Functioning Labels

I want to propose a situation. You have two students. Student A is AMAZING at math but sucks at reading. Student B is AMAZING at reading but sucks at math. Who’s smart?

Now that you know you can’t fit someone into a box of “smartness” based off of this, let's continue with my hypothetical situation.

What if we say Student A is smart and Student B is dumb. This results in Student B is getting support but then referred to as less-than from this label. They aren’t taken seriously and people assume them being less capable. Student A doesn’t get any support because they are “smart”. Do you see how fitting people into these two extremes is harmful to both sides?

Someone’s “functioning capabilities” is generally what the public eye sees a person as functioning. And using “high functioning” and “low functioning” is harmful. Instead, I encourage you to ask “How can I support you?” or “What do you struggle with?” “What needs do you need help to meet?”, etc.