Learning Expert to Speak on Student Development: For More
By Kim Brown, Tulsa World, Okla.
Apr. 2–One of the country’s leading experts in neurological development and learning will address ways parents and students can ease the transition into young adulthood and the work force at an upcoming appearance at Monte Cassino School.
Dr. Mel Levine, founder of the Schools Attuned Program, will speak at a free public presentation 4-6 p.m. April 11 at Monte Cassino. He also will appear at a book signing 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. April 12 at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Schusterman Center.
Levine is co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit institute that studies learning differences among children and identifies strategies to help them become better learners. He is a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School and director of the university’s Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning.
Levine founded All Kinds of Minds with financier Charles Schwab and developed the Schools Attuned program, a professional development program for kindergarten through 12th-grade educators and administrators to help them address children’s differences in learning based on neurological research.
The Oklahoma Legislature approved funding the Oklahoma Schools Attuned initiative in 2001 and spends nearly $1 million each year to train 750 public school teachers, said State Superintendent Sandy Garrett.
So far, the initiative has trained 2,400 teachers, she said.
“It gives you a much greater understanding of how children learn and the kind of things you can do to accommodate their kind of learning,” Garrett said. “Children themselves will be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses.”
Schools Attuned is based on more than 30 years of Levine’s neurological and clinical research on how children learn.
“We have a real chance to help kids who are struggling, who are misunderstood,” Levine said in a telephone interview.
“In understanding where a breakdown is occurring and where a kid is having trouble being successful in school, we can pinpoint exactly what he’s missing.”
Prior to the state initiative to fund the program in public schools, Holland Hall, Monte Cassino School and Tulsa Public Schools’ Carnegie Elementary School launched Schools Attuned programs and trained staff members with their own funding.
Sister Mary Clare Buthod, Monte Cassino School director, said the school has 85 teachers trained in Schools Attuned and the teachers “can pinpoint specific areas of learning and strengths the child has.”
Carnegie Principal Martha Overton said Schools Attuned helps all those involved with a child’s education.
“Teachers are less frustrated, kids are less frustrated and parents are less frustrated,” Overton said.
Holland Hall began the Schools Attuned program in the early 1990s, said Gina Johnson, Holland Hall’s middle school support service director and director of the Schools Attuned program.
“As early as we feel is appropriate, we teach children how to use the Schools Attuned language,” Johnson said. “We teach them about attention and mental energy. We want them to be able to identify and be comfortable with their own learning profile.”
While in Oklahoma, Levine also will meet with state legislators and the State Department of Education in Oklahoma City, and he will present to the Cooperative Council of School Administrators on April 12 at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.
Levine was complimentary of the initial success with the Oklahoma Schools Attuned program.
“It’s really been implemented well. We think Oklahoma is a terrific place to do this because the population is so diverse,” Levine said. “It’s just a great place to implement a new way of thinking about kids.”
————
Kim Brown 581-8474 kim.brown@tulsaworld.com
—–
Copyright (c) 2006, Tulsa World, Okla.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
NASDAQ-NMS:SCHW,