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Gifted or Disabled
August 18, 2010
A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.
-C.S. Lewis, Author, 1898–1963
-C.S. Lewis, Author, 1898–1963
In a thought-provoking article, "Your Brain is a Rain Forest," in Ode magazine (April 2010), Thomas Armstrong posits that "whether you are regarded as disabled or gifted, depends largely upon when and where you live":
"No brain exists in a social vacuum. Each brain functions in a particular cultural setting and at a particular historical period that define its level of competence. Each civilization also defines its own forms if giftedness. In ancient cultures that depended upon religious rituals for social cohesion, it might have been schizophrenics (who heard the voices of gods), or the obsessive compulsives (who carried out the precise rituals) who were the gifted ones. Even in today's world, being at the right place at the right time seems to be critical in terms of defining whether you will be defined as gifted or disabled.
"One of the things I've noticed in my work as a special education teacher is that kids in special ed. classes tend to be the weakest in those things the schools value the most (reading, writing, math, test-taking, rule-following), and strongest in those things schools value least (art, music, nature, street smarts, physical skill). So they end up being regarded by society as attention deficit disordered or learning disabled: ultimately defined by what they can't do rather than by what they can do."
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Each Beginnings Workshop book is a comprehensive collection of articles on a particular topic. The book on Literacy includes topics on:
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As a support to your staff development efforts, get FREE shipping on the set of eight Beginnings Workshop books. Enter code "BWbooks" when prompted. Offer expires Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. |
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Comments (5)
Displaying All 5 CommentsCollege of the Holy Spirit of Manila
Manila, Philippines
First of all, I would like to thank my professor, Dr. Carolyn Uy Ronquillo for sharing this article with me. I think that special education especially in the Philippines must do a paradigm shift. Administrators and teachers in special education should focus first and foremost on the strengths of individuals with disabilities and then address their developmental needs. The term weakness has to be dropped. God bless!
the grand child care center
chicago, IL, United States
As Mahatma Gandhi once said ;' One educated mother is worth one hundred teachers'
I have come to the same conclusion that teachers are after all trying to do only their job: They like the children who are quiet and obedient- children who will not disturb the class room activities and make the entire classroom operation smooth. And other children would be labeled as: A.D.or L.D.
That very reason inspired me to start my own day care center when I refused to take the label: Hyperactive for my child! Twenty one years later, after raising two successful happy kids, I tell all the parents in my day care center :
The recipe for raising the happy child is:
One wise parent and an adult who cares; add a little luck and happy child you get!
Geeta Bhatt, Director, Grand Child care Center, Chicago.
Shishu Vikash Kendra
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
There will be no difference between the normal children and special children .
I think special children should do everything with normal children .
United States
It's time for teachers to stop "diagnosing" children as having some pathology because they display behavior that is plainly inconvenient to the smooth operation of the classroom.
Do we as a society really want cookie-cutter kids? Do we really want our children to despise their differences from others? Why are we pressuring our kids to grow up beyond their developmental level?
Let's be really careful. We are only teachers. We are not family. We will never have the best interest of the child supercede the interest of the parent.
Child Care Council of Suffolk, Inc.
Commack, NY, United States
One of the problems with the field of special education today is this "deficit model", where, as you said, we look at what children can't do and try to fix it. This is the opposite of how I was trained in special education years ago where we looked at children's strengths and built upon those strengths to give them the skills needed for life. I worry that the education field (including, but not limited to, early education) is moving in this same direction of looking at students through a very narrow lens and trying to "fix" what's wrong rather than embracing and supporting strengths and building their intellect instead of focusing on filling them with facts.
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