A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed

"Different minds learn differently," writes Dr. Mel Levine, one of the best-known education experts and pediatricians in America today. And that's a problem for many children, because most schools still cling to a one-size-fits-all education philosophy. As a result, these children struggle because their learning patterns don't fit the schools they are in.

In A Mind at a Time, Dr. Levine shows parents and others who care for children how to identify these individual learning patterns. He explains how parents and teachers can encourage a child's strengths and bypass the child's weaknesses. This type of teaching produces satisfaction and achievement instead of frustration and failure.

Different brains are differently wired, Dr. Levine explains. There are eight fundamental systems, or components, of learning that draw on a variety of neurodevelopmental capacities. Some students are strong in certain areas and some are strong in others, but no one is equally capable in all eight. Using examples drawn from his own extensive experience, Dr. Levine shows how parents and children can identify their strengths and weaknesses to determine their individual learning styles.

For example, some students are creative and write imaginatively but do poorly in history because weak memory skills prevent them from retaining facts. Some students are weak in sequential ordering and can't follow directions. They may test poorly and often don't do well in mathematics. In these cases, Dr. Levine observes, the problem is not a lack of intelligence but a learning style that doesn't fit the assignment. Drawing on his pioneering research and his work with thousands of students, Dr. Levine shows how parents and teachers can develop effective strategies to work through or around these weaknesses.

"It's taken for granted in adult society that we cannot all be 'generalists' skilled in every area of learning and mastery. Nevertheless, we apply tremendous pressure to our children to be good at everything. They are expected to shine in math, reading, writing, speaking, spelling, memorization, comprehension, problem solving...and none of us adults can" do all this, observes Dr. Levine. Learning begins in school but it doesn't end there. Frustrating a child's desire to learn will have lifelong repercussions. This frustration can be avoided if we understand that not every child can do equally well in every type of learning. We must begin to pay more attention to individual learning styles, to individual minds, urges Dr. Levine, so that we can maximize children's learning potential. In A Mind at a Time he shows us how.

"A Mind at a Time is a wide-ranging exploration of the myriad ways in which young minds differ, coupled with vivid and useful recommendations about developing those minds to the fullest." Howard Gardner, John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; author of The Disciplined Mind and Frames of Mind

"Levine's book argues that our educational shortsightedness results in a loss of human potential on a grand scale, as kids who don't fit the mold are misclassified, stigmatized and then fail....Levine's compassionate, accessible text, framed around actual case studies, makes [his plea for educational reform] seem do-able. This is a must-read for parents and educators who want to understand and improve the school lives of children." Publishers Weekly

Dr. Mel Levine is a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School and the director of the university's Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning. He is the cofounder and cochair of All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit institute that develops products and programs to help parents, teachers, clinicians, and children address differences in learning. A Rhodes scholar and graduate of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Levine lives in the Raleigh-Durham with his wife, Bambi, and many animals.

Contents

Acknowledgments

1 A Mind at a Time: Introduction

A Mind's Possibilities

A Pediatric Perspective

2 The Ways of Learning

How Learning Works

Eight Systems

Neurodevelopmental Profiles

How a Mind's Profile Comes to Be

How Lifestyles May Affect Learning Styles

Splitting Rather Than Lumping

The Early Detection of Dysfunction

Some Adult Implications

3 Conducting a Mind: Our Attention Control System

The Mental Energy Controls

The Intake Controls

The Output Controls

The Impacts of the Attention Controls

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on the Attention Controls as Children Age

Practical Considerations

4 Remembering to Learn and Learning to Remember: Our Memory System

Short-term Memory

Active Working Memory

Long-term Memory

A Few More Memory Differences

The Outlook

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Memory as Children Age

Practical Considerations

5 Ways with Words: Our Language System

The Different Languages That Make Up Language

Language Levels

The Special Challenge of Language Production

Language and Its Ambassadorial Functions

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye (or Ear) on Language as Children Age

Practical Considerations

6 Making Arrangements: Our Spatial and Sequential Ordering Systems

Sequential Ordering

Spatial Ordering

Spatial Versus Sequential Ordering: Which Would You Rather Be Good At?

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Sequential and Spatial Ordering as Children Age

Practical Considerations

7 Mind over Muscle: Our Motor System

Forms of Motor Function

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Motor Function as Children Age

Practical Considerations

8 Some Peeks at a Mind's Peaks: Our Higher Thinking System

Conceptual Thinking

Problem-Solving Thinking

Critical Thinking

Rule-Guided Thinking

Creative Thinking

The Role of Intuitive Thinking in Influencing All Forms of Higher Thinking

The Higher Thinking System and the Other Neurodevelopmental Systems

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Higher Thinking as Children Age

Practical Considerations

9 Relating to Relating: Our Social Thinking System

The Big Three Social Missions

Social Functions and Dysfunctions

Are Some Kids Too Successful Socially?

Minds over Time: Keeping a Watchful Eye on Social Thinking as Children Age

Practical Considerations

10 When a Mind Falls Behind

Constructing Neurodevelopmental Profiles

Identifying the Breakdown Points

When Bad Things Happen to Good Profiles

Mining a Child's Precious Assets

Identifying and Understanding Emotional Complications

Hows Instead of Whys: Focusing on Identifying and Fixing the Breakdowns Instead of Their Causes

The Benefits and Dangers When a Child's Mind Is Tested

Roadblocks and Outcomes in Adulthood

11 Getting a Mind Realigned (but Not Redesigned)

Management by Profile

Accessing Special Services in School

The Use of Medication

Coaching and Mentoring

Raoul: An Example of a Child Who Was Managed by Profile

12 Raisin' Brain: Homes for All Kinds of Minds

Know Thy Child

Responding to Gaps

Fostering Strengths, Knacks, Talents, Intuitions, and Affinities

Trying Not to Harm

Supporting Education

Maintaining an Intellectual Life at Home

Fostering Optimism and a Positive View of the Future

13 The Right to Differ: Schools for All Kinds of Minds

Teachers: Their Roles and Their Training for Those Roles

Parents: Their Meaningful Involvement in a Child's Learning

Students: Learning About Learning and Learning About Their Kinds of Minds

Humane Schools: Protective and Nurturing Settings for All Kinds of Minds

Pathways: Greater Availability of Options for Success

The Educational Ambiance

Results

Neurodevelopmental Pluralism: A Mind at a Time as an Ethic

Helpful Readings and Other Resources

Index