Rudy Movie Essay

Introduction In the movie Rudy, the actor, Sean Astin plays Rudy Ruettiger; Rudy is a young boy who grows up in a Catholic, working class family that loves Notre Dame Football. Rudy has a life long dream to play for the Fighting Irish, but has many obstacles to overcome to get to that point. The greatest obstacle in his life is his reading disability (Woods & Anspaugh, 1993).
Rudy’s Disability In the movie, Rudy portrays the following characteristics of his Reading Disability. He is labelled as lazy, a daydreamer, and told that he is not trying hard enough. Rudy seems to zone out in class and has difficulty paying attention. However, he has a great long-term memory and even demonstrates his ability to memorize (Woods & Anspaugh, 1993).

Most thought he was a daydreamer. An example of this is how he is treated by his coach, teachers, and friends. They look at him, as just another person or chastised him for daydreaming. I feel that Rudy’s disability affected the family in a negative way. The best example of this is his brother, Frank, who constantly mocks Rudy. Frank does this because of two implied reasons: one because of how the boys’ father protects Rudy and, secondly, because of Rudy’s dream. Frank seems to resent and harbor deep anger, at his parents and Rudy, over be saddling with his handicapped brother. Although, Rudy has some affect on every character in the movie, the person that was affected the most by his disability is D-Bop. If it were not for Rudy’s disability the two of them would not have become friends, and D-Bop would have never found a wife (Woods & Anspaugh, 1993). Rudy’s drive to get to his dream of playing football for the Fighting Irish is overwhelmingly strong. He was determined to not let his disability stop him from reaching his goal. Even though he struggles through high school with poor grades and is told that he will never go to college by his teachers and father, Rudy does not let his disability get in his way and even overcomes it (Woods & Anspaugh, 1993). Although he over came his difficulties, it might have been easier for him if some one would have given him some

If a child appears to be behind their peer group in any area, the child may have a learning disability. Besides the parents, the early childhood educators have a significant role in observing the development of the children they serve. The signs that parents and early childhood educators should watch for are: signs of uneven development in informal self-directed play, the lagging of motor development such as quality of movement and how well the child is coordinated, evidence of delays in communication with other children and adults, evidence of problems with memory and attention, and the delays in socialization in a variety of social settings. Some of the assessments used to diagnosis are criterion-referenced assessment, which evaluates the child’s mastery of specific skills, and standardized screening, and diagnostic instruments. The use of these assessment techniques can assist in determining if the child displays uneven patterns of development which indicate a learning disability. Early intervention strategies improve the child’s chances of future school success. It also reduces the need for special education services in later years, and minimizes the loss of self-esteem from repeated school failures. (Early Childhood,