mwarshaw
Registered: 08/13/03
Posts: 6
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Reply with quote | #1 |
Thank you, Brian, for writing about this topic. I think that it is very important for MIT's Dean's Office and Counseling Services to become knowledgeable about gifted/special needs and how this combination affects students. I especially hope that they will provide training especially in Asperger Syndrome and ADHD for the people who are charged with providing support to students, given that so much of MIT's student population fits these categories or at least has "shadows" of these syndromes.
Is there a Visiting Committee for student life? One start would be for the committee to include people with expertise in this area.
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Meredith Warshaw, M.S.S., M.A.
Special Needs Educational Advisor
mailto:mwarshaw@uniquelygifted.org
http://uniquelygifted.org |
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judyfallows
Registered: 08/24/03
Posts: 1
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Reply with quote | #2 |
Hello-
This is a truly important topic to the Institute, if we are to remain true to our roots. I'm an alum, also daugher of an alum with a shadow of this kind of syndrome (more than a shadow, actually, but undiagnosed) and the mother of a son who also has a shadow of this kind (but well followed, monitored, supported, and "treated" you might say, and who will be applying to MIT next year for the fall of 2005) I see Temple Grandin's point. In this age of increasing diversity of technologies, and dependence on technologies in many aspects of our lives, we need these folks, and MIT is a place that can and should encourage these special talents (always has, right?) and support the special individuals who tend to embody them. I'm particularly interested in how young undergraduates are supported. I taught kids for 12 years, including high school science and math for gifted special needs, and I also became the unofficial support system for a number of parents of these "special" children. They are confusing and tough to deal with when young, but they are brilliant and we need them! I will stay tuned, and hope there will be more disucssion.
thanks for doing this!
Judy Fallows, '74
judyfallows@alum.mit.edu (home)
jfallows@hsph.harvard.edu (work) |
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kchenausky
Registered: 09/25/03
Posts: 1
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Reply with quote | #3 |
Briefly,
A good person to contact regarding educating the Institute about Asperger's and AD(H)D would be Rich Goldhammer (richg@mit.edu); don't know if people know about him. He's the Learning Disabilities Consultant at MIT. My experiences with him when I was in grad school at MIT, wondering why I was doing so poorly, were excellent. There is also the Disabilities Services Office in E19-225 (http://web.mit.edu/dso/www/), which coordinates special accommodations for various reasons.
I agree that learning disabilities, both verbal (like dyslexia) and nonverbal (like Asperger's), as well as related conditions like ADHD, are extremely important for MIT to understand. There are so many issues that come up that the Institute hasn't even begun to investigate yet. I look forward to seeing how the issue evolves and, I hope, being a part of its evolution.
Karen Chenausky
Scientist
Speech Technology & Applied Research Corp.
54 Middlesex Tpke.
Bedford, MA 01730
781-276-4540 (v)
800-230-8572 (f) |
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mwarshaw
Registered: 08/13/03
Posts: 6
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Reply with quote | #4 |
Karen wrote:
"A good person to contact regarding educating the Institute about Asperger's and AD(H)D would be Rich Goldhammer (richg@mit.edu); don't know if people know about him. He's the Learning Disabilities Consultant at MIT. My experiences with him when I was in grad school at MIT, wondering why I was doing so poorly, were excellent. There is also the Disabilities Services Office in E19-225 (http://web.mit.edu/dso/www/), which coordinates special accommodations for various reasons."
If you know those people, would it be possible to invite them to join this conversation? Brian - can MIT staff who are not alumni join in?
Meredith
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Meredith Warshaw, M.S.S., M.A.
Special Needs Educational Advisor
mailto:mwarshaw@uniquelygifted.org
http://uniquelygifted.org |
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bgrh
Registered: 08/06/03
Posts: 76
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Reply with quote | #5 |
Anybody can join in. Just point them to the What Matters column, or to this Message Board. It's not on the MIT servers so it's wide open. However, you do need to join to be able to post. And some of the forums are restricted to members, i.e. the family and school ones.
Brian |
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Roger
Registered: 11/20/03
Posts: 8
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Reply with quote | #6 |
I would think that one of our top priorities should be raising awareness within the MIT Community. Sally Atwood wrote about the surge in demand for mental health services in "Someone to Watch over Me: Helping Students Cope" in MITnews in the March 2003 issue of Technology Review. My critical reply "Helping Students Be Themselves" was published in Alumni Letters in the June 2003 issue. Did any of you see either of those? (I would be happy to send you my full letter as submitted, prior to editing down to its published length.)
I wonder whether the article and my letter had much effect in raising awareness about their subject matter, that is, the causes and treatment of MIT students' severe psychological problems, such as depression and suicide.
We have several challenges before us, especially determining what the message is that we want to convey, and communicating that message effectively.
Roger
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Class of 1968 / Course I |
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Roger
Registered: 11/20/03
Posts: 8
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Reply with quote | #7 |
I would like to add some pertinent comments about my letter (see previous post) in TR/MITnews. After reading the article in question, I feared that MIT's approach might be to try to "change" who MIT students are, without fully understanding just what makes up the "MIT student psyche." That's the good ol' engineering approach, to be sure: just fix what's broken (or make MIT students normal), and move on to the next problem.
At times, I doubt whether I had made my main point successfully, namely, I believe quite strongly that in trying to address the mental health problems of MIT students, one must take care not to seek simply to change the students (to "normalize" them), but rather to help them feel satisfied (if not happy) with who they are, by glorifying their peculiar attributes, and especially by avoiding belittling those same characteristics. Thus my heading: "Helping Students be Themselves," to contrast with "Helping students Cope."
It was for that reason that I disdained mental health services for myself; I did not want to "be changed;" I just wanted to "be myself" and to be happy "being myself." To hell with being "normal." I'm an oddball, and proud of it! From personal experience, with myself and with my children, I believe that this approach can be more effective. It takes a lot of work, but I think it does work.
I've got a lot more to say on this subject, and I will, as time and inclination allow. Thanks, Brian, for providing this soapbox!
Roger
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Class of 1968 / Course I |
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Roger
Registered: 11/20/03
Posts: 8
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Reply with quote | #8 |
I just happened upon this quote by chance, and it touched my soul: "The artist who really loves people loves them so well the way they are, she sees no need to disguise their characteristics -- she loves them whole, without retouching." ~ Dawn Powell; Novelist, dramatist; 1948
Roger
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Class of 1968 / Course I |
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Roger
Registered: 11/20/03
Posts: 8
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Reply with quote | #9 |
Wouldn't it be nice if MIT were able to offer subject matter in other forms, explained in alternative ways, for those students who think - and learn - differently? (Or, does MIT do so now?) For someone like me, for example, who thinks in images, I did great when learning things that I could manage to visualize somehow, but, when I had trouble coming up with a graphical representation of something, I had trouble with that subject. It may explain, in part, why my grades at MIT varied from As to Fs.
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Class of 1968 / Course I |
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fdaily
Registered: 08/26/03
Posts: 5
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Reply with quote | #10 |
Does this list still exist? I'd be willing to post the many resources I've discovered if anyone is still interested... Janet Freeman-Daily |
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Roger
Registered: 11/20/03
Posts: 8
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Reply with quote | #11 |
Janet, Yes, at least from my perspective anyhow. I have offered a number of posts, with no replies, for 13 months, until yours. Please do! Thanks.
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Class of 1968 / Course I |
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