A Mind at a Time

Customer Reviews

• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Cathy from The United States | Nov 16, 2008
  

  Good social skills information and learning styles. Megan Scatena went to a school district sponsored seminar by the author of this book and recommended the book to me. Additionally, Jason's school sponsors talks by the author. I am two chapters into the book and finding it very interesting! It talks about the different ways in which students and children process information and where different breakdowns may occur. It also presents quite a bit of information on social skill issues.

  
  
   2 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 5 out of 5
  
  
  by Marci from The United States | Dec 9, 2008
  

  EVERY TEACHER SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!!! I am happiest (professionally-speaking) when I am doing these types of assessments and diagnostics on kids. It "floats my boat" so to speak! ;) I LOVE figuring out what makes kids tick--which is why I went back to graduate school...and will be going back again someday. It is so exciting to me to watch a once struggling, worn-down student understand how his/her brain works, and then feel some sense of success in the classroom because of that understanding! SO REWARDING! This author does an AMAZING job sharing personal journeys of select families as they try to figure out how best to help their low-performing children navigate through today's school system. He offers compassion, humor, insight, and ANSWERS! I LOVE THIS BOOK! It made me miss my little consulting business...

  
  
   1 people found this review helpful
  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Kirsten from The United States | Feb 15, 2010
  

  I like Levine's compassion, acceptance, and understanding of all kids, with all different sorts of minds.
  
  This book was very packed with information. Certainly the kind of book you would want to keep handy as a reference because there is no way to digest and remember all the information shared. That being said, it was a good overview to many various learning functions and dysfunctions, and if nothing else, it helped me see that there is a lot of hope for every child, no matter their mind.
  
  Levine offers some specific ideas to help with various dysfunctions such as social, memory, and motor dysfunction, to name a few. When I found parts that applied to me and my children, I wished he would go deeper and give more information, but I realize it is not possible to go into that kind of depth in one book. What I did find valuable was the basic explanations of these many dysfunctions so now I can recognize them as legitimate, and possibly follow up with another book, or a local professional to go deeper into the specifics.

  
  

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• 4 out of 5
  
  
  by Amanda from The United States | Aug 23, 2008
  

  Dr. Levine's approach to learning is both refreshing and inspiring. He believes that each child is unique and therefor each child's learning style is unique. In the book he outlines the major neurological functions that are key to learning, how they function, why they are important, and where breakdowns can occur, as well as provides methods to circumvent these breakdowns while working to repair them. He also emphasizes the fact that not everyone has to be good at everything - strengths AND weaknesses are what makes people who they are and that strengths need to be recognized, nurtured, and promoted.
  
  One of the concepts I most liked was personal accountability. When a child is allowed a concession for weakness X, like the ability to make an oral report on tape instead of a written report if he has graphomotor function issues, the child is expected to give payback Y in an area of strength. "Everyone is expected to be a highly productive student but they do not all need to be turning out the same products."
  
  The best line of the book..."In truth, it is normal to be different."

  
  

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• 5 out of 5
  
  
  by Marcy from Chestnut Hill, MA | Jul 15, 2008
  

  Dr. Mel Levine helps parents and teachers recognize the strengths that children have first, then work with the weaknesses. It is important for teachers to recognize that all students do NOT have to be treated the same because all minds are different and need choices. Teachers' jobs are to help students raise self-esteem and make way for their strengths.
  
  If I currently had a child with issues, I would call Dr. Levine's staff, get on a plane with my child, and get moving to receive the best "profile" of each child possible. Parents know when something is wrong, both academically and socially. Dr. Levine helps children understand their strengths, then helps them strategize to ameliorate their weaknesses.
  
  I wish Dr. Levine had delved more into the strategies teachers could use to help children. He certainly hit home that teachers need to be less rigid with their approaches. My two children would have benefitted from some less rigidity when it came to homework or written projects. Schools are now training teachers to think about children more, and create differentiating material to meet children's needs.
  
  I like the fact that Dr. Levine does not lump children's needs together. Each mind needs to be looked at carefully. There are specific difficulties that one needs to recognize. There are so many specific difficulties that is can be mind-boggling for a teacher to untangle them! Even a team at the elementary level does not look as closely as Dr. Levine's team has been trained to do.
  
  This book was not easy reading. There are lots of details and important information to store in one's memory. I wish Dr. Levine would come a do a series of faculty meetings for our school!
  

  
  

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