Doc Meek

Bud’s Grade 5 class, in disguise; photo from: http://momnos.blogspot.com/ …………………………………………………………………………………………….

I am grateful for this guest article I am borrowing again today, Friday, July 23, 2010. This is Part III of a 3-Part series about Bud, a 10-year-old with learning differences.

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If you missed Part I or Part II of Bud’s Mom’s poignant story, you can click on the titles below to read them now:

Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part I of III)

Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part II of III)

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Bud, who has been labeled autistic, has been placed in a regular Grade 5 classroom. His Mom’s brilliant interactive discussion with the kids in his class (with Bud absent of course) is detailed here.

This is the best description of autism I have read anywhere

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Thanks Mom! We are grateful for your creativity, your courage, and your willingness to share!

Excerpt from: http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html

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What is autism? (Part III of III)

{If you missed Part I or Part II of this Mom’s poignant story, you can click on the titles below to read them now}

Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part I of III)

Autism: “A hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world” (Part II of III)

Bud’s Mom is interacting with Bud’s classmates at school:

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“But, remember how there were some things that the hair-dryer brains could do better than the toaster brains? There are ALSO things that Bud’s brain is really GOOD at doing. There are things that HIS brain can do better than a lot of our brains can do.

“I bet you can guess what some of those things are. Can you?”

Hands flew up all over the room, and without my prompting, they recreated the list I had written in the notes in front of me.

“He’s really great on the computer. He’s better at it than LOTS of people.”

“He has great hearing.”

“He can remember lots of lots of things.”

“He can remember all the words to TV shows.”

“And he can remember the words to songs.”

“He is very musical.”

“He’s a great speller, too,” I added. “Once he learns a word, he usually remembers how to spell it.”

“If I had a brain like that,” said Nathan. “I’d read the whole dictionary and learn all the words.”

“That would be a great thing to do,” I said. “And it reminds me that Bud is also a really good reader.”

Molly raised her hand. “And he has a great sense of humor, too.”

“He does have a great sense of humor,” I said. “And that’s one of the ways that his brain is a lot like other people’s. What are some of the other ways that Bud is just like everyone else?”

Again, the hands flew up.

“He can see just like everyone else.”

“He looks just like everyone else.”

“He’s human.”

“Yes! He’s human – which means that he has all the same feelings that everyone else does. And he loves the people in his life. And he likes to play and have fun. He likes to laugh, he likes to swim, he likes to eat pizza. In lots of ways, Bud is just a regular kid.”

I looked around the room at the smiling faces of Bud’s classmates – his friends, with their toaster-brains firing.

Photos by Bud, from:  http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html

I posted a comment on this Mom’s blogsite:

Doc Meek said…

Does anybody know the tune for “A hairdryer kid in a toaster-brained world?” I predict that, like “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” this Mom’s “Hair-dryer kid in a toaster-brained world,” will go down in history. I’ve been helping kids mitigate learning and attentional problems for over thirty years now, and it is an axiom with me that “Mother knows best.” This Mom makes that point sharper than a surgical needle, right? – Doc Meek, Learning Consultant, May 7, 2010, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA

May 07, 2010 11:38 AM

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Doc Meek, Friday, July 23, 2010, at South Jordan, Utah, USA ————————————————

J. Collins Meek, Ph.D. (Doc Meek)
“What if you are smarter than you think?”
Learning Specialist https://docmeek.com

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For brain health, ensure heart health (short video):
http://www.amiraclemolecule.com/themeekteam
More on heart health http://www.themeekteam.info
Ph (801) 971-1812 (Jeannette); Fax [801] 282-6026

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THE LEARNING CLINIC WORLDWIDE, INC.
1. P.O. Box 3105, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 2T1, CANADA
2. Mele Taumoepeau, P.O. Box 60, Nuku’alofa, TONGA
3. 3688 W 9800 S, #138, South Jordan, UT 84095, USA

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