More kids are suffering from trauma-related sensitivities than you might realize The gold standard research on this matter is the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They looked at almost 10,000 adults at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego,, California, who were asked questions covering seven aspects of...Read More
The theory of multiple intelligences as developed by Dr. Howard Gardner has received a drubbing over the past 15-20 years for not being ”evidence based.” Elsewhere I described my objections to this term as it is being used in education. But suffice it to say in this post that when we look at the Latin...Read More
I’ve been hearing a lot about ”the science of reading” recently. This seems to be the new ne plus ultra ingredient in the ”best” reading programs. It’s part of this ”evidence-based” nonsense that I’ve written about elsewhere in my blog. As if some of us are going to sit back and let researchers in white coats...Read More
One of the themes that I’ve sought to emphasize in my work in the field of neurodiversity is the idea that whether a person will be labeled as disordered or gifted may have more to do with when and where they were born rather than anything intrinsic to them as an individual. I’ve found it...Read More
Once upon a time a king asked several blind educators in his village to examine a new beast that had come into his possession and to tell him all about it. The first educator went up to touch the Literacy Lion, and then ran back to the king shouting ”This beast is made up of...Read More
Think of an assessment in school and very likely you’ll think of a teacher handing out some papers with questions on them, and students providing the answers. In fact, this scenario represents by far the bulk of assessments that teachers give to students. But, this type of assessment barely scratches the surface of what is...Read More
When children are diagnosed with special needs (e.g. dyslexia, ADHD, autism etc.), the initial efforts to support them almost always revolve around helping them to fit in with the environment around them. This of course is very important, but it leaves out a much-needed corollary to these efforts and that is: changing the environment to...Read More
I’ve often claimed that every child is a genius. This is sometimes misunderstood to mean that I think every child could be an Einstein or a Picasso. I mean nothing of the kind. I’m using the word ”genius” in its original meaning, which means ”to give birth” (it’s related etymologically to the word ”genesis”) and...Read More
Albert Einstein changed our way of looking at the universe. He also spoke out about other subjects, including education. Here are fourteen of his pronouncements on issues related to learning and education. Many quotations attributed to Einstein are specious, which is why I’ve provided sources for each of these fourteen. On Schooling: ‘’It is nothing...Read More
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