When I was in fourth grade, I was in Mr. Killian's homeroom.  It was during math class that a few other students and I went with Mrs.Povolny for extra math help.  I felt like I was stupid and dumb every time I would have to go with her.  There were many reasons that I felt this way, but mostly because I was not able to stay focused on what the teacher was saying.  I was really struggling to keep up with the class in school so everyday I felt worse. 
When I was in sixth grade I started going to Occupational Therapy.  Occupational Therapy (OT) is to help you learn skills that will help you on a daily basis.  My OT therapist, Jenny, asked me questions that had to do with the part of my life that I would struggle with.

“Kay Cee what happens when you do your school work?” Jenny began.
“I would yell and tell my parents that I am not going to do my homework.” I responded.

This made her bring up the fact that my brain would disengage which means that my brain was acting like I was asleep but I was actually awake.  Jenny gave me a list of “Power Tools” that would engage my brain such as chewing spicy gum and wall pushes.  Wall pushes are where you do a pushup on the wall ten times. The different zones for which I would use the Power Tools are Blue Zone, Yellow Zone, and Red Zone. The Blue Zone is when I’m moving very slowly.  The Yellow Zone is when I have a loss of some self-control.  The Red Zone is when I’m completely out of control. The Power Tools help me get my brain back to the Green Zone, or normal.  I use my Power Tools quite often now so that my brain will stay engaged.

An example being in my 7th grade year I was able to pay attention during the lessons because of the Power Tools so I got one of my first 100%’s on a math test.  Mrs. Povolny and I talked about my result on the math test.

“Great job Kay Cee! Congratulations!” Mrs. Povolny exclaimed.
“Thank you so much!” I said excitedly.

Even though I will have to live with this for a good deal of my life I now know what to do when my brain disengages.  The lesson that I learned from this experience is that I am not stupid or dumb, rather my brain will sometimes just not engage.  I also have learned to persevere through all of the struggles throughout the entire time this was going on.