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In A Mind at a Time I will advocate and demonstrate an approach that stresses close observation and accurate description instead of lumping kids together in a category (such as ADD). Teachers, parents, and even the children themselves need to be able to observe, talk about, and work with profiles. They need to locate those trouble spots where facets of a profile don't mesh with facets of school. In this way, we can understand what's blocking the way when a child is stymied.
The identification and celebration of strengths may well be even more important. I believe that when your child has strengths that are suppressed, abilities he is prevented from using while growing up, he becomes a virtual time bomb primed for detonation. Gerard was a fourteen-year-old from a small town in North Carolina. He was short and razor thin and looked more like ten than fourteen. Gerard harbored neurodevelopmental dysfunctions in language, memory, and his attention, but had brilliant mechanical problem-solving abilities, along with strong social skills. Nevertheless, he was in serious jeopardy in ninth grade. Gerard was a discipline problem. He often tried to act defiant, ultra-cool, and tough in class, probably to conceal his physical immaturity and academic humiliation. There were multiple charges against him, including that he would not remove his jacket in English class, chewed gum (a school felony), mumbled offensive language in front of his teachers, refused to "suit up" for physical education (protecting his undeveloped body from peer scrutiny), insisted on wearing his baseball cap permanently, and sported lewdly suggestive T-shirts. He had stopped submitting homework, and his report cards were saturated with acerbic moral condemnations.
Gerard's father was the manager of a service station. He commented to me that on weekends Gerard would come to work with him. He stated that Gerard "is no problem at all when he's with me on Saturdays and Sundays. In fact, that kid's the best worker I have. Folks come in and ask for Gerard when their car breaks down. That little guy can stick his blond head under a hood and figure out almost anything that's wrong, and you know, he never studied cars. He just senses how things work and why they don't work. He's got common sense but no book sense. I was just like him when I was young. He also has the best people skills, the best sense of humor. And he's real kind to everyone. Everybody wants to talk to Gerard. You know that boy has all he needs to be a successful grown-up, but to tell you the truth, I doubt I'm ever gonna get him there."
Gerard's mechanical aptitude and people skills were not valued or even recognized in his high school. But then Gerard's father had a brainstorm. He heard about a vocational school in the next town. Overcoming all kinds of red tape and bureaucratic barriers, he managed to get Gerard into that school for tenth grade. Gerard flourished in the auto mechanics class, but interestingly he started to make extraordinary gains in English and in math. In eleventh grade his terrific people skills got him elected to the student government. Now in twelfth grade, he recently told me, "This is a great school. I really fit in. I love cars, but I don't think I want to be a 'wrenchy' type forever. Someday I'm planning to design cars or be some kind of a sports car dealer." Gerard is finding his niche, and that is making all the difference. Discovering a place for your kind of mind, a place where your profile can thrive, almost always works wonders. Sadly, vocational schools, such as the one Gerard has been attending, are not as prevalent as they once were. This shortage discriminates against great minds like Gerard's. As his father relates, "This boy would be in jail now if he couldn't practice his specialty in school. He's so happy and so are we."
The Early Detection of Dysfunction
It is a commonly held belief that the earlier you detect and deal with your child's dysfunctions, the more likely you are to prevent disastrous behavioral complications. I believe there is some truth to that. It might seem odd, therefore, that this book deals exclusively with school-aged children rather than beginning with infancy. In part, this is because my expertise is limited to school-aged children and adolescents. Additionally, so many of the neurodevelopmental functions needed for learning cannot be assessed until they are called for in school. Problems with memory, with time management, with the understanding of abstract language, along with hundreds of other breakdowns in learning are just not detectable until kids are actually attending school. As the demands keep changing, learning differences can and do crop up for the first time at all grade levels from kindergarten through the final year of college. I'm bothered by the fact that some academicians, policy makers, and early educators have maintained that if you don't fix a learning problem before age six, it will be impossible to deal with later on. This assertion is false. As we shall see, even adults can show remarkable improvement in one or more of their neurodevelopmental systems. It's never too late to understand and strengthen a mind.
Copyright © 2002 by Mel Levine
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