Meet Henry Zerounian, M.D.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Henry Zerounian, M.D. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Henry, how does your business help the community?
I specialize in helping individuals with special needs overcome their challenges, with a primary focus on their education, schoolwork, and coping strategies. Some of my clients have learning differences, others have psychological or emotional challenges, and others just have difficulty that requires more than a regular tutor. Every once in a while, I get an honors student.

Drawing on my medical background as an MD, I use a holistic approach to determine the most effective way to help each student succeed. I am very unique, because I don’t rely on a single method, set formula, training, or approach. I combine my medical knowledge, my training as an M.D., educational insight, and more than fifteen years of experience working with special needs students to achieve the best results. Even before that, I tutored alongside my other professional and academic endeavors, which has given me extensive and varied experiences.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Even though I can’t practice medicine, what sets me apart from others is I’m a medical doctor by training. I have over fifteen years of education beyond high school. I wasn’t able to obtain a license, because I was repeatedly denied accommodations for my special needs at a time when such requests were rarely granted. At that time, lawsuits would have resulted in judges siding with the licensing boards, though the laws and attitudes have since changed.

My medical education and training gives me good background knowledge to use in a holistic way to improve the lives of others, in whatever way it may be. When I was first diagnosed with special needs during my third year of medical school – about twenty years ago – it motivated me to learn as much as I could about different conditions. It became a personal quest for more understanding and knowledge. I also lived experience as a special needs person: improving interactions, coping, and over time mastering it in everyday life. Over the years, by working with parents, I have also become knowledgable of how the school system works with students with special needs. Special needs is not anything to be frowned upon, but just a different wiring that needs to be worked with in a different way so it can mesh harmoniously with the world whose wiring is only different.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Some interesting places might by the many museums in the Los Angles area, the horse trails in Rancho Palos Verdes to go hiking or horseback riding, Catalina Island, which I see from my house everyday, and the many restaurants and places to go in the L.A. area.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I enjoy helping those with special needs. My motivation has been the satisfaction of seeing someone with a disability go from struggling to succeeding. Sometimes, someone with a disability doesn’t seem like they will ever succeed, but when that changes after years of working with them, that’s what gives me the punch – the feeling that makes it all worth it.

Special needs were not understood as they were today. Only twenty-five years ago, people, even in the medical community, dismissed them as laziness or an excuse. Having some special needs myself, I remember the horrors I experienced in medical school and not getting accommodations on licensing exams, because they purposely put hurdles and hurdles so almost nobody could get approved. They even admitted that outright when I asked them. It was not uncommon for someone with special needs back then to not be able to continue their medical career because of the lack of understanding and accommodations. Lawsuits got them nowhere as judges sided with the schools and licensing boards. Since then, however, the ADA fought very hard on behalf of students with disabilities, and several major lawsuits have changed that system. Things are much better today, though I still occasionally encounter teachers – perhaps one in five – who don’t understand special needs and who resist providing accommodations as required by law, forcing parents to advocate and threaten legal action, which fortunately works these days. I am grateful that awareness and understanding have improved, and I hope that progress continues in the future.

Website: https://www.Dr-Z-Tutoring.com

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