ALL KINDS OF MINDS

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ALL KINDS OF MINDS
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The Mission

• The All Kind of Minds
• mission is to help students who struggle with
  learning measurably improve their success in
  school and life by providing programs that
  integrate educational, scientific, and clinical
  expertise.

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Observable Phenomena

• Scientific breakdowns in learning manifest
  themselves in observable phenomena. Observable
  phenomena are behaviors that are seen everyday
  both in the classroom and at home. For example,
  students may have trouble finding words to
  express their ideas or have difficulties with
  handwriting because of poor muscle control. Such
  behaviors may or may not show up in a formula or
  in a series of test scores, but observable
  experience proves they exist.

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• By becoming aware of the critical observable
  behaviors of students in a content area or at a
  grade level, educators will be better able to
  recognize and attend to learning breakdowns. As
  such, third grade teachers watch for language
  processing breakdowns as children read aloud,
  while high school physics teachers look for
  classroom behaviors that indicate problems with
  non-verbal concept formation, and athletic
  coaches pick up on sports performances that
  relate to both muscle and memory difficulties.

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• Looking for observable phenomena is a model
  that avoids labeling students, classification,
  and loss of individual richness. Labels on
  students can be reductionistic, pessimistic, and
  can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Instead,
  the focus is on labeling the phenomena. This
  model is much more precise, specific, and less
  stigmatizing.

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The Approach

• Too many children struggle and fail needlessly
  simply because the way in which they learn is
  incompatible with they way theyre being taught.
  Schools are filled with students who give up on
  themselves, are convinced theyre losers, and
  conclude theyre just dumb.

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• When students are having difficulty with a
  particular academic skill, the task of parents,
  teachers, and clinicians is to pinpoint the areas
  of difficulty, to specify the weak sub-skills,
  and to create a plan for strengthening strengths
  and areas in need of improvement.
• There is a need to ask Where is the breakdown
  occurring? And within that sub-skill, which
  related functions are not operating well? For
  example, students with strong vocabulary skills
  and memory abilities may still have problems
  remembering words. In this case, the difficulty
  might lie with their word retrieval ability, a
  very specific sub-skill that enables students to
  remember words on the spot.

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• At any point in life, students come to school
  with neurodevelopmental profiles. Such
  profiles are, in essence, balance sheets of
  individual strengths and weaknesses in the
  various neurodevelopmental functions. Each
  profile facilitates work in some areas, while
  hindering work in others. Some students have
  strengths that make them strong achievers at six
  years old, but weak performers in high school.
  Others may have early difficulties and find
  success in later years. Just as expectations
  change over time, so do students performances.

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The Eight Neurodevelopmental Contructs are
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Attention

• Attention is more that just paying attention.
  It includes such aspects as the ability to
  concentrate, to focus on one thing rather than
  the other, to finish tasks one begins, and to
  control what one says and does.

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Spatial Ordering

• Closely related to the functions of time and
  sequence, spatial ordering is the ability, for
  instance, to distinguish between a circle and a
  square or to use images to remember related
  information. On a more complex level, spatial
  ordering helps musicians, for instance, to be
  able to see a piano keyboard, and enables
  architects to imagine the shape of a particular
  room.

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Temporal-sequential Ordering

• Whether its being able to recite the alphabet
  or knowing when to push a button to give a
  response on Jeopardy, being able to understand
  time and sequence of various items or pieces of
  information is a key component of leaning.

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Memory

• Even if, in the moment, people are able to
  understand, organize, and interpret the most
  complex information, if they cannot store and
  then later recall that information, their
  performance often suffers dramatically.

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Language

• Being able to articulate and understand
  language is central to the ability to do well as
  students and learners. Developing language
  functions involves elaborate interactions between
  various parts of the brain since it involves so
  many separate kinds of abilities - pronouncing
  words, awareness of different sound,
  comprehending written symbols, understanding
  syntax, and telling stories.

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Neuromotor Functions

• Whether students are trying to write their
  first words, catch a football, or punch away at a
  computer keyboard, their brains ability to
  coordinate their motor or muscle functions are
  key to many areas of learning.

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Social Cognition

• One of the most often overlooked components of
  learning is the ability to succeed in social
  relationships with peers, parents, and teachers.
  Students (and adults) may be strong in other
  construct areas, and yet have academic
  difficulties because of an inability to make
  friends, work in groups, or cope effectively with
  peer pressure.

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Higher Order Cognition

• Higher order cognition involves the ability to
  understand and implement the steps necessary to
  understand and implement the steps necessary to
  solve problems, attack new areas of learning, and
  think creatively.

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The Process

• All Kinds of Minds has developed a variety of
  programs to help parents, educators, clinicians,
  and children understand and manage learning
  issues. All are based on a neurodevelopmental
  approach to learning, a method of identifying the
  specific brain functions that affect the ways a
  student learns and performs in school.

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Step 1 Profile Description

• Our process starts with in-depth assessment
  by parents, teachers, and/or clinicians to
  develop a comprehensive learning profile a kind
  of balance sheet that accounts for the students
  strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This
  approach also allows us to pinpoint the exact
  breakdowns in leaning that are interfering with
  an individuals school success. We look
  carefully at each of the functions of the brain
  that can affect a students learning and
  performance, including memory, language,
  attention, and the ability to organize
  information. We also access neuromotor functions
  such as fine and gross motor skills or physical
  coordination, as well as social cognition- the
  ability to understand as well as have successful
  social interactions, and higher order cognition-
  being able to solve problems, think critically,
  or reason about oneself and the world.

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Step 2 Demystification

• Through a process called demystification we
  help children (and their parents) understand
  specific differences in learning. We provide
  children with both the language and insight to
  deal more effectively with their strengths and
  weaknesses. This empowering and respectful
  process makes children part of the solution team
  and helps them fell better about themselves. It
  encourages optimism and collaboration between
  children, parents, and teachers, and restores
  motivation by giving students a positive vision
  of their futures. Demystified students are far
  better prepared to implement bypass strategies or
  direct interventions. They can also better
  recognize and appreciate individual differences.

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Step 3 Management by Profile

• Based on their understanding of a childs
  profile, parents, educators, and clinicians can
  help the child devise methods to become a more
  productive learner. Ideally, all parties
  collaborate to create a practical action plan
  that the student can easily implement at home and
  in school. In addition to the tactics developed
  by All Kinds of Minds, other provisions might
  include medication, tutoring, counseling, and
  additional services.

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Below are types of recommendations All Kinds of
Minds has developed

• Bypass Strategies (Accommodations) Bypass
  Strategies help the students learn how to work
  around a weakness, so that she can experience
  success. One such strategy might allow a student
  to do extra work in an area of strength, while
  reducing demands in an area of weakness (e.g.,
  write less, but read more than classmates write
  compositions using a word processor versus paper
  and pen compose a song rather than build a
  model.
• Interventions at the Breakdown Points
  Interventions involve children in activities
  specifically designed to strengthen an area of
  weakness. For a student having difficulty
  organizing his thoughts for an essay, for
  example, interventions such as applying
  pre-writing strategies, breaking the task into
  steps, or working with a checklist can lead to
  better written output.
• Strengthening of Strengths These are strategies
  that allow children to keep on using and
  improving the parts of their minds that work
  especially well for them.
• Affinity Development This is a process of
  helping children discover and deepen their
  natural interest in particular topic or subject
  areas (such as cars, horses, or nature).

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Step 4 Follow-Up

• Armed with a learning profile and action plan,
  the child and her/his parents can put them into
  practice at home. As in all efforts to bring
  about change, the childs profile and plan are
  reviewed periodically, in order to monitor
  progress and make adjustments accordingly.

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SCHOOLS ATTUNEDThe Premises in Nine
PrinciplesBy Dr. Mel Levine
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What is Schools Attuned?

• The purpose of the Schools Attuned Program is to
  equip education professionals with new knowledge,
  skills, and strategies so that sound judgments
  may be made about instructional practices to meet
  the diverse learning needs of all students in the
  classroom.
• Schools Attuned reflects the most current
  research-based principles of professional
  development that enhances teaching practice and
  has a positive impact on student outcomes.
• The Schools Attuned Program focuses on the work
  of Dr. Mel Levine and developed by the All Kinds
  of Minds Institute in North Carolina, a
  non-profit institute dedicated to the improvement
  of an educators ability to understand learning
  differences among their students and find tools
  to bring success to each student.

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Schools Attuned Process

• Data Gathering
• Teacher observes student and completes teacher
  views
• Counselor interviews student to complete student
  views
• Case manager interviews parent/guardian to
  complete parent views
• 2. Data Consolidation
• Trained staff member/case manager inputs and
  prints out teacher information
• Teacher collaborates with trained staff member to
  consolidate information
• 3. Management Plan
• Teacher collaborates with trained staff member to
  create management plan
• 4. Demystification
• Teacher collaborates with counselor to demystify
  student using management plan and demystification
  guide
• Implementation
• Teacher implements accommodations/interventions
  from management plan
• Follow-Up
• Teacher adapts or changes accommodations/intervent
  ions as student progresses
• Student is demystified as often as needed to
  support ongoing progress

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1. A Positive View of Neurodevelopmental
Diversity

• Children vary widely in their
  neurodevelopmental strengths and weaknesses, and
  this variation has powerful implications for
  educating all kinds of minds. No one can be good
  at everything. Many students possess highly
  specialized minds and deserve to be recognized
  for their abilities, while not being declared
  defective for their shortcomings. Deficiencies
  need not be considered abnormal or somehow
  pathologically deviant.

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2. A Stress on Neurodevelopmental Profiles

• All of us have highly individual
  neurodevelopmental profiles (our current but
  ever-malleable spreads of strengths and
  weaknesses), which might work well at some ages
  and under certain circumstances, but not as well
  at other times or places.

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3. A Quest for Specificity and Individuality in
Understanding Students

• We can and must achieve a high level of
  specificity in our understanding of childrens
  strengths and weaknesses, penetrating well beyond
  labels which are overly simplistic,
  pessimistic, and therapeutically ineffective, as
  well as potentially hazardous, self-fulfilling
  prophecies. The more specific we are in our
  descriptions of a students profile, the more
  effective we can be in helping him/her find
  success. It is misleading to maintain that there
  are a small number of syndromes or patterns
  within which all or most children with learning
  differences can be categorized. There are
  innumerable ways to be different.

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4. A Policy of Labeling Observable Phenomena
Rather than Children

• Teachers, in particular, have unique access to
  day-to-day observable phenomena and behaviors
  that are windows on learning and
  neurodevelopmental function. They are in a
  unique position to identify underutilized
  strengths and interests, as well as breakdowns in
  the learning process. Knowing what to call and
  how to describe a particular phenomenon greatly
  facilitates a teacher's understanding and
  management of that phenomenon in the classroom.
  For this reason, we label the phenomena rather
  than the students.

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5. A Commitment to Collaboration among
Professionals, Parents, and Children

• A students optimal education is likely to be
  realized when teachers, parents, clinicians, and
  the child collaborate meaningfully. No single
  source has all the answers. Therefore, the valid
  understanding and management of a students ways
  of learning entails the search for recurring
  themes and perceived needs as discerned by
  multiple informed participants.

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6. A Desire to Strengthen the Strengths and
Affinities of Children

• It is as important to strengthen a childs
  strengths and affinities, as it is to remediate
  his weaknesses.

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7. A Belief in the Value of Demystification

• Children have a need and right to be
  demystified or made aware of their specific
  breakdowns in learning as well as their strengths
  and affinities. It is especially critical for
  them to be able to talk and name the functions
  they are working on, since its hard to improve
  something when you dont even know what its
  called.

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8. A Consistent Effort to Help Learners Learn
about Learning

• Students should be learning about learning and
  gaining insight into their own minds while they
  are engaged in learning. Teachers should
  instruct explicitly about learning while they are
  teaching traditional subject areas.

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9. An Infusion of Optimism for Kids with All
Kinds of Minds

• The adult world accommodates, needs, and values
  all kinds of minds to fill all kinds of roles.
  Therefore, every child should be helped to see
  his or her special possibilities for a life that
  can be fulfilling and gratifying. The
  cultivation of childhood optimism and excitement
  about the future is both healthy and realistic.

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HOW DOES THE ALL KINDS OF MINDS MODEL COMPARE
TO OTHER MODELS?

• Commonly Applied Models
• Tendency to consider only a narrow age range or
  to assume that a particular learning disorder is
  similar in all age groups.
• Fragmented assessment heavily based on test
  scores in specific performance areas. Usually
  those in which specialists have expertise.
• Heavy emphasis on negative traits or weaknesses.
• Diagnosis focused on meeting specific learning
  disability criteria or test-score cut-offs.
• Application only to children with certain
  learning problems.

• All Kinds of Minds Model
• Developmental view in which learning disorders
  are thought about in terms of age, grade, and
  current contexts.
• Single unified assessment based on multiple
  sources of information about a child with strong
  emphasis on direct observation.
• Upbeat emphasis on a childs strengths,
  specialties, and natural strong interests.
• Assessment focused on identifying specific
  neurodevelopmental gaps or phenomena and their
  effects on learning.
• Relevance to ALL children.

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Real Life Thoughts About Schools Attuned

• I am currently the Educational Resource
  Coordinator after having been a classroom teacher
  for 30 years. I had the unique opportunity of
  attending the Schools Attuned week-long workshop
  in 2000 and again in 2005.
• I remember the 2000 week as an intense
  whirlwind of information, and I couldnt wait to
  apply my newfound knowledge. Now, after my 2005
  experience, Ive come away with a clearer picture
  of what attuning is all about and how to look
  at each childs strengths and weaknesses. I
  realized that labeling children interferes with
  our ability as educators to effectively teach
  them. Also, I really came to see over the past
  five years how important demystifying a child
  about their own learning skills can be.
• - Stephie Bregman
• During the Schools Attuned Core Course, a
  sense of adventure washed over me as I began to
  visualize all the children I could help with
  these techniques. With Schools Attuned, Im able
  to pinpoint what I need to focus on and come up
  with several strategies to help my kids. Schools
  Attuned has transformed me into a better
  teacher.
• - Seema Gersten,
  teacher
• Schools Attuned
  facilitator

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All Kinds of Mindswww.allkindsofminds.orgS
chools Attuned www.schoolsattuned.org