Giveaway: Your Chance to Win a New Book on Helping Students with Special Needs Thrive

I had never thought about studying the brain when teaching before reading this article. I think this could change the way we educate students in the regular classroom. So much time is devoted to differentiation that it should be natural for us to look at the neurological side.

In working with kids with dyslexia I have noticed their ability to see shapes and figures when I am talking and teaching about math. Also language learning seems to be an area where they can thrive. I like the like of working on the postive traits vs always thinking about what might hold students back. Thanks for making me think about these issues some more.

As a learning specialist, I was trained in providing remediation to students based on their individual strengths. One of my students enjoys drawing. Whether on post-it notes or in the margins of one his notebooks. this student adds illustrations. When asked to express his ideas in writing, though, he can become frustrated and not share the extent of what he knows. He frequently has a tremendous amount of background knowledge. When working on his narrative this year, I decided to incorporate drawing into the drafting phase. The graphic organizer asked him to provide details about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of his story. Lines [to write] were provided, as well. Next to to those lines, though were boxes for this student to draw the events in the story. After he drew the events, he effectively used the pictures to guide his written expression.

I have taught adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders for 4 years and love it. These young people are distracted by so much but they always surprise me. I have a student now that is low functioning and has psychological issues that impede his learning but he loves to write. He likes to express himself and report on things in which he is interested. I have found that I can teach him a wide variety of things if I leverage his strengths against his weaknesses. He is also interested in technology which makes engaging him (and my other students) with subject matter easier.

As the parent of a child with special needs (MPS1-Hurler Syndrome), a former teacher, and now a manager, I've seen the power of leveraging an individual's strengths to help them grow, succeed, and to help their community/team succeed as well. We all know of students who can read well above their "normal" reading level when the subject matter is of high interest to them. And there is a wealth of research done by the Gallup organization and others on how people who work in areas of strength grow and succeed at incredible rates compared to those who are forced to spend time working on their "weaknesses". The struggle I see is in helping teachers, parents, managers and kids themselves to identify their areas of strength and then learn how to apply those strengths to grow and succeed as well as to compensate for areas where they aren't strong or to find other strategies for mitigating those non-strength aspects of our lives that have to still get done. When we can do this well, all kids will do better.

For years I have been an advocate of respecting the differences in my students and valuing their strengths. I feel it is vitally important to empower students to learn in the ways in which they feel they are smart. Through varied activites and observations, I really get to know my students and utilize lessons that tap into multiple intelligences. I totally agree with the statement in your post about being dedicated to finding the very best in students and using that knowledge to help kids be successful. Your new book sounds like a fabulous read!

I work with gifted students (a kind of neurodiversity often dismissed or ridiculed) and many of those students also have a disability of some sort. One of my favorite elementary students was a boy who started school in a 2 room schoolhouse with only 20 students K-6. His mother moved him to a larger school at 3rd grade to deal with behavioral and ego issues that had become untenable in such a small environment. He arrived at my school and his behavioral diagnosis followed him. He got in a lot of trouble until he was put in the most advanced classes we could muster. His behavior changed practically overnight. In a small pull-out group of advanced math students, he brought in advanced research he had done at home, in LA he and another boy created their own poetry for a poetry display where most of the other kids memorized Shel Silverstein or Longfellow. The greater the challenge, the better the output and the better the behavior. He was transparent in that regard. Any time his behavior started to turn to the dark side, we ramped up the challenge and he flourished. We focused on his strengths and it made all the difference. I have learned again and again over the years that this is the way to approach twice exceptional students.

Social skill deficit is my specialty so I work to make access to this area a part of our normal routine. For example, I greet each student individually every day and then have students greet each other. It a practice of perspective and turn taking all in a comfortable structure.

As the Coordinator of Academic Services, I have the opportunity to provide the services students need. Although there are many stories that come from my current position, the story I would like to share today comes from the time I served as the technology teacher for my elementary school. I had the opportunity to be working with a class of third grade students who were just learning to write using a word processer (yes, it was a few years ago!) One student had input his entire story and was waiting for others to finish. As he waited, on his own, he found graphics to illustrate his story. The graphics were perfect for his story! I was amazed at his ability to “illustrate” his story electronically. I called several other students over to view his story and note his use of graphics. The students were quick to ask him to show them how to make that happen for their own stories. This is a great story of a “teachable moment” in the classroom however; the real teachable moment came to me as an educator later in the day. The teacher returned to the computer lab on her preparation time to tell me that the student who wrote the story couldn’t stop smiling all day. I must have had a puzzled look on my face as I did not think anything special happened. The teacher explained that the student who was able to illustrate his story was the student who performs the “lowest” in the class and that I had no idea of that fact so my honest excitement about his abilities in the task made his day. Although this event happened several years ago, it still serves as my reminder that all students have many talents. My job is now to discover those talents and use them to help develop the areas of need. The young man in my class taught me so much that day.

My students with ADHD are the first ones I ask to help me when I am planning any kind of educational games in the classroom. Not only are they able to rapidly process my goals, they are aware of, and often sensitive to, the strengths and weaknesses of their classmates. If the plan for the game needs adjustment in order for all to participate, these students are able to switch gears midstream. They rapidly brainstorm ideas that end up providing the entire class with an amazingly positive path to learning! ...and yes, I devoured Thomas Armstrong's book on Multiple Intelligences in the classroom years ago! Thank you!

As both an educator and parent of ESE children, I also feel, focusing on the strengths of all who collaborate to learn is the primary goal for students, parents and professionals. Believing in and acting on three factors, resilient effort, knowledge of self, and high expectations, the probability of producing adults who see more opportunities, experience fewer ceilings, and mindfully embrace a life of gratitude is increased. Knowing our differences are our strength collectively, but also independantly through a greater understanding of the differences in nuerological paths supports instruction that serves as a catalylst for this approach. Thank you for your research, commitment and support Dr. Armstrong!

not much to offer long retired, establish[ing] school for girls in the poorest village of the poorest country - Bangladesh. 90% + are special needs..none has food except the watered down lunch we provide; clothes ?? except the school uniform..all of which we provide. worse 90% of the teachers have themselved reached only gr 7. impossible to get qualified people! at first the girls were being married off at 10 now we have been able to hold on until 12 There are a few gifted kids but all are -no food - no energy,,and no challenge from the teachers....who listen like "obedient; kids to what u try to show...but as soon as u turn your back...everything goes out the window. We go there every 6 months.

Finding the connection to kids' personal experience and relevancy between what I needed to teach and what the students wanted to learn was key. Real life dreams and desires forge the desire to learn for kids no matter what their abilities or disabilities are labeled.

In reading Thomas Armstrong's comments and those that follow on this site, I'm reminded that for most of us who have been around awhile, teaching to and leveraging student strengths was how we were trained. Like much of what we know to be best practice, that seems to fall by the wayside when confronted with the typical practice of "remediating" weaknesses and perhaps falling prey to the need to make them successful with high stakes testing (in very short period of time). Thank goodness I did not fall into that trap with a young man I will call Chris. Chris was a visual learner. He had very weak auditory skills (perception and memory) but exceptionally strong visual perception and memory. In fact, he relied on his visual strengths in much the same way as an individual with autism, however Chris was not autistic. He learned to decode words using a combination of visual strategies and learning to recognize variations in sound vibrations much like a person who is deaf. He relied on that strong visual memory for many words and most word patterns. He was a veritable math whiz, a subject that relies heavily on visual and tactile strategies. In third grade, we taught him to highlight his own texts, to rely on his notes and checklists, and to always advocate for himself by letting others know what his strengths were. His mantra became "Can you show me?" By the way, he has an engineering degree and has done well as an adult thanks to having parents who kept saying he was smart and could "see" how things worked. He had a teacher who was naive enough to believe them and search for ways to leverage his strengths. As teachers, we must get past the idea that the kids need to "be fixed" and move on to giving them a way learn the necessary information and skills in a way that is appropriate for them. Don't we all have our own strengths and weaknesses? Do we waste a lot of time trying to fix our weaknesses, or do we move on and make the most of those strengths we have?

I love this topic of finding strengths of students with special needs! I have worked with many students with so many different strengths, but one in particular was so vocabulary-rich and creative with story lines. He could not write sentences in logical order, but if I wrote down his writings while he dictated them to me, they were so full of rich details and complicated plots!

Our elementary school engaged in a thematic unit focusing on the words, life, and death of our 14th president. One sixth grade boy diagnosed with autism related that Lincoln's quote, "Shall it be peace or a sword?" was similar to Shakespeare's statement, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Since his observations were so relevant and insightful, he was selected to appear in our school's documentary, "Chasing Lincoln's Legacy" currently featured on YouTube. Because of our school's commitment to a positive environment, this young man became a role model for his peers, school, and community.

I am the principal at a very small International school and we have many students who learn differently than a traditional education provides. I love the idea of neurodiversity and how you looked at the general strengths of neurodiverse students rather than the gaps that need to be filled. Our teacher who works with our neurodiverse students always says, "Fair doesn't mean that everyone gets everything the same." She spends a lot of time talking with her students in 6th grade (she teaches part of 6th grade and does pull outs) to help them understand the strengths and abilities of every student in her class. She helps them to see that each of them have needs and to feel comfortable with that and to be able to encourage one another in class.

I currently teach students performing 1-2 years below grade level in a pull-out math program. One of my students entered my classroom unmotivated and unwilling to participate. Her confidence in her math skills was almost non-existent and she was quite self-conscious. I quickly discovered her passion for music and dance. I enlisted her help to create a song and dance that she could teach the class as an aid for remembering some key geometry vocabulary. She is a different student now, realizing the value of her strengths and how they can aid her in her own learning.

When using student strengths as a basis for best ways to help my students with individual learning styles in my classroom I have realized it more than using manipulatives and visuals as a way to teach the curriculum. I am starting my doctoral work on investigating the impact of physical activities that involve motion, as we we would get from horseback riding, going down hills on sleds, swinging, and other kinds of physical motion that takes us on a ride as it were, and how it impacts our cognition. I hypothesize that for many students, no matter how severe their disabilities, and even those with severe multiple disabilities, these kinds of physical activities awaken the brain in areas that allow the students to develop even more areas of neurological strengths, including being joyful and happy learners, that lead in turn to increasing learning progress in their school curriculum. I also have a teaching theory I call the wedge...find that area of interest a child is really curious about, and motivated to do or learn more about, and use that like a wedge to drive open up the student's interest to using all the mandated mandated further explore that passion. The science of waves, their formation, the environmental health of our ocean, the math of surfboard shaping, the simple counting of waves in a set, the writing of Jack London on surfing...and more. Just one interest, use it as a wedge to get in their and let the child explore our world through his passions, with passion.

Strengths based education- not a novel concept. The biggest challenge in education seems to be changing the focus from providing everyone with the same education to providing our students with the education they need.

As an elementary music specialist and the mother of two sons with ADHD and one with Aspergers, I have an affinity for students in my classroom that don't fit the "norm" and who often seen by others as a challenge. One particular student entered my classroom as a First grader my first year at that school, and he took one look at me and said,"I hate music. It's stupid and you are stupid!" I wasn't sure how to react! He has Aspergers and frequently spoke out hateful things to others and against himself, had meltdowns or was physically aggressive. For the first two years, not much changed although I frequently talked to him, trying to make a connection. Finally, I spoke with his. Other and she agreed to bring him to my classroom on Friday afternoons so we could spend some time together. He often said he was terrible at music and couldn't sing. I let him play the instruments and talk about his newest thing and then I showed him GarageBand on my Mac. He was fascinated with computers and He quickly figured out how to compose a song. The next week, I shared his song with the class and from then on, things changed. He still blurted out, but mostly saying he was stupid and couldn't do anything right. He struggled with his behavior everywhere else and was often in "in school suspension." The next two years, he played instruments in our concerts, joined the choir, had several solos, was in the musical... Gave his heart and soul to music and continued to compose and mix music at home. He told his mother that whenever he was having a bad day, he would "go into his music" and there he would find peace and calm. I helped him find a way to cope with his meltdowns. He is exceptionally bright and even if he doesn't use music in his career, he now has something that can help in his day to day function.

I teach English Language Arts to grade seven and nine students in Westlock, Alberta, Canada. I have a mixed-ability class in grade seven. This year, one student in particular comes to mind. "Paulo" (pseudonym), named for his father, who I taught in the first year of my career, is a carbon copy of his father. Neither can read or write much. 27 years ago, I didn't know much about teaching, and so Paulo Sr. got what I had to give: whole class instruction, detention if his work wasn't done, and lots of worksheets. Thankfully, I've learned some things in 27 years. Paulo Jr. struggles in school, and he always will. His file shows verbal abilities in the lowest range. It would be easy to try to "fix" Paulo, focusing on spelling, sight words, even the size of the spaces between his words. Paulo could read books at his own level. But he would be miserable! Paulo is an outgoing student, who loves sharing what he knows about farming and the outdoors. We just finished a class novel about events during the Russian Revolution. Some students chose to listen to the novel being read out loud. Listening is one of Paulo's strengths. We used small discussion groups where students had to share their summaries, questions, and predictions to guide their discussion. Paulo has an oral strength and is a strong collaborator. He actively participated, sometimes too actively, where I had to rein him in a little. Right now, we are doing a variety of assessments of their learning. I read the multiple choice test to him. He got 68%, which was right on par with what many of his classmates got. I can say that Paulo feels great about coming to school every day. He knows he is learning. He trusts that I will let his strengths shine and help to accommodate--and also work on improving--his weaknesses. I do regret sometimes that I couldn't have helped Paulo Sr. in the same way. I guess that is the cost of improvement for teachers--regret that we couldn't have done it sooner. I look forward to reading your book and learning even more!

With so much emphasis being placed upon Common Core Standards in this 21st Century, I must say that as recent as Friday, November 30, 2012, an autistic student exhibited courage and demonstrated that students with autism can be successful in an inclusive classroom. I am a support facilitator in a language arts classroom. On Friday, my co-teacher and I were being evaluated. Our bellringer for the day required students to correct a passage with grammatical errors. This is a whole group activity; however, one student assumes the role of the teacher. What made this exercise so special was the student with autism expressed a desire to take the lead in completing this task. He determined which students would respond. His task was to correct the errors identified by his peers. He carried out the task and did an exceptional job. It proved to us that learning is possible when the expectation and classroom environment is conducive to learning. My point here is with positive feedback, continuous reinforcement, and parental support students can learn alongside of peers their age. We do not necessarily have to separate and put labels on students. As educators, we need to focus on determining what works for the individual student.

I am the Student Resource Team Leader (SRT) at a middle school, basically I run special ed in the building. There are about 130 IEP students and I am so happy to read about your book. I am also the parent of an ADHD 7th grade girl. She is creative, engaging, fun, and passionate about life. I work with some teachers who embrace diversity and creat classrooms built on respect and safety. One of my daughters teachers allowed her to have movement breaks and draw because she knew she was listening. Her math teacher in 6th grade let her sit in a swival chair at the end of class as a reward for turning in class assignments. Teachers I work with often implement simular motivators for students; lunch together, call home, something special to the student. What I find so wonderful and moving is the confidence I see growing in the students and my daughter. Lets admit.. there are days we want to change their outfit or fix their hair to avoid teasing but the child insist that she looks just wonder.. well god bless! When my tween has the confedence to go to school the wat she does some days... then good for her! This confedence not only comes from home home and herself, but from school too. With the support of her 504, dedicated teachers and administrators, and a fierce mom, my child and those I oversee within my building, will viewed as a gift not a burden.

Neurodiversity is especially dramatic in the gifted community. Many gifted students are never recognized because of their learning disabilities. Most teachers in public school systems, identify students by only looking at their area of disability; dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, Aspergers, while they totally neglect their intellectual gifts or talents. I am Director of Teaching and Learning at Quest Academy, a school for gifted students. Students come to us with IQs that qualify them as gifted, but who were not given any recognition in the public school because of their disability. Often in the gifted community, these students are referred to as twice exceptional. In our "hands on" active learning community where student are respected for their intellectual strengths, allowed accomodations, and taught strategies for using thier strengths to work with their learning disability, they thrive. Twice exceptional students demonstrate exceptional stamina and persistence. Their love of learning enables them to put forth the extra effort and time needed to achieve at the high level. They study content that is generally a year above their grade level and up to 4 years beyond their grade in areas where they demonstrate a passion for the subject. The dilemma comes when they leave our K-8 independent school to attend a public high school. Once again they face the public system which does not recognize Neurodiversity. They do not allow them additional time or small group testing because their neuroeducational testing indicates they have been identified as gifted. Without testing accomodations, some of these students do not test into the appropriate high school class levels and they have to repeat classwork. You can imagine how this impacts their learning.

I have long believed in the idea that we need to find the strengths in our students with special needs. Growing up I saw my own brother struggle with a reading learning disability. His strength was athletics. Now he's a great coach! As a principal, I look out for kids like this who are struggling to find their strengths. It is my job and the teacher's job to figure this out and make it happen. Recently, we moved a student with cognitive disabilities into a regular Ed classroom for math. He can get the math concepts with help in reading. He's finding success, and his attitude has improved in his other classes. This is encouragement to keep finding strengths in all our students.

As a resource teacher in a district that has caseloads of mild to intense students, you have to be prepared to teach at any ability level from K-5. I have had the opportunity to teach some amazing students and see them grow into successful students, no matter what challenges they face. I am a firm believer that you have to get to know the student on all levels in order to use thier strengths to help them succeed. I currently have a kdg. student who is non verbal in the sense that he does not speak like you and I. It is my goal to find a way for him to communicate his likes and dislikes and his wants and needs. We have seen tremendous growth with this student so far this year. He is able to make certain noises and eye contact and we are beginning to see what this student is capable of doing with his abilities. I have a wonderful staff that supports finding the abilities of all our students and they go above and beyond to bring them out of a student.

Neurodiversity in the classroom holds a lot of promise. I became interested in how the brain works and decided to take courses in brain leadership studies as part of my doctoral studies program. In the process, I learned many tools and techniques which I can integrate in my classroom. I have particularly found many useful tips for kids with ADD/ADHD.

I have been a teacher and teacher educator for 23 years. I also have a daughter who has a disability. I am overjoyed that we are realizing that individuals with special needs have gifts, abilities, and strengths. Students with LD are learning different (not disabled) and students who fall across the bell curve spectrum all have diverse abilities and challenges. The bottom line is that IQ only measures a fraction of our cognitive abilities and does not indicate level of empathy, ability to create, or potential to succeed in a variety of settings. We must come to the realization that all individuals, regardless of disability, age, past experiences, culture, or socio-economic level, possess abilities that may not be recognized or measure in an 8 hour school day. I always embraced diversity as a classroom teacher, but having a daughter with a disability has proven to me that she is not the one with the disability; it is those around her who don’t see life through her eyes who are truly challenged. As a teacher educator, I encourage my students to view learning through the eyes of the child. This is very impactful when we consider learners with “disabilities” because they are unique and learn/express their learning differently than others. Thus, the term “neurodiversity” makes complete sense when we are planning lessons and structuring assessment techniques to best understand the learning needs of students with disabilities. When we reach a point of not fearing the unknown or that which lies outside of the “normal” percentage in the Bell curve, we will be master teachers and will celebrate the challenge of neurodiversity.

I bring my own neurodiversity into the classroom: I grew up twice exceptional. I excelled academically in a “gifted” program, but struggled emotionally without support for my AD(H)D. I see myself reflected in several students who struggle to stay “with us,” but show an amazing capacity for language-learning. I know first-hand that, neuroplasticity aside, I can’t brute-force-change the way our brains are wired, and that to be subject to an attempt to do so is misery. I’m re-learning to teach the way I wish I had been taught: pulling out those strengths rather than calling out their difference.