I’m the dumbest kid in the class!
We have learned to talk about cultural diversity, gender diversity and biodiversity. Now we need to include the term neurodiversity. When it becomes part of our vocabulary, there will be no such thing as dumb.
There is no one way that a brain should function. All brains are different, and there are many ways of being smart. There is no such thing as normal. When we talk about normal, we are simply talking about the largest part of the bell curve – the percentage of a population into which the greatest number fits.
School is designed for kids in the middle of the bell curve. The most successful students are those who fall into the normal range in the two areas school rewards most – math and language. They are the ones who get called smart and get to think of themselves as smart. They are not better. They are lucky.
“I’m the dumbest kid in the class.”
I hear this line from some of the most intelligent kids I work with. They can talk about politics, music, history, computers, video games or relationships at an incredibly sophisticated level. They are knowledgeable and skilled in many areas, but they struggle in school where language and math are the main indicators of intelligence and success.
We know about multiple intelligences, but we don’t honour them equally.
What can I do as a parent?
As parents, we are in a unique position to honour the whole child, not just their “word smarts” and their “logic smarts.” We know where their strengths lie, and we cannot let the assessment of school be the final word. Our child is more than the grades they get on tests and report cards.
Encourage your child’s personal interests and abilities through extra-curricular activities or independently. Adopt a strengths-based perspective rather than focusing on remediating weaknesses. Wherever they end up in life, let it be because their strengths were honoured rather than their weaknesses judged.
How could school be re-arranged to honour neurodiversity?
Identify each child’s learning style and modify teaching and assessment accordingly
Open up the curriculum to focus on more than math and language
Give just as much importance to the arts and hands-on activities
Give children more opportunities to move around
Give children more opportunities to experience nature (If only in a playground redesigned to be a natural setting rather than a concrete slab beside a large lawn)
Move away from standardized testing as a way of measuring success and failure
Allow children to specialize in their areas of strength (We don’t have to be good at everything)
Address the emotional well-being of students, not just their academic acheivement
Forward this article to any parent, teacher or administrator you know who is concerned about kids.
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Here is the latest book on neurodiversity
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Here is a must-visit website.
Some of you will already know the great children’s singer Raffi!
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Here is an incredible blog written by a 15-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. Have a look at some of his posts.
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Parenting books that challenge and inspire
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What do boys need? How do we raise boys to be emotionally healthy men? We live in an age when masculinity is being redefined. What will the man of the future be like? What will he need to get there?
Topics include:
Parenting boys
Boys and mothers
Boys and fathers
Screen time
Sex and relationships
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Canadian Bestseller!
From cell phones to video games, our kids are growing up in a very different world from the one we did. How are the changes in the world affecting our kids, and what can we do to help them?
Topics include:
Why are boys struggling in school?
What do boys need to be successful in school?
How to deal with the electronic world of boys
Disciplining boys
Communicating with boys
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What is school really like on the inside? A teacher of over 30 years describes what goes on in school – the good and the bad. Parents need a clearer understanding of how school works, and a greater voice in what goes on there.
Topics include:
Mental health in our schools – both students and teachers
Discipline
Marks
Curriculum
Bullying
Alternatives to current practices
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Indigo.ca
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