A Mind At A Time

While we were on Spring Break, we read an excellent book on youth learning and development, Dr. Mel Levine's "A Mind At A Time."

Dr. Levine, a child development specialist who has worked with thousands of kids suffering from learning problems, notes that for most people the school years present a tremendous challenge because they force students to use their minds in ways they may never have to again once they become adults.

Not surprisingly, most kids have some clear strengths and some clear weaknesses in the ways they process and retain information. Thus, a child with great visual ability--a budding artist or movie director--may have correspondingly weak verbal skills and struggle with aspects of school that require those skills.

Likewise, a naturally gifted creative thinker may have limited graphomotor skills (essentially, the motor skills for writing) such that putting those ideas on paper becomes an unbearable chore.

Of course, schools academically reward, with good grades, those children whose skill sets tend toward rich written expression and rapid regurgitation of factoids, while penalizing many others. (The fact that these skill sets become far less important in the everyday lives of most adults explains why so many formerly good students fare so poorly on a show such as Fox's "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader."

Dr. Levine has a tremendous gift himself, for breaking down into many little subcategories the way a mind works, and for pinpointing weaknesses that may contribute to a more general breakdown in learning. Once those weaknesses are identified, he can help children--and their beleagured parents--learn strategies to cope, usually by utilizing their strengths. For example, a child with a poor short-term memory can be encouraged to write down more, while a child with strong visual abilities may be encouraged to make diagrams for studying.

One of the things we like about Levine's book is that he avoids stigmatizing terms, such as "attention deficit disorder" or "learning disability." He also discourages use of pharmaceuticals as a last resort, particularly for weaknesses of attention. Indeed, Dr. Levine points out that kids with attention issues are all too often lumped together when what they really have are different types of attentional weaknesses that require different approaches. Drugs simply mask those distinctions--a little like chronically using caffeine to get through the day instead of getting enough sleep to begin with.

Levine and his colleagues help children, many of whom have been scarred by years of poor academic performance, to realize they are not "stupid", but rather have particular challenges to overcome. In other words, he helps kids learn the unique ways in which their minds work.

Most importantly, Levine helps kids, especially adolescents, recognize that there are plenty of ways, as adults, to focus on their strong suits to succeed in jobs that require their skills. Even in college, most students are finally allowed to follow their strengths--science and medicine for students who never could comprehend literature; or writing and analysis of history for those with difficulty doing simple algebra--and eventually find a career that suits the student's skill set.

In addition to working directly with kids and their parents, Levine's "All Kinds of Minds Institute" has a "Schools Attuned" program that works with teachers to help them recognize the various types of problems children may be having with learning, and then help them overcome those problems. Educators trained in the program are better able to help those children who are struggling in their classes.

Every kid has strengths. We have a nephew who's long struggled with school as he tries to overcome attentional issues and weaknesses of memory and some types of information processing. But anyone who knows him finds him to be one of the friendliest, most outgoing kids, with an amazing amount of energy and resourcefulness. It was no surprise when he won a district-wide award for good citizenship that included recognition at a school board meeting. He is also fearless and practically indestructible when it comes to physical challenges. We expect he'll find his way to a rewarding career using his tremendous assets.

Our own children are struggling with some aspects of school in ways we never would've anticipated based on our childhood academic performances. Yet, they also demonstrate skills that clearly weren't inherited from the Curmudgeon, and at which we can only marvel. The teaching of A Mind At A Time helps keep it all in perspective.