Product Description

You feel like the luckiest person alive: your seven-year-old is a bright, social, athletic child with countless friends. His potential seems unlimited, his future success unquestionable. Then one day a teacher calls you to tell you that your child can't read.

That is one scenario presented in Misunderstood Minds, a deeply moving and personal look into the lives of five children and their families as they deal with the puzzling mysteries presented by their unique learning differences. See how bright, articulate Nathan masked his inability to read by memorizing. Find out why Lauren's social isolation provided experts with vital clues about her learning problem. See how undiagnosed learning problems led Adam on a downward spiral towards drugs, alcohol, and crime.

As many as one in five families are coping with children who struggle to learn. Many of these children don't fit any clinical diagnosis, but for some reason, they aren't learning. Though these children may be suffering from debilitating learning problems, they are often mistakenly called "lazy" or "stupid" by teachers, classmates, and even by their families. But learning specialists believe that they now possess a key that will ultimately help struggling students, their parents, and teachers better identify and manage learning problems -- each mind works differently and has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Misunderstood Minds illustrates the emerging view that specific identification and customized management of learning problems is the key to success for the millions of children struggling in school. Misunderstood Minds features leading experts in the field of learning problems, including Mel Levine, M.D., G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D., Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. and Richard D. Lavoie, M.A. M.Ed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35655 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-06-29
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Misunderstood Minds is a captivating documentary that unreels like a topnotch drama--you'll be on the edge of your seat while having a series of "aha" moments. The 90-minute production spends three years following five families with children who struggle with learning disabilities. One high-achieving boy's strong memory masks his inability to read; the parents of a middle-school girl who has trouble focusing resist the solution (drugs). Not every story is a clear success, and one Boston teen slips through the cracks. The learning-problem experts and teachers do a superb job making a complex subject (children have "expressive language deficiency" or an "output problem") entirely understandable. Directed and produced by Frontline filmmaker Michael Kirk and narrated by Nightline correspondent Chris Bury, the show is powerful as it trains the lens on these quotable kids and their often-heartbreaking journey. --Valerie J. Nelson

Customer Reviews

Not the best use of your money
No doubt this WGBH documentary can be an eye-opener for people who have not had a chance to hear about the last 20 years of brain research, but as a teacher who works with children with learning differences, my advice is to spend your money on one of Mel Levine's books (One Mind at a Time or The Myth of Laziness). That way you'll actually get some concrete advice instead of just hearing about how bad it's been for other families. And you won't have to watch a doctor tell distraught parents that if they don't put their 11 year old daughter on Ritalin she'll probably grow up to be a drug addict.

Interesting / Teachers & Students should see
I feel this program should be seen by teachers and students who themselves have a misunderstanding of what life is like for students who need extra help. We all learn differently, and whose place is it to judge others ? Bottom line is I have seen too many times, students who will not seek help, due to stigma placed on them by peers, teachers, and family. Maybe we have lost sight of education and its purpose ... isn't getting an education the goal ? Great program for classes who cannot understand we are all not the same, we are individuals, learn differently, etc. The goal I had when purchasing was to show students who are rude and or cruel to other students in hope they will will have no misunderstandings why we all need help.

FOR ANY PARENT WHO'S CHILD HAS JUST BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ADD OR ADHD OR ANY PARENT SUSPECTING HIS CHILD HAS A LEARNINGDISABILITY
I'M A MOTHER OF A 7 YEAR OLD ADD DAUGHTER I LIVE IN CANCUN-MEXICO WHERE INFORMATION OTHER THAN PSICOLOGIST'S VIEW OF "THE PROBLEM" IS VERY HARD TO COME BY, MY DAUGHTER SPENT 3 YEARS IN OCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND EVERYWHERE I WENT I WAS TOLD TO MEDICATE HER, HOWEVER SOME INSTINCT TOLD ME NOT TO....IT DIDN'T FEEL RIGHT. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPEND A FORTUNE ON BOOKS LIKE I DID I'LL RECOMMEND 3 BOOKS THAT WILL GET YOU STARTED AND WELL ON YOUR WAY IN FINDING OUT WHAT'S GOING ON AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT AND HOW TO HELP; NO MORE RITALIN, NO MORE ADHD - RIGHT BRAINED CHILDREN IN A LEFT BRAINED WORLD - THE ADD AND ADHD DIET, UPDATED VERSION. GOOD LUCK, HELENA