Our Children's Future

INTRODUCTION

As a long time practitioner of transformation, I believe the next societal institution most in need of transformation is our educational systems.

There is a slowly expanding global awareness of that we have to rethink our definition and measurement of learning. Thanks to the increasing number of children showing up with gifts that don’t fit our collective idea of “normal,” and who are often diagnosed or misdiagnosed with labels such as“ADD,” “ADHD,” “bipolar,” “twice exceptional,” “gifted,” or “meta-gifted,” we are beginning to understand that if we don't change our educational models, our future is at risk. These children are pioneers and teachers and future leaders. Their diverse talents challenge us to be more creative in our ways of engaging learning and preparing children for their future - one that does not look like the past.

As an intuitive, I see these children not as "disordered," but as “differently ordered.” Rather than insist they conform to outmoded structures and processes of education, I believe if we pay attention differently, we can learn from them. Some of them cannot process the multiple levels of stimulation around them; others seem to live much of the time in other worlds; and still others are intensely focused exclusively on one area of interest. Medicating these children helps them to fit in and feel the approval of peers, teachers and even parents. In the process, we may be dulling down their gifts or shortchanging ourselves on their potential to learn differently than our current educational model allows. There are ways to support these children while enhancing our own understanding of where they are leading us.

SESSIONS FOR CHILDREN

When facilitating a Session with children who learn differently, a parent calls or visits the office and gives me their child’s name and the particular challenge with which they are faced. From there, I facilitate the parent's greater understanding of the child, and sometimes other positive changes are experienced.

The objectives of this Session are:

• To offer intuitive insight concerning other lifetimes and how they influence the child’s current experience and reality
• To articulate the child’s soul lessons and/or life purpose
• To offer understanding as to why this child chose her/his parents
• To offer practical information on what’s important for the child’s environment, what schools are optimal, or other aspects of the child’s life about which the parents are concerned

To be clear:

• I do not profess to heal children who learn differently, nor do I have any qualifications to make medical diagnosis regarding the children or their medications
• I cannot predict the outcome of the Session

The articles I’ve written below, as well as other resources listed, may be helpful in your own exploration:

MULTI-SENSORY CHILDREN

All children are gifted. And although it often goes unsaid, it is undoubtedly our job as adults to seek out, evoke, and name the giftedness in each child. It is vitally important that we identify gifts, because people cannot see their own gifts except when they are recognized in contrast with others. Even for the profoundly gifted, their talent and its expression are “normal” to them. It is also important to focus on a child’s giftedness because there is a growing trend to do the opposite: to look for and label children as “disordered.” There seems to be a growing number of children who are talented in unusual or unusually intense ways. Many of these children do not find traditional schools helpful or happy places. In my opinion, those diagnosed as “learning disordered” are actually “differently ordered” when measured by the shrinking definition of (educationally) “normal”. more

ADD / ADHD DIAGNOSIS AND CHILDREN

There is an alarming increase in the diagnosis and medication of children in the United States. Figures show 8-10 million children are on medication to improve their ability to pay attention in school. It is also estimated that one out of every six boys who are five years old is on Ritalin or a similar psychotropic stimulant. more

NON-DRUG INTERVENTIONS

Children who exhibit behavior that has been diagnosed as ADD/ADHD usually have very sensitive nervous systems. That means that their environment and relationships play an even more important role in their development than is true for other children. The external factors that parents have control over, including food, exercise, and entertainment choices, will go a long way to supporting a gentler experience for families who include these children. In addition, there are ways to help a child with their homework and educational experience so that it boosts learning and self esteem. more

INTUITIVE, SPIRITUAL, AND PSYCHIC INTELLIGENCES

Children exhibit many kinds of intelligences, from inter and intra personal to social, athletic, musical, creative, special, as well as linear and logical. I.Q. tests are inadequate measure of any of these intelligences except the linear/logical. Therefore, gifted children may be overlooked or labeled as pathological because they are more gifted in these non-measured areas. more

RESOURCES

• Associations for Gifted Children
  Supporting the Emotional Needs of Gifted Children
  www.SENGifted.org (To purchase the DVD The Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children click here)

  The National Association of Gifted Children:
  www.NAGC.org Link to Illinois Association of Gifted Children

• New Models for School Curriculum
  All Kinds of Minds: A Young Student's Book about Learning Abilities and Learning Disorders by Melvin D. Levine
  www.allkindsofminds.org

  Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st
  Century (2000) by Gardner, Howard, NY: Basic books

• New Models/Insitutions of Learning
  Independent schools association of the central states (1908)
  www.ISAC.org

  The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO)
  The AERO is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 by education expert Jerry Mintz to advance learner-centered approaches to education.
  http://www.educationrevolution.org/index.html

  Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA)- An association of independent schools working out of the pedagogical indications
  of Rudolf Steiner.
  www.AWSNA.org

  MONTESSORI, International Montessori Index - Practical information for parents and teachers, with links to Montessori school lists, lectures, conferences, workshops, teacher training courses
  www.montessori.edu

  Home Schooling
  http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/
  http://www.waldorfhomeschoolers.com for Waldorf inspired homeschooling
  http://www.washtpa.org/ Washington Homeschooling Support Group
  http://www.alternative-learning.org Alternate Learning Organization
  http://www.tchers.net/ The Caribbean Center of Home Education Resources

  Consciousness-Based Education Association (CBEA) is a non-profit, educational organization that provides practical, scientifically validated educational programs, technologies, and consulting services for new schools, existing schools, and after-school organizations.
  http://www.cbeprograms.org/

  Learning Path Institute, DCF - connecting children to community and leadership throughout their education, in Chicago
  www.designsforchange.org

  Schools Attuned: To treat everyone the same is to treat them unequally. We are making a plea for the understanding of diversity, for greater flexibility in education and ... (Based on Mel Levine, M.D. Philosophy)
  www.schoolsattuned.org

  Landmark College, VT, specifically for young adults who have been diagnosed with learning disorders
  www.landmarkcollege.org

  Prescott College, AZ, self-directed and self-designed experiential learning.
  www.prescott.edu

  Leelanau, Residential school in for grades 9-12, that only accept children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, in Ann Arbor, MI
  www.leelanau.org

  HET, a successful UK model for any child diagnosed with a learning disorder
  www.holisticeducationaltherapy.co.uk

• Medication
  Lawrence H. Diller, M.D.
  Running on Ritalin: A Physician Reflects on Children, Society, and Performance in a Pill, BantamBooks: 1999
  Should I Medicate My Child? Sane Solutions for Troubled Kids with -- and without--Psychiatric Drugs, Perseus Books Group: 2003
  

  Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, Robert Nd Ullman
  Ritalin-Free Kids: Safe and Effective Homeopathic Medicine for ADHD and Other Behavioral and Learning Problems, Three Rivers Press: 2nd Rev edition, 2000

  Richard Degrandpre
  Ritalin Nation: Rapid-Fire Culture and the Transformation of Human Consciousness

  John W. Whitehead 6/14/2004
  The Rutherford Institute: Ritalin Nation: Are We Killing Our Children?
  http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=283

• Nutrition
  Marcia Zimmerman
  The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution: A Drug-Free 30 Day Plan, Owl Books; 1st edition, 1999

  Rachel Bell, Howard Peiper
  The A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. Diet! Updated: A Comprehensive Look at Contributing Factors and Natural Treatments for Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity, Safe Goods/New Century Publishing 2000; 2001

• Homework Help
  Kimberly Kassner
  Your’re A Genius and I Can Prove It., EmpowerMind, Mill Valley, CA, 1996

  Glad L. Flick
  Homework Skills Improvement Kit: A Training ResourceProgram To Help Children With ADD/ADHD, Seacoast Publications; 2001

  Don Mordasini
  Wild Child: How You Can Help Your Child with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Other Behavioral Disorders, Hawthorn Press; 1st edition; 2001

• Centers of Research
  Linda Silverman: The Gifted Development Center serves parents, schools, and advocacy groups with information about identification, assessment, counseling, learning styles, programs, presentations, and resources for gifted children and adults. http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/
  
  ADD-Holistic Resource Center; Provides information and links to holistic and alternative treatments for ADD. http://www.holisticmed.com/add
  
  LiteBooks.net; Relaxation, Meditation, Books, CD's and other resources for Children; http://www.LiteBooks.net

• Newsletter
  Twice exceptional children (children who are both gifted and have learning or attention difficulties)
  Twice Exceptional Newsletter- Glen Ellyn Media - Linda Neumann and Mark Bade, are longtime professional writers and parents with personal experience in 2e issues. http://2enewsletter.com/index.html

• Exercise And Movement
  Bubbles Academy: Yoga, Art, Music and Motion, and Imagination classes for infants through six year olds. http://www.bubblesacademy.com/programs.asp

• Spiritually Gifted Children
  Piechowski, M.M., 1998 Emotional giftedness: The measure of interapersonal intelligence, N. Colangelo and G.A. Davis, Handbook of Gifted Education
  (pp366-381) Needham Heights, MA Allyn and Bacon

  Michele Kane, Antioch, IL – To obtain more information on emotionally and intuitively gifted children
  Michelekane1@aol.com