The founder of the Lab School of Washington, a day school of 300 students for youngsters with severe learning disabilities discusses how negative behaviors of children with learning disabilities frequently turn into positive attitudes in adulthood. Examples of successful students are provided and lessons learned from working with such students are discussed, including: (1) parents and teachers should tune into the interests and talents of the child with learning disabilities and foster them in every way possible; (2) they should evaluate the irritating, negative, mischievous, so-called "bad" behaviors of the child with learning disabilities and then use it for positive purposes; (3) parents and teachers need to comment specifically and positively on the behaviors, efforts, actions, and attitudes that meet the norm; (4) personality styles need to be studied and parents and teachers need to look at what is working, what the strengths of a student's personality are and offer some opportunities to try out his or her capabilities; and (5) parents and teachers should not discount the impossible and should realize that some of the irritating negative behaviors have helped youngsters with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders demonstrate astonishing creativity and awesome talent in adult life. (CR)