Empower The Brain

The human brain is the most complex organ in our body. Its capabilities are infinite. While research on its potential is an ongoing process, the available data is yet to be put into use by the education system in our country.

Research shows that the brain finds it simpler to learn complex things. Information that is straight and simple is not challenging enough for the brain. It does not retain it. That is why we forget the 100 odd movies we have watched in our lifetime but we do remember that one movie which has affected us. This is because that one movie was complex in its situation, its artistry or its creation and that motivated the brain to retain that in our memory.

Most parents and educators believe that we need to simplify things for our kids. We presume they do not understand complex ideas. Research has proved that this is not true. John Medina, (author of Brain Rules) in his book speaks about a simple experiment that anyone can do. Take two groups of people. Give both the groups a list of words. Ask Group One to figure out the diagonal lines on the words. Ask Group Two to associate these words with experiences from their lives. Now take away the lists and after a few minutes ask them to write down words from the list. You will be surprised by the results. Group Two remembers more number of words as their task was more complex. The brain does not retain to memory very simple and monotonous tasks.

The most complex skills are learnt by a baby on its own. The baby learns to crawl, to sit, to toddle and to walk. The brain does the most complex learning early in life and on its own. The brain has evolved to learn by itself and is not meant to follow instruction. Yet we insist on giving instructions to our kids on a minute by minute basis!

“So do you want me to leave my kid all by himself till his brain teaches him how to live in this world? How is he going to survive?” I can almost hear you asking. Well, that’s how the brain has evolved... it has evolved to survive. It has evolved to think things out, to figure out relationships, to feel and emote, to figure out what information is important for its survival.

And that is why today’s kids are wired to technology. It is important for their survival. They instinctively know that they need to learn how to figure out technology before they figure out how to walk and talk. Kids as young as eight months can manipulate remote controls and iPad applications.

The brain is wired to explore and enjoy. It enjoys exploring complex stuff rather than plain and simple things. But as kids grow up we bombard them with so many instructions that soon the brain gives up its ability to explore and enjoy and chooses to just follow. We then deem this as the innate inability of our kids to learn things on their own; especially complex things. We begin to dumb down information so that we make it child friendly.

Every experience that we have adds to the capacity of the brain. By restricting experiences to the kids we reduce the development of the brain. Research shows that a healthy adult human brain has about 100 billion active nerve cells (sounds a lot but is only 20% of what we start with). By the time we enter adolescence our brain has chosen the nerve cells it will keep throughout adult life.

The more open we are with allowing our brain to dynamically change every moment, the more we allow our brains to grow.

Let us not limit our potential. Let us empower our brains.

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Look Within The Soul Of A Special Child

The Oxford dictionary defines autism as ‘a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.’

Autism is a condition that needs to be handled with maturity and care.  In India autism awareness is growing. From labelling such kids as mentally retarded, the society is slowly opening itself to include them in mainstream activities.

But a lot remains to be done. Parents and teachers play a very important role in this. The first thing is acceptance. Once parents accept that their offspring is autistic, half the battle is won. I know it’s very difficult for parents to accept that their kid is different. But from acceptance springs inclusion. Once the mind finds itself in sync with the situation, finding the way out is easier.  Parental guidance and teacher monitoring of autistic kids helps them develop a variety of skills to handle life in a better fashion. Enjoy your child; he loves you unconditionally.

The spectrum of autism disorder cannot be defined in the initial stages. Let your child enjoy his childhood .He has a lifetime to mange things for himself. Let him discover himself as you too discover him. Ignite the greatness in your kid.

I have listed here some simple techniques which I know help  ensure the development of autistic kids in a holistic manner:
1. Prepare a background to what is happening in the classroom: Coordinate with the teachers at school. Find out what is planned for the week ahead. Prepare a base for that at home. Get him to read the textbooks or discuss the stories in literature. Do the science experiments at home. I have noticed that classroom interaction becomes easier as there is previous knowledge working at the subconscious level.
 

2. Nudge and prompt: Nudge and prompt them during the learning process. This makes it easier for the kids. They know that they have a helper in you. Your prompting motivates them to do better.
 

3. Supervise: Studies have shown that autistic kids under supervision work better than those left unsupervised.  When there is no supervision, autistic kids feel the lack of positive reinforcement and thus are not motivated to move ahead in their tasks. It is my strong belief here that subconsciously the child knows that they have an anchor in the adult around them.
 

4. Schedule: Prepare schedules for them. Autistic kids work best with strict schedules. Discuss any change in the schedule with them. Avoid surprises.  If possible depict the schedules as picture timetables. Work out on coded images for various tasks. Draw up a picture timetable. Autistic kids relate to images more than the written word.
 

5. Encourage peer tutoring and cooperative learning: When they mix with peers, they learn faster and better. Talk to the parents of other kids in their class.   Get their friends home. Let them work in peer study groups. This is a symbiotic relationship. And it’s my personal faith that both groups of kids benefit.
 

6. Create safe zones: Colour code your homes. Demarcate danger zones with RED. They will get the point.
 

7. Look out for non verbal clues: The autistic child is like a painting. He doesn’t speak through his words. You need to interpret him, not just understand him. Look for patterns in his behaviour; watch out for the non verbal clues.
 

8. Have fun: Don’t stress yourself and the kid with therapy. There is life beyond therapy. Enjoy his childhood like you would any child’s. Create opportunities for him to smile, laugh and holler. Hit the play ground, run amok on the beach, rollercoaster through rides at the amusement park. Instinctively autistic kids know which activities are therapy and which are sheer fun. They enjoy fun. Encourage them .The positivity that play generates will traverse other realms of life. My personal belief towards work stems from the fact that work is not work when it becomes play
 

9. Keep track of their sensitive senses: Most autistic kids are sensitive to touch, smell, taste and sound. Notice which of these has a calming effect on him and which triggers negativity. Track them and avoid the ones that disturb him.  A little care will enable to create better experiences. And this I am sure will enable us , parents and teachers to become more sensitive and nobler souls
 

10. Join support groups: There are lot of support groups online and offline. Join them. They really help to keep you motivated and kicking.
 

11. And the most important decision-choose the right school: Ensure the school follows an inclusion policy. The more autistic kids interact in a regular school, the more opportunities do they get to bloom. Schools with strong inclusion policies will ensure that there is constant interaction between you and the teacher. Parents opting for an inclusive school come with a higher level of awareness and willingness to accept. Kangaroo Kids And Billabong High schools reflect my vision through their inclusive policies 
 

2nd April is celebrated as Autism Awareness Day. For further information please check out: 
http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/waad
http://www.tacanow.org/

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Curriculum Is The Cure

My previous blog spoke about what is generally haywire with the assessments that are happening at large in our country. And even as I thought about the issue, my mind was racing to think about where the solution to this entire premise could lie.

Dorothy De Zouche, a teacher in from Missouri, way back in 1945, once said, “If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk and go home and stay there.” And yes, her words ring true even today. Schools need to create learning experiences that do not culminate just in grades.

The question here is how?

The answer lies in creating a curriculum that is strong enough to harness the needs of a growing generation and potent enough to tap its potential. Howard Gardner observed, “One can have the best assessment imaginable but unless the accompanying curriculum is of quality, the assessment has no use.”

With the declaration of CCEs as a system of evaluation, the market is flooded with books that claim to help teachers create the right assessments and also provide them with rubrics that are personalised yet based on national standards. With the focus on evaluation, education today has been reduced to the sum total of all evaluations rather than the sum total of all experiences. None of these assessments that are flooding the market are based on the experiences of the student. They are created as standalone packages and can be implemented irrespective of the experiences of the student. The constant evaluations only facilitates the  creation of  teachers who are experts at finding out how well a student is able to retain a collection of facts without being able to find out how experiences at school  shape his/her life. Teachers today have become experts at ‘cracking’ the blueprint of papers and thus students are saddled with ‘sure-shot questions’ or ‘sample papers’.

This is where curriculum plays an important role. When the school integrates the assessments into the teaching-learning process, evaluation becomes a part of the entire educational experience and hence no longer proves to be a traumatic experience. Educationist Alfie Kohn says that there is enough research to substantiate the fact that when the curriculum is engaging, when it involves hands-on experiences and interactive learning activities, students who aren’t graded at all perform just as well as those who are graded (Moeller and Reschke, 1993).

A curriculum that interweaves its assessments so well into its teaching that students do not feel that they are being watched at every moment is the need of the day. This is where Kangaroo Kids plays a very different role in today’s educational space. The curriculum that is well researched and planned integrates into its experiences assessments so seamlessly that they form a part of the whole experience without sticking out like a sore thumb. A quality curriculum that hand holds the student and the teacher by integrating various experiences, cutting through subjects and soaring through the realm of free thinking and creativity is what makes this curriculum stand apart from the rest of the crowd.



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http://www.facebook.com/BillabongHigh 

http://www.facebook.com/KangarooKidsPreschool 

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