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Individual Differences in Children's Learning
Friday, November 1, 2002 About the SymposiumChildren approach the same task in varied ways because of individual learning differences. This symposium examined brain functioning in light of what we know about the individual differences in how children learn and behave. Dr. Mel Levine's research identifies eight fundamental systems, or components, of learning. These systems draw on a variety of neuro-developmental capacities. Some students are strong in certain areas and some are strong in others, but no one is equally capable in all eight. Recent findings regarding these eight areas of learning bring new understanding of the factors influencing individual learning patterns in children. Determining individual learning styles and encouraging each student's strengths can contribute to improved academic satisfaction and achievement. Funding was provided by the McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Harris Foundation.
Educating All Kinds of Minds: A Non-Labeling Approach to Understanding Differences in Learning Mel Levine, M.D. Dr. Levine presented an optimistic and scientifically supported approach to dealing with individual learning differences among school age children from kindergarten through college. He provided an overview of eight key areas of brain function entitled "The Neuro-developmental Constructs." These areas include controls of attention, temporal-sequential ordering, spatial ordering, memory, language, neuro-motor function, social cognition, and higher order cognition. Within this framework, different children possess distinct profiles of strengths and weaknesses in each of these areas. There are also some important dimensions that cross over the eight areas. Included are the rate of processing, the ability to handle large amounts of information, the capacity to make good use of strategies to facilitate function, the use of self-monitoring, the habit of thinking about thinking while thinking, and the influences of specific kinds of subject matter on the functions themselves. From this presentation, attendees will become more knowledgeable in their observations, so that they can identify specific strengths, weaknesses, and variations in children at school. There was a description of the kinds of functions that need to operate in concert as children acquire skills in reading, mathematics, written output, and their overall approaches to tasks. In his thirty-year career as a pediatrician, Dr. Mel Levine has worked in clinical programs and schools to show parents and educators how a child's mind grows, develops, and responds. He advocates a non-labeling approach, one that identifies and addresses students' specific strengths, affinities, and differences without stigmatizing or oversimplifying them. Dr. Levine's non-labeling approach prescribes descriptions, rather than labeling, of children's neuro-developmental profile and the implications of those profiles for successfully educating the children or adolescents. He described some of the approaches to evaluation and also to the management of children with learning difficulties, as well as to all children and their individual learning specialties. Using new research, Dr. Levine offers a practical model for learning that takes into account a wide spectrum of ability. He emphasizes that all children's minds have areas of giftedness. Furthermore, Dr. Levine believes that when educators intelligently assess differences and design education models to account for these differences, children's prospects for school success and later life will be radically improved.
Dr. Levine is a professor of pediatrics and director of the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. He is also the co-founder and co-chair of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit institute that develops products and programs to help parents, teachers, clinicians, and children address differences in learning. Dr. Levine is responsible for conducting research and training programs in the field of developmental disabilities. He also directs clinical programs for the evaluation of children and young adults with problematic learning, development, and behavioral adjustment. Throughout his career, Dr. Levine has been actively involved in the design and validation of new diagnostic instruments and training programs that integrate neurological, behavioral, developmental, and health findings in children with learning difficulties. His major research interests are focused on learning processes and the specific dysfunctions that impede the education of many children and adolescents. Dr. Levine is the author of numerous books and articles. His latest book, A Mind at a Time, illustrates how parents and teachers can encourage children's strengths and help realign developmental areas needing attention. Dr. Levine graduated summa cum laude from Brown University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in England, and later graduated from Harvard Medical School. He completed his pediatric training at the Children's Hospital in Boston. For 14 years, he served as chief of the Division of Ambulatory Pediatrics there, while also serving as associate professor of pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School.
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