All Dogs Have ADHD by Mary Hoopman

Mary Hoopman has authored several children's books in an attempt to lessen the stigma and increase understanding around such confusing disorders as ADHD and Aspergers.  By attributing the characteristics of these disorders to beloved pets like cats and dogs, she is able to help us understand and personify characteristics of the disorder that are so often misunderstood.  By relating to these animals, we can also relate to our loved ones suffering from these disorders with a new perspective.  I believe these books are a must in any early childhood library because it not only helps those with the disorder identify and understand their own behaviors, but helps friends and family become more tolerant and understanding of the disorders as well.  By sharing this information, we help these children to find the support they need to reach their full potential.  Isn't that why we do what we do as Early Childhood Professionals?

I have included the link in two different ways to ensure easy viewing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HvHVyrnqbA

Whole Child = Whole Society

We are all born unique with differing gifts to present to the world, although we may develop and present these gifts at differing points in our lives.  It is a complex and challenging task for educational systems to asses children’s abilities and create standards of achievement by which to evaluate the individual’s performance.  Standardized testing has long been the ‘go to’ format for such assessment and evaluation.  While I do believe there is some benefit from this type of information gathering, I also believe that it does not present the picture of the whole child necessary to determine competence, creativity, intelligence or future success in the world.  For a more comprehensive view, we must learn to consider the whole child and how all his/her unique abilities may contribute to success and accomplishment.

“Leading developmentalists are among those who believe that humans have multiple intelligences, not just one.  Howard Gardner originally described seven intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (social understanding), and intrapersonal (self-understanding), each one associated with a particular brain region (Gardner, 1983).  He subsequently added an eighth intelligence (naturalistic: understanding nature, as in biology, zoology, or farming) and a ninth (existential: thinking about life and death) (Gardner, 1999, 2006; Gardner & Morgan, 2006) (Berger, 2012, p. 335-336).

Taking Gardner’s research into account, educational systems that are willing to consider the whole child by identifying strengths and weaknesses in the nine areas of intelligence have a much better chance of instilling a positive self-concept into their students, creating life-long internal motivations for learning, fostering tolerance and acceptance, and have a greater chance of higher achievement by their student populations both individually and collectively.  Many educational philosophies such as Montessori, Waldorf, Constructivist and Reggio-Emilia either directly or indirectly follow such types of assessments by education practices that engage the whole child through their head, hands, and heart.  In these educational settings, children are provided with many different educational materials and experiences for them to explore and conquer at their own pace.  Teachers in these settings are viewed more as guides following the natural tendencies of the child to best foster their interest in a particular subject when the child seems ready for that lesson.  This process involves keen observational skills to create insights into the child’s strengths and weaknesses and to adjust the learning environment to best fit the specific needs and individual learning styles of each child.  There is also a great deal of emphasis placed on the learning community to which every student makes a contribution creating a community of learners of varying ages and abilities which in turn brings a more social/emotional connection to the entire school experience. 

In this type of atmosphere there is little pressure on students to achieve certain benchmarks at a specific time, as is the case with standardized testing.  Instead, it allows  for each child to grow, develop, and learn at their own pace.  Teachers who no longer fear losing their jobs over test scores have much more time and energy to devote to each child and their family thereby creating a cohesive plan between home and school to strengthen areas of concern.  By creating individualized plans, teachers are able to differentiate their instruction to help concrete concepts through the child’s specific area of intelligence.  For example, a child with musical intelligence as a strength can be more easily taught to read with the use of music; children who are kinesthetic learners may best learn to read when movement is incorporated into the lesson.  Schools that embrace the whole child have more leeway to be creative with instruction, which in turn keeps all children more engaged.  Ultimately this leads to higher rates of success and overall satisfaction for students and teachers, alike.

However, not everyone in the world agrees with this philosophy.  In Japan, for example, “the teacher's main concern is to cover the prescribed material thoroughly. Instruction in most subjects is teacher-centered and takes place in a straightforward manner, usually through lectures and use of the chalkboard. Students are frequently called on for answers and recitation. They stand to respond” (U.S. Dept. of Education Study, (2000)).  While this isn’t far from the style of teaching used by many public schools in the U.S., major differences are apparent.  The biggest difference is their lack of acknowledgment of special needs/varying abilities in students.  The Japanese believe that,

“…all children have equal potential. Differences in student achievement are thought to result largely from the level of effort, perseverance, and self-discipline, not from differences in individual ability. Hence, students in elementary schools are not grouped according to ability.  Promotion to the next grade is not based on academic achievement, but is automatic. Neither is classroom instruction individualized according to ability differences” (U.S. Dept. of Education Study, (2000)).

This philosophy make things extremely difficult for slow learners who are thought to not be exerting enough effort into their studies, and who are not assessed for learning disabilities or assigned remedial assistance.  As they automatically advance each year, the pressure to succeed becomes an increasing burden as they fall further behind. “Inevitably, the number increases with grade level, accompanied by attendant disaffection from school” (U.S. Dept. of Education Study, (2000)).  Having lived and taught in Japan myself, I can attest to the burden these students face.  When a child fails a test in Japan, they not only feel that they have let themselves down, but their teacher, classmates, school, family and country as well.  The pressure to succeed is tremendous and can cause a significant strain on students’ self-esteem.  “The uniquely intense stress due to the Examination Hell (shiken jigoku) not only generates a basic drive for Japan's economic success but also contributes to a high rate of young people's suicide” (Iga, M (2011)).  This fact breaks my heart! A child’s life could be saved, simply by attending a different type of school—one that embraces the whole child. 

In my opinion, it’s time to stop testing for intelligence and instead work from the assumption that all children are intelligent in their own unique way.  It is our job as teachers, guides, parents and childhood professionals to help them identify and foster their talents as well as strengthen their weaknesses in order to create happy, well-adjusted, conscientious, creative and tolerant children that grow into adults with these same characteristics.   Isn’t the one who’s a whiz at math and able to do our taxes for us as valuable and important as the one who understands the basic principles of engineering and comes to fix our plumbing?  The world needs all kinds of people, and when we strive to educate the ‘whole’ child, we, in turn, educate and create a ‘whole’ society.

References:

Berger, K.S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6^th Ed.). New York,    NY:Worth Publishers

U.S. Dept. of Education Study (2000). Savvylearners http://members.tripod.com/h_javora/jed7.htm Iga, M. (2011).  “Suicide of Japanese Youth” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7233479