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El Poder De La Neurodiversidad (2012)

by Thomas Armstrong(Favorite Author)

3.88 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Paidós

review 1: Kudos to the author for writing a book that focuses on the positive aspects of having a non-neurotypical brain. The book is a nice start but on the whole came off as quite meager. His theories had a lot of maybes (maybe being overanxious was helpful in a hunter-gatherer society because...) I also found his credentials and facts slim or questionable. As far as I could tell, he is mostly qualified to make these assertions about special education because he taught it for a couple of years? Excuse me, but what?As the mother of a "neurodiverse" (autistic)child I found him to be quite naive. For instance, he tells what is supposed to be a charming story about how he would write a report for his student's IEP meeting that highlighted all their strengths. Nice but you probably scr... moreewed those parents, you ninny. Those meetings are grueling and disheartening, but you need to focus on the shortages in order to get your child the help they need. Those reports of his were sweet but COMPLETELY inappropriate for the setting. Maybe that's why he taught such a short while. He probably enraged desperate parents and teachers. I wish he had left out the entire part about what he thinks needs to happen in education. Lofty ideas with almost no chance of success on a large scale. He wrote a very upbeat book that never seemed to get its head out of the clouds. Not very useful but a welcome bit of optimism for us struggling parents
review 2: The author compares people with differences in the way their brain works (neurodiversity) to biodiversity or cultural diversity which are seen as important and good for our earth and society. Without downplaying the challenges these people face he illustrates how people with various neurological disorders have also been given some extraordinary gifts and talents and that when they are guided to the right environment through niche construction they flourish. Two chapters that intrigued me were The Joy of the Hyperactive Brain and The Advantages of Anxiety - though I have to admit that there seemed to be far more identifiable gifts and potential career choices for people with ADHD than for those with anxiety. I also found the last two chapters on Neurodiversity in the Classroom and The Future of Neurodiversity fascinating. I feel like I gained some spiritual insight when I read this quote by molecular biologist Miroslav Radman: "Mutagenesis has traditionally been viewed as an unavoidable consequence of imperfections in the process of DNA replication and repair. But if diversity is essential to survival, and if mutagenesis is required to generate such diversity, perhaps mutagenesis has been positively selected throughout evolution." At any rate, I found the philosophies in this book refreshing and highly recommend it to anyone working with neurodiverse children. less

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