Rating: 
Summary: The Pot Of Gold
Review: This book is extremely well done in as much of a story about the learning styles of kids as well as each child can be successful if society would only listen. I watched the author on [a talk show] and feel close to his studies as well as his thoughts. The experiences that I have gone and grown through with my own children have taught me the educational systems need to wake up and smell success for each and every child. This indepth book allows not only parents to get a clear picture of why so many of our children are failing in the "you have to be a perfect kid" world, but it was a great read for my older children too. We are not made out of the same molds, have the same brains or even have close to the same imagination levels, so why should we all be expected to learn the same way as everyone else? It's high time the educational systems agree to changes and flexible schedules in teaching styles to better fit different learning styles. As with most parents, it is my deepest wish that my kids are allowed to have a successful education that makes them feel valid, strong and independent instead of stupid, clumsy and of an odd cookie cutter image that no one cares about nor will ever be able to utilize. Two other books who speak highly about learning styles, personalities and growing healthy emotional minds, among other topics, are: The Successful Child, by William Sears and Mommy-CEO, REVISED EDITION, by family expert and syndicated columnist, Jodie Lyyn. These three books are truely pots of gold and should be on everyone's Christmas lists, in every household and in every library with enough copies to go around. Kudos and many thanks to all three of these authors for their hard work in making family life a little more doable, not especially easier, but certainly better in the end.
Rating:
Summary: A practical and positive approach
Review: When I was studying psychology and neurobiology almost 30 years ago, the big learning dichotomy was between visually minded people and auditorily minded people, of which 80% were visual and 20% auditory, it was thought. It was felt our school systems catered largely to visual types, and so the auditory types got short shrift. Then came another famous dichotomy, the great Roger Sperry's theory of left- and right-brained people, an idea that so galvanized and captured the popular imagination that it became a permanent part of our popular culture. Again, our system was thought to do a better job of educating the more analytical left-brained types than the more creative, spatial, and intuitive right-brained types. Since then other eminent psychologists, such as Howard Gardner, with his theory of frames and multiple intelligences, have propounded similar ideas. Whether or not any of these theories has had much impact on the educational process, there is no doubt that our system of mass education lacks the awareness of, and the ability to make the most of, each child's particular set of abilities and particular learning mode. Levine's book is yet another contribution to this historical tradition, arguing like Gardner that our system of mass education results in a tremendous loss of human potential. He proposes children fall into one of 8 different learning modes, and suggests ways for us to deal with the special developmental and educational needs of each of these different types. The book also contains valuable discussions on the development of memory, language, and motor skills. Whether Levine's 8-fold system is the last word on learning modes or not, it still goes far beyond the capabilities of our present educational system's ability to implement. But if we could even implement some of the changes Levine suggests, the improvements could be dramatic. Levine's message is timely and his approach compelling, and is perhaps just what our ailing, cookie-cutter educational system needs to do to truly teach and educate our children.
Rating:
Summary: Grateful For The Book, And The Advice
Review: What a great book "A Mind At A Time" by Mel Levine is. I recommend it to everyone. And, I am grateful for the good advice from another reader/teacher (from California, May 27, 2002) who not only sang the praises of "A Mind At A Time" but also recommended "West Point": Character Leadership Education..." by Remick. Having now read both books, I am grateful to Mr. Levine and Mr. Remick, and grateful for the advice.
Rating:
Summary: Gives a Foundation of Understanding Learning Needs
Review: My son has struggled in school since he started eight years ago. I wish I had read "A Mind At A Time" then - Reading it could have saved lots of tears shed from frustration and disapointment. Mel Levine gives us some answers and that gives a lot of comfort. I know that my son isn't dumb or lazy and I have always known it. Still, what is the answer? I asked myself that question after every parent-teacher conference I attended. The teachers would say that my son was bright. They would add that he just did not work to his potential. I understand from Mel Levine that his potential was never reached more because of HOW he learns than how hard he worked. Although it will probably be years before we have meaningful reform in education in the US, I can at least start now with my son and get him the kind of assistance he needs in order to have a successful education. I read a review here that suggested "The Child Whisperer" by Matt Pasquinilli as a companion to Mel Levine's book. I bought it and found that it is very different from "A Mind at a Time", but it IS a powerful companion to it. "The Child Whisperer" gives simple advice on how to communicate with your child and after reading it, I have found it easier to implement some of the changes that Mel Levine suggests in "A Mind at a Time." Get both books is my suggestion.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource for Parents and Educators
Review: Mel Levine, MD has created a valuable resource for parents, teachers, administrators, and clinicians in his most recent work, A Mind At A Time. As the title suggests, this book provides us with tools for recognizing and educating "different kinds of minds". Instead of labeling students, he advocates using keen observation techniques to accurately describe a student's learning strengths and weaknesses. To assist educators with this difficult task, he identifies eight neurodevelopmental categories and explains these through vivid descriptions of students and parents he has learned from in his clinical practice. In addition, he provides practical suggestions for fostering strengths while respectfully addressing areas of weaknesses. As Dr. Levine proclaims, "Insight is liberating - and forgiving". I found his honest and insightful premise, that not every child can do well in every type of learning, liberating in our current educational climate of high stakes testing. Parents and educators will gain useful information from this book to support learning for all kinds of minds.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for anyone involved with children, ....
Review: This book should be on the shelf of everyone who works with children on any level. It is bound to resonate within any adult who struggled on any level throughout their own childhood, and validates parents who want to assist their child's strengths without labeling their nonstrengths. I am a 5th grade teacher, and reading this book was like peering into the souls of my students. Levine writes with compassion and enthusiasm, and argues that all children have the ability to succeed, inspite of unfair expectations put upon them by society and the educational system. He points out that while adults are trained to specialize in a particular field, children are expected to excel in every area, setting up the classic scenario for disappointment, loss of motivation and failure, low self-esteem, ridicule, and depression (which frequently leads to self abuse and loathing in some form or other). This book is about celebrating a child's strengths, and GENTLY addressing their soft spots, figuring out what works with that particular child, instead of pigeonholing him or her in a "survival of the fittest" kind of way. Five stars for Mel Levine. And to those who may question his "scientific theory", I found that in working with children, it made perfect sense, and it's inspirational because it offers a hope and a solution instead of a quick fix, such as a prescription for Ritalin. When you have a child who is so angry and depressed that he is a danger to his classmates, a pill is not the answer. He or she needs understanding, help in understanding him/herself, and a real solution with compassion and accountability. My only reservation is that it doesn't address the sheer nature of institutionalized schooling to limit a child's potential. Furthermore, if your child is in a classroom with more than 20 children, You should seriously consider the effect of that arrangement on his/her learning. Not only that, is the room calming, and healthy?! The single most important factor in a child's optimal learning is a strong, healthy adult figure, and the fewer peers to have to compete with the better. By peers, I mean children of the same chronological age (within about 2 years). Having said that, homeschoolers typically do so much better academically. They are parent dependent for their self esteem rather than peer dependent, and receive tutoring, not canned education. And when homeschooled children interact with other children, they are much more likely to be exposed to children of broad age ranges-3, 4, even 6 years apart or more, and they thrive and grow with one another. This is authentic socialization, not peer trapping. Obviously, homeschooling is not a reasonable solution for all children with learning challenges within the current system, but with a 400% increase in homeschooling within the past 10 years, one should reconsider the importance of the home environment and support as the primary foundation for learning. Parents MUST be their child's primary advocate emotionally, as well as academically. Otherwise, success will most likely be limited, whether the child is in public, private, or home education. Parents ARE their childs most important and influential teachers, for better or worse. Don't let your child suffer before you read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Important New Direction
Review: Dr. Levine has brought to the American public a functional, optomistic account of working with and empowereing children with learning differnces. His work is a springboard for parents to advocate and lobby for change to the current dysfuntional special education system.
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Summary: INSIST on Maintaining best practices in Special Education.
Review: This book is in its own way revolutionary given the state of the special education system in today's society. I am a principal and a parent of two ADHD kids. I have also followed Dr. Levine for almost 15 years. His professional seminars are more technical, than the text itself, but the theory is the same. Teach planning, stop telling kids they don't try hard enough, and recognize the neurodevelopmental underpinings of learning. The current proposals for changes in the IDEA (sp. ed. law) are exactly in contrast with Levine's positions. If passed,the modifications will boil down to dumping every kind of disability into one room with less financial support, no 3 year evaluations and what they call less paperwork is effectively no short term objectives. They also would remove, (which they don't uphold anyway,) the limitations on disciplining special education children with behavioral or impulsivity disorders. Middle Ages, here we come! As with mental health, the only people whose children will be able to receive an education that engages and empowers them according to their particular makeup- will be the rich.
I particularly support Levine's system for teacher training to include neuropsych. courses. In his program, teachers attend case studies, and rounds, as with medical students, where they participate in learning how to evaluate by observation and how to provide instruction, through analysis and precise conceptualization. I heard Levine once, over a 2-day seminar of which most of the audience were pediatricians. The medical research that is on-going within his 'little kingdom' down there in N.C., can even pinpoint which blends or dipthongs are more difficult to learn as they call upon a more distant area in the brain. He resists what someone mentioned to me as a passivity in special education students when faced with a problem, as they are so used to having a teacher figure things out for them. His reasoning that an accomodation should be 'paid back' with something that they do quite well, has to be one of the healthiest approaches to the quandry over fairness and personal responsibility.
The book was written for the general public, but the concepts are not at all light weight. The answer to much that is wrong with the education system is encoded here and as we anticipate vouchers and for-profit corporations or state-run local schools, (Philadelphia's current condition), it would behoove parents to return to some of these principles, and advocate, INSIST, that education keep pace with scientific evidence that has revolutionized learning theory. This is not just for special education, (which frequently, by the way, paves the way to the mainstream pedagogy.)This is the essence of psychiatry as well.
If anyone thinks that this is common knowledge for special education professionals, sorry but I have learned the hard way. ADHD has been studied more than any other condition in psychiatry- and yet, in one of the most upscale school districts in the country- Lower Merion, Pa.,they are clueless. Parents, when Mel Levine says, and I have recently seen this in a medical abstract as well, that you should go about nurturing a relationship with the school as the evidence demonstrates that children learn better that way, I would also caution, as he does, to never allow a child to be humiliated in school. He even advises home schooling when that condition cannot be overcome. Dr. Blauberg at Browne says, Never place a child in a situation where he cannot save face. Never expose through an academic experience, a child's vulnerability. (Bad paraphrasing, but good sense.)
Rating: 
Summary: Good for parents of troubled children
Review: I was hoping for guidance in creating a healthy environment for my daughter's young mind. A Mind At A Time addresses a different problem: rebuilding childrens' self esteem after they have given up hope under the burden of ADD and related disorders. This is not entirely clear from the dust cover. Also, I'm skeptical of the scientific wrapping in which Dr. Levin packages his theories. I respect inspirational writing and scientific writing but am less enthusiastic about inspirational writing disguised as science.
Rating:
Summary: A must have and must read for ALL life-long learners
Review: This is a must read for all teachers and teacher training programs. Not only does it explain the constructs of learning, it does so in a way that is clear and understandable. Having attended the All Kinds of Minds educators' conference with Mel Levine, I find this book to be indispensible.
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