Unexpected Gifts: Discovering and Nurturing the Strengths in Every Child

Late this summer, my husband and I had a chance to visit Alaska and fell in love with this unique state where at times you have a feeling that you’ve stepped into another country. One of our favorite side trips during our two-week stay was a visit to a coastal temperate rainforest, one of the few left in the world (http://www.akrain.org/).

As we hiked along the trail, we were amazed at the diversity of the plants, insects and animals. Thanks to our knowledgeable and witty guide, we truly gained an appreciation of how every plant and animal plays a vital role in the life of the mystical and incredibly lush green rainforest we visited.

It is this same appreciation for the diversity of our learners in our homes and classrooms that Thomas Armstrong, a psychologist and author, www.thomasarmstrong.com, has written about in many of his books and articles. In one of his articles posted on New Horizons for Learning, www.newhorizons.org, Armstrong talks about the concept of neurodiversity, a concept that states that “atypical neurological wiring is part of the normal spectrum of human differences and is to be tolerated and respected like any other human difference such as race, gender, sexual preference, or cultural background:”
http://www.newhorizons.org/spneeds/inclusion/information/armstrong.htm.

Certainly all of us have been educated to be more sensitive to the outward signs of diversity all around us in our community, schools and workplace. Yet, it is only when we recognize that diversity in learners is so much broader and deeper than traditional differences that we will be able to effectively help our children and students reach their true learning potential.

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