Teaching students how to have belief in themselves

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different yet beautiful

different yet beautiful

I travel around the country speaking about the developmental and behavioral challenges of children and teens. My purpose is to be their voice in order to help others understand and approach them with more compassion, empathy, and a willingness to work and think outside the box.

Now I find it funny that I do this because I was shy and reserved as a child and teen.  I didn’t want to rock the boat. I was mortified if a teacher or peer found fault with me in some way.  I even backed out of a school talent show with three friends, 2 days before the show, fearing that  people would laugh at me or boo me off the stage for not being able to sing well enough. My parents never had to give me a curfew because they KNEW I would be home on time and would make sure everyone else would be home too.

What changed?  I became so frustrated at how misunderstood children and teens with neurodevelopmental disorders were ( these are intellectual disorders, communication disorders, learning disorders, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and motor disorders). My strong belief in right and wrong pushed me past my own social anxiousness into the classrooms, auditoriums, and conference rooms of the professionals who work with these youth to help them understand what science has been uncovering as to the “whys” of their behaviors.

I had to learn on my own by observation and analysis of good speakers (and now through the awesome mentorship of members of the National Speakers Association – NSA) how to present myself as an expert. I watched and learned about nonverbal language to convey confidence, even while the butterflies were banging in my stomach.

Now there is research to show how learning these nonverbal behaviors can indeed change how you view yourself.  Check out this TED talk about the research.  When you are done, I would like you to think about how to bring this knowledge to the classrooms of children with developmental and behavioral challenges. How can you help a child learn to see themselves in a more positive light? Provide them with opportunities to take chances since even failures are learning experiences, as long as we debrief afterwards in order to come away with more knowledge.

Lack of corpus callosum yields insights into autism —

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See on Scoop.it – Developmental & Behavioral Challenges in Children

Dr. Pat McGuire‘s insight:

Having known patients with this condition, it is extremely hard for them to make sense of the world around them.  But the hardest part is to help others understand what is happening, since there are no outward signs of this anatomical deficit. They are another group of children and adolescents with developmental and behavioral challenges who I try to be a voice for.

See on sfari.org

The Deafening Silence of Teachers

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See on Scoop.it – Developmental & Behavioral Challenges in Children

As Americans we have always been taught that one of the greatest things about living in this country is that we are protected by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution.

Dr. Pat McGuire‘s insight:

This is an important opinion piece to read.  Teachers have so much to share about why we are having struggling students, stressed students, and out of control students.  What can we do to listen to and help these teachers?

See on theeducatorsroom.com

Play-based Interventions | District Administration Magazine

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See on Scoop.it – Developmental & Behavioral Challenges in Children

News, Articles and Community for district-level decision makers in K-12 education. Magazine published monthly, with daily news and blogs and online content. Archives available.

Dr. Pat McGuire‘s insight:

This is a great idea which needs to be considered by all elementary schools. We are indeed seeing more children with mental health concerns, some of which is due to a better understanding of children but some is due to the repeated exposures they get to uncertainty, violence (personal or on TV in the news), and less freedom to explore the world in a safe way. Schools were charged with teaching children to be productive adults who understood and would follow their leaders (back in the 1800s) so this is simply a step back toward that foundation.  Let’s support efforts to make this the norm not the promising practice.

See on www.districtadministration.com

30th Anniversary of A Nation At Risk

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different yet beautiful

different yet beautiful

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark report on education in the United States. It was the impetus for much of the education reform of the 80′s and 90′s.  Education Week looked at what has happened since then, which is shown in the infographics below from their article.

Several important things to notice are;

  1. Reading and math scores have barely moved
  2. Graduation rates have dropped and stayed low
  3. When adjusted for inflation, teacher salaries have barely increased since 1981.
  4. Public confidence has  dropped in public education

We have to make changes and it is not about directly holding teachers accountable, although they are part of the equation.  It is about recognizing that we knew so little about how a child’s brain worked then and know so much more now.  But, and this is a bit but, this knowledge is not being taught to our teachers, it is not being utilized in our classrooms, and is not becoming part of how we approach children both socially and academically. Schools were originally formed to provide children with the training they needed to be responsible, productive members of society. The focus has changed over the decades to just showing academic success. Employers are complaining that their new employees don’t know how to think for themselves, don’t understand how to organize, prioritize, and problem solve. The work ethic is missing. This is not about not doing homework, it is about not seeing a useful outcome from work put into an effort. If a child is struggling academically due to neurodevelopmental problems, which affect one child in six, production line education doesn’t work.

Let’s make a new 30 year plan to truly reform education to address how the brain works, how to understand and help the students that need more time, more one-on-one, and more variety in how they are taught.  Give the teachers the training and tools to do this, and then hold them accountable.

Where Are We Now: Looking at "A Nation at Risk," 30 years later

 

YouTube series on temperament

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Greetings,

different yet beautiful

different yet beautiful

I have been receiving messages from my readers commenting on my YouTube video from 2011 (Patricia McGuire video 2011.AVI ) about their interest in temperament and how it affects children’s behaviors.  This YouTube video was actually put together as a demo video for meeting planners to see my presenting style. While I recognize that the quality is not studio perfect, the people contacting me felt that I was describing their children and their students.

Based on their requests I am going to develop a YouTube series of short videos on the temperament traits but also on the effect of those traits when put in the context of different neurodevelopmental disorders.  Oh, you want to know what a neurodevelopmental disorder is?  Good question!

Neurodevelopmental disorders affect one child in six. The disorders are;

  • ADHD
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Specific Learning Disabilities
  • Communication Disorders
  • Motor Disorders (such as Tourette’s Syndrome)

I would love to hear from you as I plan these videos out.  Just fill in this form to let me know.  I hope to have the first one done by mid-May.

Thank you so much.