I recently finished facilitating at an elementary school in Raleigh, North Carolina. We had a terrific group and the discussions were wonderful. After the week ended, I received an email from a participant that I just had to, in part, share. Here’s her story (edited for length)
Christine, a kindergarten teacher, has a 6 year old son.
“He is an amazing kid and I love him to death, but as I learned through the training, he does have some weaknesses in Attention. So during the week, I was thinking about some of the issues we have and how we can get a better grip on them.”“So in the morning, we have difficulty “getting it moving”…I have to be at work at 8(which is also his school!) so…I decided to use the Student Profile Management model…..”“So…I had one of the most remarkable conversations with Jack that I ever had just by asking him what he was good at and what he wanted to make better….I never thought to ask my own son what he thought was a weakness and how he could make it better…it seems so simple….but I tend to want to “fix it by trying this wonderful strategy to help you with your problem” without fully involving you!”WHAT POWER that had! He is so excited about doing this!!!!SO….thank you….Schools Attuned….All Kinds of Minds….etc!!!!!!!”
Christine’s email and experience with her son were powerful and reminded me that viewing our own worlds through the neurodevelopmental framework can have as much impact on us as we hope to have on our students.