(图片来源©Ivanastar, iStock)
我们一直在使用“光谱”这个词, 但你真的看过光谱的照片吗? 事实上，你无法在颜色之间划出清晰的界限. 这是不可能做到的. The transition from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to violet takes place in nearly unlimited degrees, 每一种颜色都与它两边的颜色有微小的不同.
教室里的神经多样性也是一样的. 没有明确的界限, no easy delineations between differences between children who are at various degrees on the spectrum. 类似的, just as there is no one “normal” color on a spectrum – each degree of color is vital – there is no clear “normal” when it comes to children’s brains. And yet much of traditional teaching has been focused on trying to move students with various challenges closer and closer to the general definition of “normal.”
In “课堂上的神经多样性: Strength-based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life,” author and educator Thomas Armstrong acknowledges five broad categories of neurodiverse students: those who have learning disabilities, 儿童注意力缺陷多动症, 自闭症, 智障人士, 和/或情绪和行为障碍. He believes teachers need to take advantages of the strengths of these students – modifying the school environment when needed in order to do so – to help them learn and grow into their best selves. And he acknowledges that we are behind in learning to see the advantages in how neurodiverse students are wired. Past efforts tended to try to “fix” or “remediate” a child’s disability – attempting to move that child closer to “the norm” – rather than using a child’s unique gifts as a starting point for growth.
“The implications of neurodiversity for education are enormous,” Armstrong writes. “Both regular and special education educators have an opportunity to step out of the box and embrace an entirely new trend in 认为ing about human diversity. Rather than putting kids into separate disability categories and using outmoded tools and language to work with them, educators can use tools and language inspired by the ecology movement to differentiate learning and help kids succeed in the classroom.
“直到现在, the metaphor most-often used to describe the brain has been a computer or some other type of machine. But the human brain isn’t hardware or software; it’s wetware. 我们对大脑的研究越多, the more we understand that it functions less like a computer and more like an ecosystem,”他写道.
阿姆斯特朗提供 神经多样性的八大原则:
- 人类的大脑是一个生态系统.
- Every cognitive ability has a spectrum or a continuum – dyslexia is on the reading spectrum, 例如. A student may be expert on the math spectrum while struggling on the science spectrum.
- 文化的价值有助于定义能力, 这意味着能力不是纯由科学定义的.
- 是天赋还是残疾? 这取决于你看到了什么.
- 让你的大脑适应环境有助于你在生活中取得成功.
- Conversely, being able to adapt your environment around your brain helps you succeed in life.
- Seeking the right resources and lifestyle choices is as important for the neurodiverse as it is for the neurotypical.
- Positive niche construction (modifying the environment to enhance chances of success) actually creates positive change in the brain.
很棒的已经超负荷工作的老师这样想. 我的学生有多重诊断是不够的, now I’m supposed to practically be a psychologist and teach differently to each one of them?
的确，它可能看起来势不可挡. 它需要特殊的资源，需要范式的转变, 不仅在教室，而且在行政办公室和, 随着时间的推移, 社区. 但更多的是在课堂上使用学生的天赋, 即使在承认他们面临的挑战的同时. A child with 自闭症 may have incredible recall; one with 儿童注意力缺陷多动症 may be exceptionally creative; a student who is OCD may be particularly good at monitoring classroom routines and noticing what needs to be done. 在利用这些天赋的同时, a teacher can work to mitigate the social anxiety challenges some students experience in interactive situations.
“Leveraging strengths and managing the challenges are two keys to running a successful makerspace (or any classroom, 真的)和神经多样性的学习者,帕特里克·沃特斯写道 Edutopia. “Different brains bring different and exciting strengths into the makerspaces, and educators must utilize these gifts to build their students’ competence and confidence. 通过研究我们的教室结构, 移情性, 和我们的同事和学生解决问题, 我们可以管理挑战行为“带给课堂的影响”.
那么从哪里开始呢? 一个神经多样化的教室看起来和感觉起来是什么样的?
多明尼加大学 in conjunction with Educational Development and Services has created a six-course series titled “Strength-Based Teaching and Learning” specifically to help teachers master these skills.
每门课程一学分，共6个学分。
- 课堂上的神经多样性:使用托马斯·阿姆斯特朗的书, students will focus on neurodiversity and positive niche construction and learn how to create strength-based classrooms and schools. This class also is a foundation class for the other five (though enrollment as a prerequisite is not required).
- 学习障碍者的天赋了解学习障碍的多种类型, assess your current teaching methods and learn how to help your learning-disabled students become more successful in their endeavors.
- 多动症的乐趣:你认识到你的多动症学生的优点吗, 或者认为他们很容易分心，很难集中注意力?
- 自闭症的天赋:学会为自闭症学生创造有效的学习环境, 为所有学生组织主题和计划你的课程.
- 智障人士的力量你的课程设置是基于你自己的优势还是基于学生的优势? 那些有智力障碍的人可能需要更广泛的方法.
- 情绪和行为障碍的光明面: Students with emotional and behavioral disorders can easily disrupt a classroom and are often seen as difficult. 利用他们在学习上的优势可以发挥他们最好的品质.
“正如我们颂扬自然和文化的多样性一样, 我们也需要尊重学习的学生的多样性, 认为, 以不同的方式和行为,程序主管写道, 鲍勃Wellman. “This series is designed to help teachers and schools embrace the strengths of such neurodiverse students in order to help them thrive in school and beyond.”
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