Shila Gonsalves Essays (993 words) - Childhood, Human Development

Shila Gonsalves Eng 102 Prof: Streeter Essay #2 Parenting children with learning disabilities Parenting is not an easy task as may be assumed by those who are not parents yet. Right from conception, parents have enormous role to play in shaping the well-being of their children. For example, parents are the first teachers when children have not been enrolled into formal schooling system. The education, welfare and overall safety of these little children all lie within the hands of parents. The latter explains why rules and regulations have to be set up by parents in order to assist in the management of their children. Parents are also supposed to create their unique routines in addition to setting up their parenting goals and vision (Dyson, 2010). Identifying the Problem It is a painful and confusing responsibility to identify unique needs of a child. For most parents, it often takes significant amount of time to detect or discover certain disabilities among their children. In other words, some parents can hardly comprehend whether their children are growing normally. The worst cases are those involving parents who are raising the first child. Such parents can find it difficult to know specific stages when a child is supposed to begin vocalizing, rolling around with play items or pronounce the first words and phrases (Dyson, 2010). Worse still, a parent can find it almost difficult to differentiate between a hyperactive child suffering from ADHD and the one who is perfectly healthy and playing out in the field. Again, a child who is suffering from gross motor skills challenge can demonstrate also similar signs to one who is a bit clumsy. These are some of the reasons why parents can take significant time to learn whether their children are growing healthy (Sleeter, 2010). After diagnosis, the blunt reality that a child has learning disability often strikes many parents and so they decide to live in denial for long. The painful emotions may eventually transform into various stages of grief at the torment of the parent. A number of research studies have documented parents who tend to rationalize any form of learning disability observed in their children. Neurologic Basis A number of parents also feel worthless since they get an impression that the respective learning disabilities portrayed in their children are due to their own genetic defects. However, that can never be the case. Any sense of guilt by parents cannot change the situation facing children with learning problems. Academic failure is one of the most astounding outcomes of learning disabilities among children. Although there are other cluster of difficulties that such children apart from poor class-work performance, respective parents can still raise up such children with greater love, care and concern (Sleeter, 2010). In any case, neurophysiological base is the main origin of learning disabilities and so parents should be more understanding and accommodating while bringing up children with learning difficulties. Neurological research scientists unanimously agree that learning disabilities result from crumbled information that finds its way in the brain and eventually fails to be processed successfully. Consequently, a child diagnosed with such a condition is highly likely to face communication challenges, poor organization and general state of disorderliness. It is up to medical experts to reassure parents that outside factors are not responsible for such neurological mess but instead, organic factors. Some philosophers have been arguing for many decades that the phenomenon of learning disability does not exist. They claimed that some children are hardworking and motivated while others lack self esteem and are also lazy. Besides, they argue that some children are bright while others are academically dull. Nevertheless, the rapid advancement in technology over the past few years has addressed such misconceptions (Theule, Wiener, Tannock, & Jenkins, 2013). Acceptable parenting styles Individuals who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities tend to have different brain structures from those who do not have the same problem. Above all, it is important for parents to understand the overriding behavioral patterns for children exhibiting learning disabilities. Parents also get confused while raising children with learning challenges because a child who will never be able to perform in class can hardly be differentiated from the one who will improve at a later date and be able to give excellent performance. In most instances, parents are advised to reduce their degrees of expectations whether the concerned children are healthy or not (Sleeter, 2010). In addition, parents should be in a position to vividly visualize challenges being faced by their children instead of pondering what is wrong with them. Both children and parents can hugely benefit from such a change in focus. There are cases

Free Essays on Ayn Rand Anthem

Imagine it’s five hundred years ahead of the present time yet the technology is as advanced as it was in the middle ages and it’s a collectivist social structure so out of reach that Joseph Stalin would roll over in his grave. Imagine the only source of light is a candle and that the only things known about the solar system are that the earth’s flat and that the sun revolves around the earth. This dream is Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a politically charged novel about a society that uses oppression and communism/collectivism as a way to keep their citizens in control. Anthem is a story with strong themes tying in directly with communism and collectivism and how the oppression of many can lead to the enlightenment of few. To begin, the rulers of this society either apply wild contortions of normal ideas or restrict certain things vital to humans in order to justify their collectivist ideals. The most blatantly abused ideal in the story that is used to corrupt minds is that all brothers are equal. These thoughts on men’s equality are inscribed in marble, â€Å"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, one, indivisible forever† (19). Along with the misuse of the word â€Å"equality† there is also a lack of emotion in the people of this society. When people reproduce, the parents are chosen at random and once the baby is born it is put into the Home of Infants. Prometheus conveys the lack of nurture in the home of infants, â€Å"The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds† (21). The children of this society are a barren wasteland, void of all emotion, and as they grow they are deprived of more of the personal choices people in a normal society would make. Furthermore, once a child reaches the age of 15, he or she is assigned a job, they have no right to choose. Not only can they not choose jobs but friends are out of the question as well, â€Å"International 4-8818... Free Essays on Ayn Rand Anthem Free Essays on Ayn Rand Anthem Imagine it’s five hundred years ahead of the present time yet the technology is as advanced as it was in the middle ages and it’s a collectivist social structure so out of reach that Joseph Stalin would roll over in his grave. Imagine the only source of light is a candle and that the only things known about the solar system are that the earth’s flat and that the sun revolves around the earth. This dream is Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a politically charged novel about a society that uses oppression and communism/collectivism as a way to keep their citizens in control. Anthem is a story with strong themes tying in directly with communism and collectivism and how the oppression of many can lead to the enlightenment of few. To begin, the rulers of this society either apply wild contortions of normal ideas or restrict certain things vital to humans in order to justify their collectivist ideals. The most blatantly abused ideal in the story that is used to corrupt minds is that all brothers are equal. These thoughts on men’s equality are inscribed in marble, â€Å"We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, one, indivisible forever† (19). Along with the misuse of the word â€Å"equality† there is also a lack of emotion in the people of this society. When people reproduce, the parents are chosen at random and once the baby is born it is put into the Home of Infants. Prometheus conveys the lack of nurture in the home of infants, â€Å"The sleeping halls were white and clean and bare of all things save one hundred beds† (21). The children of this society are a barren wasteland, void of all emotion, and as they grow they are deprived of more of the personal choices people in a normal society would make. Furthermore, once a child reaches the age of 15, he or she is assigned a job, they have no right to choose. Not only can they not choose jobs but friends are out of the question as well, â€Å"International 4-8818...

The harm of the banking concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The harm of the banking concept - Essay Example till exams, after which a student forgets what he had studied. ii) The confidence level in students deteriorates due to lack of exposure and the tension and nervousness of remembering all the stuff written in textbooks during exams. iii) Intense pressure of memorizing and learning the textbooks without understanding it properly may divert the interest of students away from studies. Among all the bad results, these three are the worst because the students are said to be educated when they understand what is being taught instead of merely memorizing their syllabus. But, education has now become a concept of â€Å"remembering† more than â€Å"understanding†, educators have lost the meaning for teaching students. Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator who has left a significant mark on thinking about progressive practice wrote in â€Å"The ‘Banking Concept’ of Education† his idea of two different education methods which are the â€Å"banking† concept and the â€Å"problem posing† concept. In banking education, teachers usually assume that the students know nothing at all and then take full advantage of this assumption. They just simply feed the students with information and students are forced to swallow it all up. On the other hand, problem posing education encourages the students to develop the habit of gaining knowledge by doing practical experiments and research works rather than just noting down the lecture of the teacher without pondering on the topic. This process involves an interaction between the teacher and the students, which eventually leads to a stronger teacher-student relationship. This helps a student to be more frank with a teacher to clarify all the confusions that usually evolve in a student’s brain. It also helps a student to develop keen interest in any topic that is being taught. Freire thinks problem posing is better than the banking concept, and I am also in favor of problem posing method. Problem posing enables the students to talk, think and hold discussions among each other within the class as well as even after the class timings, which no doubt can be listed among the healthy activities. On the contrary, banking concept develops the habit of â€Å"instant memorizing† just before the exams. The knowledge students gained through the method of banking concept is usually temporary in their memory and does not benefit the student in the future. This is because the teachers don’t care whether the students really understand the text or not, even if they care, they pay no attention to communicate with the students to make themselves clear. Students force themselves to accept the information and memorize it only for the sake of getting good grades instead of having a passion to learn. The students can easily forget all the memorized information