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33 reviews for:
The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Differently Wired Brain
Thomas Armstrong
3.65 AVERAGE
33 reviews for:
The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Differently Wired Brain
Thomas Armstrong
3.65 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
Some really important ideas here, mostly manages to avoid the idea of the neurodivergent savant... but the chapters on mental illness boil down to "you could write some really good poetry" and "you're very introspective" which is (and I'm being polite as I can here) dumb.
If you're interested in the ways anxiety and depression can be motivators rather than detractors, I recommend Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnitt. This book, on the other hand, is good for understanding which bits of your brain do what.
If you're interested in the ways anxiety and depression can be motivators rather than detractors, I recommend Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnitt. This book, on the other hand, is good for understanding which bits of your brain do what.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
I really like the idea of framing in neurotypes' strengths but wish there was more social analysis or a centering of neurodiverse voices.
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
I like the overall message of this book, which is essentially that we need to put more emphasis on the various strengths and talents of those with so-called mental illnesses rather than framing them just around the negatives and deficits. There is specific discussion on seven types of illness/disability as well as more comprehensive discussion, particularly regarding "special education."
As a mom to a young lady with 2 of the diagnoses that got their own chapters and a third mentioned in passing, there was a certain amount of preaching to the choir going on. Yes, let's help guide young people to pursuits and careers that meld well with their mindset and abilities! Yes, let's continue the movement to integrate "special education" into the mainstream classroom!
But wait, what is all this armchair genetics and evolutionary biology going on? All the handwaving about why these neurodiverse conditions haven't been "bred out" of the species and in fact in some cases appear to be increasing? There may certainly be scientific evidence for that but it's not actually presented in this book. Instead, just speculation. The author also implies a nefarious modern movement to classify everything as a disorder rather than just a difference, but then throughout each section he acknowledges the existence of these named types of neurodiversities and while discussing their beneficial aspects also points out how individuals with these diagnoses and their families suffer greatly from them, and speaks in favor of at least some medication. Why the manufactured dichotomy? We can accept that it's OK to have labels for certain ways of being AND there are negative aspects and struggles to them that we can and should address BUT ALSO there are positives to embrace.
Overall, a book with a positive message that could be truly helpful, especially to educators and policy-makers, but ultimately lacking in the delivery.
As a mom to a young lady with 2 of the diagnoses that got their own chapters and a third mentioned in passing, there was a certain amount of preaching to the choir going on. Yes, let's help guide young people to pursuits and careers that meld well with their mindset and abilities! Yes, let's continue the movement to integrate "special education" into the mainstream classroom!
But wait, what is all this armchair genetics and evolutionary biology going on? All the handwaving about why these neurodiverse conditions haven't been "bred out" of the species and in fact in some cases appear to be increasing? There may certainly be scientific evidence for that but it's not actually presented in this book. Instead, just speculation. The author also implies a nefarious modern movement to classify everything as a disorder rather than just a difference, but then throughout each section he acknowledges the existence of these named types of neurodiversities and while discussing their beneficial aspects also points out how individuals with these diagnoses and their families suffer greatly from them, and speaks in favor of at least some medication. Why the manufactured dichotomy? We can accept that it's OK to have labels for certain ways of being AND there are negative aspects and struggles to them that we can and should address BUT ALSO there are positives to embrace.
Overall, a book with a positive message that could be truly helpful, especially to educators and policy-makers, but ultimately lacking in the delivery.