day, Penelope sees Emily in the reference room and realizes that if Emily is smart and capable, then she can be too.
According to Kozina, one of the things that makes learning disabilities so difficult is that they are invisible.
“Growing up, I was kind of resentful about my disability because no one knows you have a disability until it comes into your life,” she says. I did. “I tried to avoid talking about my disability as much as possible because I was embarrassed about it and it wasn’t visible on the surface, so I kept that part of my life hidden as much as possible. .ā
That thought process of feeling backward or inferior because of a disability is what Kozina wanted to show parents and children through this book.
In high school, Kozina said she started pushing herself harder to limit the effects of her disability. She began to see her grades improve, which began to strengthen her perception that she was good.
āI definitely got a lot of strength from my family and my teachers,ā Kozina said. “Sometimes it’s hard to feel encouraged by my teachers…but they always encouraged me and pushed me to keep trying.”
Through her hard work, Kozina blossomed, and during her junior year at New Trier College, she was told she no longer needed an individualized education program to help students with learning disabilities.
Zoe’s mother, Rachel Kozina, works as a school counselor and has experience helping students overcome disabilities. Despite this experience, after her first meeting in her junior year, she worried that there was something more she could have done.
“I’ve been with her since day one, from our first meeting in third grade until last year when she was told she no longer needed an IEP,” Rachel said. “She doesn’t appreciate herself enough. Of course we have a community of helpers around us who have really helped us, but honestly, it’s all down to her and her hard work. ā
Her mother recalled a time in middle school when she was asked to approve Zoe’s attendance in a math class taught by a special education teacher. She refused her approval, saying her daughter was not good enough to raise her objections.
“As a parent, you have to do the right thing and listen to your child. But I thought, ‘It’s not that hard.’ I just have to keep trying,” she said. said.
Zoe Kozina hopes to read the book aloud to students in the community, especially Hubbard Woods Elementary School, which she attended. She is also preparing her university application, where she hopes to study creative writing and publish more novels.
Zoe Kozina tells children living with learning disabilities to keep trying and not let their disability define them.
āI want people to know that they should never limit themselves because of their disability,ā she says. “Always remember that you can be anything you want. It’s your choice, not the disabled person’s.”
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