Learning Disabilities (Robert Toth's recall by Penny Hutchins Paquette)

Robert Toth says his school days were very sad. With both attention deficit disorder and dyslexia, he had problems with “everything---reading, writing.” He repeated fourth grade three times, and he didn’t learn to read until he was twelve. He says that even then his visual skills were a source of hope and inspiration. By the time he was fourteen he was still having trouble with academic subjects, but he was also winning prizes for his artistic achievements. “I found I didn’t have an attention disorder when I could focus my attention on what I liked most, and with that came the enthusiasm to hyperfocus.”He found that when he was involved on hands-on activities and with the inventions he found in Popular Mechanics magazine, his problems with attention diminished.

Today Toth focuses his attention on his artwork. He is a painter, a sculptor, and jewelry designer. Here he is pictured with one of his paintings and his portrait sculpture of Andrew Jackson. The Royal Scottish Museum, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, MGM Studios, and The Franklin Institute have purchased his work. His portrait sculptures are often used as awards, including his sculpture of Benjamin Franklin that is presented as the Ben Franklin Award to screenwriters at the Greater Columbus Film Festival. To learn more about him and to see some of his work, visit his website at www.RobertToth.com.

Penny Hutchins Paquette, educational writer.
Photo by Lee Toth