Learning Outside the Lines: A Personal Perspective on Learning Disabilities (LD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Featured speaker
Jonathan Mooney
Executive Director
Project Eye-to-Eye

What was the main issue or question being addressed?

Jonathan Mooney focused on the following principles that helped him change and that he hopes will help others with LD and ADHD to change: 1) the socialization of cognitive diversity, 2) a shift in focus from remediation to empowerment in homes, schools, and the field of psychology. Mooney talked about Project Eye-to-Eye, a mentoring program in which Brown University students who have ADHD are matched up with elementary school children with ADHD and act as role models for success.

What are the main findings or conclusions?

1. In regard to the socialization of cognitive diversity, Mooney stated that people should accept and praise the cognitive differences of people with ADHD rather than punish them for these differences. He mentioned that many children with ADHD describe themselves as crazy, stupid or lazy because they are punished as a result of being different. Mooney described his own experience in the first grade when he thought he was crazy because his teacher punished him for bouncing his leg in class. He questioned the logic of this event, asserting that research done at Kings College shows that for some people, bouncing the leg accesses a physical motor memory that allows one to focus. Mooney also noted that teachers punish students when they aren't making eye contact and staring out the window, when in fact, these students may still be remembering what a teacher says while they are staring out the window. He claims that institutions are obsessed with normalcy and punish those who deviate from this normalcy. The irony of this concept is illustrated by people such as Albert Einstein and Bill Gates, who were punished during childhood for reasons similar to those for which children with ADHD are punished, but were praised for these same qualities in adulthood. Mooney then addressed the idea that children with ADHD often believe they are stupid because they read slowly and have bad handwriting when in fact, bad handwriting is often correlated with high intelligence. Finally, Mooney stressed the idea that learned helplessness, which often contributes to depression, substance abuse and suicide in people with LD and ADHD, is often misunderstood as laziness and punished, which then contributes to further learned helplessness and psychological problems.
2. In speaking about the concept of remediation vs. empowerment, Mooney pointed out that we lose sight of strengths and gifts in children with LD and ADHD when we try too hard to "fix" them or remediate their problems. He described an experience in his own life when his father, trying hard to "fix" him, only emphasized what he couldn't do, thus contributing to his learned helplessness. His mother, however, seeking to empower him by fighting for him at school, taught him that he was worth fighting for. Mooney also mentioned a teacher who was most helpful to him by focusing on his talents rather than his weaknesses. Mooney told this man he liked to write but couldn't spell. The teacher, who said "Jonathan, screw spelling!" helped Mooney with what he could not do by first focusing on his gifts. Mooney stated that this was beneficial because often his strengths came from his weaknesses.
3. Finally, Mooney spoke of the mentoring program called Project Eye-to-Eye, of which he is the director. Brown University students with ADHD, paired with elementary school students with ADHD, create an environment for the children which focuses on their gifts and talents and eventually helps them work on improving their weaknesses. The students create art and share stories. Longitudinal research has been done with this project with fifteen third-graders diagnosed with ADHD, who had the worst behavior records and report cards in the class as well as shattered self-esteem. After four years in this mentoring program, the students' behavior reports and report cards improved and, most importantly, their self-esteem improved.

Are there any practical implications?

Are there any practical implications? Mooney encourages others to recognize that terms such as "retarded" are the moral equivalent of a racial slur. He feels that people in the mental health community need to deconstruct the terms stupid, crazy and lazy. In helping children with LD and ADHD, it is important to listen to the voices of these children and to integrate their strengths while helping them with their weaknesses. This approach should lower their feelings of learned helplessness and encourage them to be successful. Finally, Mooney recommends the elimination of the ideology of normalcy and the embracing of cognitive diversity.

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