Revealing Minds: Assessing to Understand and Support Struggling Learners - Softcover

Pohlman, Craig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0787987905 ISBN 13: 9780787987909

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2007

Synopsis

Revealing Minds is a practical, hands-on guide to assessing learning problems, based on the approach of All Kinds of Minds, the groundbreaking nonprofit institute co-founded by Mel Levine. Whereas most assessments of struggling learners focus on what is "broken" within a student and needs to be fixed, All Kinds of Minds has adopted a more positive and comprehensive approach to the process. Rather than labeling children or categorizing them into certain pre-defined groups, their optimistic and helpful path creates a complete picture (or "profile") of each student, outlining the child’s assets along with any weaknesses, and identifying specific breakdown points that lead to problems at school.

The process of assessment should be able to answer a question such as, "Why is my son struggling with reading?" with a better answer than, "Because he has a reading disability." Revealing Minds shows how to discover hidden factors—such as language functioning, memory ability, or attention control—that are impeding a student’s learning. It goes beyond labels and categories to help readers understand what's really going on with their students and create useful learning plans.

Providing scores of real-life examples, definitions of key terms, helpful diagrams, tables, and sample assessments, Pohlman offers a useful roadmap for educators, psychologists, and other professionals to implement the All Kinds of Minds approach in their own assessments.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Revealing Minds is a hands-on guide for assessing learning problems in school-aged students, based on the philosophy of All Kinds of Minds, the cutting-edge institute co-founded by renowned pediatrician and author Mel Levine. Written by psychologist Craig Pohlman, the book presents a unique approach that stresses the importance of identifying a student's assets and uncovering breakdown points that lead to problems in school. It is filled with real-life examples, definitions of key terms, diagrams, and sample assessment tasks.

"Any clinician, advocate, parent, or educator who wants to truly understand and help children who struggle in school should read this book and will want to return to it often."
—Paul B. Yellin, M.D., FAAP, Director, Yellin Center for Student Success andAssociate Professor of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine

"Pohlman provides us with a cogent, step-by-step guide to conducting assessments."
—Katherine Balisterri Howard, M.A., NCSP, school psychologist,Old Trail School, Bath, Ohio

"Draws the essential connections between theory and practice that can enable every teacher to be 'smart' about assessing student learning—not just of those who struggle, but all students."
—Peter Gow, Director of College Counseling and Special Programs,Beaver Country Day School

"Delivers a wealth of insights for understanding students who struggle with learning."
—Douglas Bouman, Director, Psychological Services, CLC Network,Grand Rapids, Michigan

"This book is unique in presenting a clearly defined, respectful, and practical approach to assessing learning differences in children."
—Elizabeth Briere, M.D., FAAP, Executive Director, Center for Student Success

"An innovative and circumspect approach to making assessments more informative."
—Russell Hoffman, Psy.D., school psychologist and private practitioner,Bronx, New York

About the Author

Craig Pohlman, Ph.D., NCSP, is a licensed psychologist at All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit institute helping struggling learners improve their success in school and in life. He has conducted and supervised thousands of assessments of students from kindergarten through college.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0787987905
• ISBN 13: 9780787987909
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352