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- Eight Neurodevelopmental Constructs
- PIC Article
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Eight Neurodevelopmental Constructs
Dr. Mel Levine’s. “Eight Constructs of Learning."
Consider the learning process similar to building a house. There are many
different constructs to building a house. First you need site preparation
and then the plumbers have to come in to place their drains. After that
come the foundation people and then the framers, etc., until the house is
built. Mistakes in one discipline will cause problems in other areas as
well. Education is much the same. Here is a brief explanation of the eight
neurodevelopmental constructs.
ATTENTION–High school requires focus. You must know how to keep your mind on
school when you are in school and how to keep your attention on homework
when you are working at home. With strong attention controls it is easier to
memorize and easier to decipher what is important. Attention does not mean
not paying attention but being able to prioritize and adjust attention.
Even the most inattentive child can pay attention to something. It is when
one cannot decide what should get the most attention that we get into
trouble. This may cause problems in reading when we cannot decide what is
important to remember about what we have read.
TEMPORAL SEQUENTIAL ORDERING–Dr. Mel Levine calls this "step wisdom." Most
learning requires that you understand ideas and processes in a specific
order. If you were asked to retell the plot of a movie you had seen, you
would have to engage your temporal sequential ordering skills to give the
story order and have it make sense. It means keeping things in sequence.
Problems in this area of learning can lead to severe difficulty in reading
and writing. Time management is essential to participating in the work or
school environment. Some student’s might have great difficulty in time
management. Time sometimes can stretch out or become compressed depending
on what is going on at the time for the particular individual.
SPATIAL ORDERING–Not everything you learn is presented verbally. Oftentimes
receiving information visually enhances your mastery of material. For
example you associate maps with the countries you are discussing. Spatial
ordering is especially important in math, the visual arts, science and
geography. Spatial ordering has to do with the physical organization and
pattern definition of the environment. Drawing, arranging, and putting
things in their proper place is essential to learning. Some students have
great difficulty with spatial awareness.
MEMORY–There are three kinds of memory: Short Term, Long Term and Active
Working. We use all three in learning. Memory is a complex process. There
are three types of memory. First of all is the active working memory which
is the little computer screen we carry around in our heads. It can be
defined as how much we can remember on one single screen. We place this
material into our short-term memory while we are trying to learn a new
concept. Once this is mastered, we then place the entire concept into our
long-term memory bank. Memory also includes our retrieval system. Some
AD/HD people have excellent memories for miscellaneous information, such as
telephone numbers.
LANGUAGE–Your school years (and most of your entire adult life) require
exceptional skill in language. We communicate largely through the proper use
of words. We learn predominantly by processing written or spoken words.
Tests are most often written, and we write research papers and creative
papers to demonstrate what we have learned. These are extremely important
to the learning process. Understanding that symbols (we call letters) make
up words is called reading. This begins with phonological awareness,
knowing that the sounds can be put together to form words and thoughts.
Graphomotor function is a critical part of language function since it allows
us to write ideas down and transfer them to others without having to be in
their presence. Writing to be understood can be just as important as
speaking to be understood. Obviously, problems in understanding language
can lead to difficulty in math and other areas.
NEUROMOTOR FUNCTIONS–When your brain tells your feet to move forward, you
are engaging in the neuromotor function called walking. When you play
basketball, you must exercise smooth motor rhythm and efficient motor
sequencing. Talking, running, standing, acting and singing are all
neuromotor functions. Fine and Gross Motor Function are the generators of
all our body movements, large and small, that allow us to write, and use our
body in the learning process. Many students might have difficulty in these
areas. Balance and muscle control are essential to many forms of learning.
SOCIAL COGNITION–Leadership skills rely heavily on social cognition.
Appropriate behavior and interaction are signs of strong social cognition
skills. Following discussions in class and knowing how and when to
contribute depend on strong social cognition skills. Social Awareness is
very important to the learning process. Understanding body language and
knowing when to speak and when to be quiet are often problems that face
children in school and often interfere with the learning process.
HIGHER ORDER COGNITION–If you were to stack the eight learning constructs in
the shape of a pyramid, higher order cognition would be at the top. This is
the skill that enables you to go beyond literal interpretation and engage in
critical thinking.
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PIC Article
PARENTS: For the April 5th PIC meeting, please read the following article.
Please underline and be prepared to share a sentence, a phrase and a word
from the text that you find particularly significant. We will get in small
groups to have a discussion on the following question: From a parent
perspective, how will the knowledge of the neurodevelopmental constructs
benefit student achievement?"
How Learning Works
The most basic instrument for learning is something called a
neurodevelopmental function. Our own minds and those of our children are
like tool chests. They are filled with these delicate instruments,
neurodevelopmental functions, the various implements for learning and for
applying what's learned. Just as a carpenter might deploy different groups
of tools to complete various projects or a dentist might use different sets
of tools for different tooth tasks, our minds make use of different clusters
of neurodevelopmental functions to learn specific skills and to create
particular products. One committee of neurodevelopmental functions enables a
student to master subtraction; another squad participates in the recitation
of the Pledge of Allegiance, yet another neurodevelopmental task force makes
possible riding a scooter.
A neurodevelopmental function may be one component of memory, such as the
ability to recall things that have been seen in the past (i.e., visual
memory), or it may be the awareness of where within the letter "g" your
pencil is located during each instant while you form that letter. The
capacity to store and retrieve chains of information, such as the alphabet
or the events leading up to World War I, is another example of a
neurodevelopmental function. As you can surmise, the brain's toolbox is
vast, the total number of neurodevelopmental functions inestimable. On top
of that, the range of different combinations of functions called upon to
accomplish academic tasks is mind-boggling. In view of all these moving
parts, it should not surprise us that breakdowns or specific weaknesses are
commonplace. We call these deficiencies neurodevelopmental dysfunctions. We
as well as our kids all live with our share of these flaws. Often the
dysfunctions do not seriously obstruct roads to success. But sometimes they
do.
Here are some examples of neurodevelopmental dysfunctions. Some children
have difficulty writing, even though they have lots to say. They just can't
seem to form letters quickly and accurately enough to keep up with their
flow of ideas and words. So their writing is dramatically inferior to the
richness of their thinking or speaking. When kids write, their brains assign
specific muscles to specific aspects of letter formation; certain muscles
are supposed to handle vertical movement, others create rotary movement,
others assume responsibility for horizontal movement, while still others
operate to stabilize the pencil so it won't fall on the floor while they
write. Some kids endure agonizing difficulty with such motor implementation;
they simply can't assign the proper muscles consistently. Therefore, writing
looms as a tormenting problem for them. This inability to assign specific
muscles to operate in the right way at the right time during letter
formation is a perfect example of a neurodevelopmental dysfunction. Other
kids have trouble finding the exact words they need when they talk,
difficulty remembering the associations between sounds and symbols when they
read, or trouble understanding complex sentences and thereby following
directions quickly and precisely enough in the classroom. Each of these
deficiencies is a specific neurodevelopmental dysfunction and in each
instance the dysfunction is likely to interfere with learning.
All too often a neurodevelopmental dysfunction goes undetected -- much like
an unsolved crime. The assumption may prevail that somehow a floundering
student is not really trying, that he is lazy, unmotivated, or, perhaps,
even worse, that he's "just not too bright." A child may be discovered to be
daydreaming and fidgeting in class, dreadfully out of focus. She is told she
needs to start paying attention in class or she'll get detention. She comes
to believe she is somehow bad. No one seems to realize that her fragile
concentration is a kind of mental fatigue or burnout; she has
neurodevelopmental dysfunctions interfering with her mind's ability to turn
on and keep up the flow of mental energy that she needs to concentrate in
class. Her neurodevelopmental dysfunction is misread as a behavior problem
when she has to combat serious mental fatigue. She's an innocent victim of
her own wiring.
Eight Systems
Approximately 30 trillion synapses or nerve linkages exist within the human
brain. That crowded network allows for plenty of strong connections,
disconnections, and misconnections -- in short, a nearly endless combination
of neurodevelopmental possibilities. As we have seen, designated teams of
neurodevelopmental functions join together to enable kids to acquire
specific abilities. When one or more members of a team fail to show up or
fail to do their share, performance suffers. Such negative results can bring
on a backlash of emotional and motivational complications. Fortunately, we
have the wherewithal and the knowledge to mend these problems before they
get out of hand.
All of the different neurodevelopmental functions can be sorted into eight
manageable categories, or neurodevelopmental systems. I have called
these "the neurodevelopmental constructs," but they are perhaps more
helpfully thought of as the systems of a mind. In medicine we are accustomed
to thinking about overall health as the sum total of the health of various
systems, such as the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the
gastrointestinal system. Similarly, we can think about your child's learning
health in terms of the well-being of the eight learning systems I am about
to describe. As with the systems that operate in our bodies, the
neurodevelopmental systems are dependent on one another. They have to work
together if learning is to occur, just as the cardiovascular system has to
team up with the pulmonary system to promote the delivery of oxygen to
various parts of our bodies.
The Attention Control System
Jesse gets a traffic ticket for speeding; he's all riled up over it and
defends (pardons) himself by proclaiming to his parents, "I just wasn't
paying attention to the speedometer. I had other things on my mind." But
Jesse often experiences such mind lapses, and has had a long-standing
difficulty directing his attention. His mom once pointed out, "That's my
Jesse. It's absolutely incredible how he can be doing one thing and thinking
about three other things at the same time! He's concentrating on everything
but what he's doing."
Attention is the administrative bureau of the brain, the headquarters for
mental regulators that patrol and control learning and behavior. The
attention controls direct the distribution of mental energy within our
brains, so that we have the wherewithal to finish what we start and stay
alert throughout the day. Other controls of attention slow down our thinking
so we can plan and complete tasks competently and efficiently. An example of
attention control is a child's ability to resist the temptation to think
about the party she's invited to tonight so she can concentrate on the word
problem her math teacher is explaining. Attention keeps your child focused
while filtering out distractions. Children vary widely in how often their
attention controls function effectively.
The Memory System
Elsa keeps "bombing out" on tests or quizzes that force her to memorize and
later answer questions that have only one correct response. She recently
flunked a quiz on plant structure despite studying like a devout monk. "I
thought I knew all that stuff, but it must have just leaked out of my brain
while I was sleeping." Our school years involve more strenuous exercising of
memory than at any other time in our lives. In fact, much more memory is
needed for school success than is required in virtually any career. To
varying extents, every course in school is a memory workout. And memory is
downright complicated with countless little facets to go with the many
different kinds of things we try to remember. Every student has memory
compartments that serve him well, while other parts of memory bring on
varying degrees of frustration. There are countless intellectually competent
kids who unravel in school because they understand far better than they
remember. Ironically, there are many students with superb rote memory who
succeed with flying colors through their school years simply by
regurgitating factual data. They may be far less successful during adult
careers when memory plays much less of a starring role.
The Language System
Riley just received an A+ on a highly original short story; he's always
gotten As in English and he loves to read and write. This guy makes most
schoolwork look like the proverbial piece of cake. That's because school is
a perfect fit for born linguists like Riley. The language ingredients of
learning include, among other things, the ease with which a brain detects
differences between the forty-four or so different English language sounds
(an indispensable ingredient of reading skill), the ability to understand,
remember, and start using new vocabulary, the capacity to express thoughts
while speaking and on paper, and the speed of comprehension needed to keep
pace with a seemingly supersonic flow of verbal explanations and
instructions. Learning a second language is another example of an academic
demand that calls for strong verbal capacity. Not surprisingly, kids who are
good with language are more likely to succeed throughout school. On the
other hand, those poor souls with even the mildest (often unapparent)
language inefficiencies are apt to suffer agonizing pain trying to make it
in our schools.
The Spatial Ordering System
Marcus's parents fret over his inability to distinguish left from right;
more often than not, he puts his shoe on the wrong foot. Marcus's father
once commented to me, "It's as if this kid is completely lost in space. He
never remembers where he's left anything and he puts his shirt on backward
more often than not -- even when he thinks about it." Also, his confused
drawings in school are a source of shame to Marcus. These shortcomings
reveal his weak spatial ordering. The spatial ordering system is designed to
enable us to deal with or create information arranged in a gestalt, a visual
pattern, or a configuration. Through spatial ordering we perceive how parts
of things fit together. We are able to study and later recognize familiar
shapes, their relative positions, and what goes with what to make a pattern,
such as the letter "h" or an octagon or your boyfriend's face. Spatial
ordering also helps us organize the various material necessities of the day,
such as pencils, notebooks, desks, locker contents, and other props needed
for academic efficiency and proficiency. Spatial ordering calls for the use
of closed circuits between our eyes and our brains, wiring designed to
discern patterns and discriminate between them. People with strong spatial
ordering are not likely to waste much time searching for lost objects; they
know where things are. On a more complex level, spatial ordering enables us
to think with pictures, so a child hearing a story about Robin Hood can
visualize the dramatic events, while a student in art class can picture the
steps needed to undertake a ceramics project.
The Sequential Ordering System
If you tell Suzanne to do three things in a row, she appears dazed and ends
up fulfilling only the last step of the instruction. Her teacher describes
her as "strictly a one-step processor." She has trouble recalling the steps
required to tackle a long-division problem. This girl is contending with her
inadequate capacity for sequencing. This system, a working partner of
spatial ordering, helps us deal with the chains of information that come
into or depart from our minds coded in a particular serial order or
sequence. Throughout their day, kids are under attack by a furious onslaught
of sequences, which range from the steps in balancing an algebraic equation,
to the order of digits in a new friend's telephone number, to the chronology
of events culminating in the election of a president. A teacher's directions
are transmitted in a verbal sequence. But the most challenging and insidious
sequence of all is called time. Sequential ordering forms the basis for time
management, for understanding time, estimating time, allocating time, and
being aware of time's passage. On a higher plane, sequential ordering is
involved in many forms of reasoning, perhaps most vividly showcased in a
tenth grader's geometric proof.
The Motor System
Alcindor is frustrated and exquisitely self-conscious about not being able
to ride a two-wheeler when all of his buddies can do so effortlessly. He
feels like a klutz. The poor kid is living with a breakdown in his motor
system, at least at this point in his development. The motor system is
supposed to govern the very precise and complex network of tight connections
between the brain and various muscles all over the body. A child's motor
functions determine whether or not she will excel in sports and, if so,
whether it will be field hockey, tennis, or track. Other neuromotor
functions make possible cursive writing, playing the fiddle, and guiding
scissors. Motor coordination is important to children; being able to show
off proficiency makes an important contribution to overall self-concept and
confidence. Clumsy children may come to feel globally inferior to their
agile classmates.
The Higher Thinking System
Melinda just can't seem to grasp the concept of mass in her high school
physics class. The difference between velocity and acceleration, the meaning
of resistance in a wire, and the phenomenon of static electricity have also
eluded her. She willingly fesses up, "I don't get physics; I don't get it at
all." Melinda is struggling with inadequate higher thinking, a system that
represents the real summit, the very peak of our thinking abilities. Jackson
can't seem to decipher the symbolism in a poem by T. S. Eliot but has no
trouble with symbols in his advanced algebra class. He has a very specific
breakdown in higher thinking when he is using language. Myrna is great at
figuring out what's wrong when her computer isn't functioning but she has
trouble figuring out the point of view expressed in an editorial on global
warming. Higher thinking includes the ability to problem-solve and reason
logically, to form and make use of concepts (such as mass in physics), to
understand how and when rules apply, and to get the point of a complicated
idea. Higher thinking also takes in critical and creative thinking.
The Social Thinking
System
Bethany never gets
invited to parties. The phone rings off the hook for her brother and sister,
but never for her. At school she is picked on, jeered at, taunted, and
avoided like a venomous snake by her classmates. She has no friends and is
understandably crushed. Bethany is lacking in the kind of social thinking
that is needed for maintaining successful relationships. Her mother
laments, "Bethany would give her right arm to have a true friend, but it
seems as if every time she comes close to having a satisfying relationship,
she messes up. She either says or does something that upsets and puts off
her new friend. And Bethany has no idea what she's doing wrong, no idea at
all."
Children's social abilities occupy center stage in school. The social
spotlights are glaring. They illuminate a galaxy of interpersonal strengths
and shortcomings. Interactions with peers yield the bulk of the
gratification or humiliation a student experiences in life. Some kids seem
to be born with distinct social talents that allow for friendship formation
and a solid reputation; others have to be taught how to relate. A child (or
adult) may be strong in the seven other neurodevelopmental systems yet seem
to fail in life because he or she is unable to behave in a way that fits
appropriately with others of his age group. He may have trouble establishing
new friendships and keeping old ones afloat, working collaboratively in
groups, or coping tactfully with flammable conflicts involving classmates.
Even the most brilliant child can end up frustrated if he is too shy,
socially inept, or antisocial. School affords little or no privacy. Those
who have stunted functions for social interaction are condemned to feel the
pain of exposure and daily humiliation. They are likely to be the most
downtrodden students in a school (and also the most anguished employees on
the job).
Your child's neurodevelopmental systems never get a chance to perform as
soloists; they constantly join forces to accomplish good results. Memory
partners with language to help your third grader recall the words to "Silent
Night." Attention control reacts with gross motor ability to produce the
sinking of a long putt on the eighteenth green. Sequencing, visual memory,
and language combine with social awareness to let you explain to a friend
the plot of the science fiction thriller you saw on TV last night.
Neurodevelopmental Profiles
Every one of our children ambles down the highly judgmental corridors of
school each day dragging along his mind's profile, a partly hidden
spreadsheet of personal strengths and weaknesses. And throughout every
moment of the school day that profile gets put to the test. Some of our
children are blessed with profiles that are magnificently matched to
expectations, while others are saddled with profiles that fail to mesh with
demands -- an all too common disparity that can arise at any age.
If a child you know has a profile that's not conforming to demands, don't
give up and don't allow him to give up either. That very profile has a good
chance of coming into its own sooner or later. That's because we know a
pattern of strengths and weaknesses may operate particularly well at
specific ages and in certain contexts but not nearly so optimally in other
times and under alternative circumstances
A Mind at a Time, Author: Dr. Mel Levine: Simon and Schuster
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