Today’s post is from Alvira Lopez. I’m sure you will find it very informative.
About three years ago, celebrated British author and educational innovator Sir Ken Robinson gave a talk at a Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference. In his speech, Robinson addressed the idea of creativity from a conceptual perspective, especially as it pertains to children and our educational system.
In another similar TED talk, twelve-year-old child prodigy and internationally published author, Adora Svitak, spoke about what adults can learn from children. Although these speeches both only generally surmised on the topic of creativity, I think there’s much that parents of children with ADD can learn from both speakers. While ADD and ADHD are certainly very real phenomena, realizing and treasuring what is special about your ADD-afflicted child is just as important as finding out treatment options. Psychological treatment isn’t about rejecting a disorder, it’s about learning to live with it.
In Robinson’s speech, the author told a story about a child whose attention deficit problems became very inhibiting in school. The child’s mother took the child to a psychologist, and after learning about the girls problems in school, the doctor told the mother that her kid didn’t need a doctor–she needed dance lessons. And how does the story end? The child was Gillian Lynne. Lynne became one of the most successful, prominent dance theater choreographers of all time, known most widely for her work for the Broadway musical Cats.
Although this is only one story, and success of this nature isn’t necessarily widespread, it only proves the importance of observing your child and listening to what she thinks. If Lynne’s doctor had not suggested dancing lessons to the child’s mother, and if Lynne were young today, doubtlessly a less observant parent and doctor would have immediately prescribed the child medication. This isn’t to say that medication is useless across the board, or that attention deficit disorders don’t exist. It only means that there does exists a multiplicity of ways to accept a disorder and live with it.
In other words, as parents we must take our children seriously, even if they are diagnosed with a learning disability or an attention disorder. What makes your child unique? Is it only a disorder, or is it something else that springs forth from the disorder?
By-line:
This guest post is contributed by Alvina Lopez, who writes on the topics of accredited online colleges . She welcomes your comments at her email Id alvina.lopez@gmail.com.
We can never tell when we are down, but this post help me to stand up, thank you so much