Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117117 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
“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 and Associate 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

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.

Customer Reviews

REFRESHING INSIGHTS
This book is refreshing! As might be expected, it applies the latest understandings in neuroscience/neurodevelopment to the issues of assessment of learners, children specifically, who present with "learning differences." Pohlman has written a book that should be used in all Educational Psychology courses in colleges and universities--yet is entirely approachable as a resource for parents who may not have a background in this field.

(Note for parents who may have felt intimidated by the lingo of the experts: pp. 23-29 on "A Neurodevelopmental Framework" and
"Selecting a Framework" plus the whole of Chapter 3 on Task Analysis and Chapter 4 on Making Linkages are so understandable that these sections alone would make the purchase of the book worthwhile! And the Glossary should be required reading for all parents.)

Later chapters on assessing Attention, Memory, and Language are so clear that student, professional, or parent alike would benefit from a close reading.

Of particular interest is Chapter 12 on "Demystification"--the process that addresses the need of students to have a meaningful understanding of how their minds work, both academically and in real-life tasks. This involves briefing students honestly about their assets as well as their weaknesses, and what could be called "normalizing"--in the process, helping students understand that all human beings have weaknesses in some aspect of cognitive processes.

For parents, the Glossary is invaluable for a clearer understanding of many of the terms used by professionals in the field. For parents and professionals alike, the clarity of the "Index of Potential Findings" in Appendix C is one of the richest contributions to the field of assessment.

All in all, this book is an invaluable resource; grounded in thorough research and deep professional experience, Dr. Pohlman has offered a book that is incisive and refreshing in its clarity.

-Andrew Matthews

a compassionate view
As a parent, I could sense Dr. Pohlman's sincere desire to help children and their families. If more professionals would use the "Revealing Minds" approach, more children would get meaningful assessments with effective learning plans, while being treated with dignity and respect. Thank you, Dr. Pohlman!

A Must Read
This is the most insightful assessment book I have ever read. It should be required reading for all education students as well as anyone who works with children. I only wish it were even longer!