Labels and Unschooling

[Tracy Liebmann]

Wondering what you all think about labels like ADHD, ADD, Learing Disabilities and any others you can think of and want to discuss. I guess my question is this, can they be useful while unschooling our kids? If yes, how and why...if no, how and why? Thanks in advance...looking forward to hearing your opinions :-)

[Tracy Liebmann]

So...what do YOU think??

[Ren]

There was a huge discussion at Always Learning this week, on exactly this topic. I think researching labels to better understand your child's unique behaviors can be helpful at some juncture in the journey. I think using them or seeing your child through that lense is harmful.

If your child is severely autistic (or anything extreme enough), there may be a need for more help than what you can provide on your own. Mostly though, I'm tired of people using labels (other than for themselves) and seeing quirks and differences as "disorders", because they're not.

[Paige]

The only reason I could ever think of was to educate *myself* about what *I* could do to help my child navigate the world as easily as possible.

Not applied to the child...simply a thought in the back of my head, "Since I'm looking for something new to read, what about reading a bit on *X*?"

[Melissa]

I have labels for most of my kids. They aren't labels we use all the time, every day...and because we're not in a school setting they aren't very important to the kids. They were VERY helpful to me when we first started our path...because we weren't unschooling and it was a stepping stone for me to learn about how my kids think differently and how I can help them be part of the world. As an unschooler now, it's not as important because my goal obviously is the help them regardless of 'woulds' or 'shoulds'. But it is somewhat important for me to help them, to know that most people with aspergers won't be able to do x, so instead we do y. Something I don't think of because MY brain doesn't do y, it does x. Thank god for our psychologist, she totally supports unschooling and is such a big help to our family.

And even though we aren't in school, it's helping Josh a LOT in scouts, because at 13, the adult leaders are not supposed to accept parents helping the boys do most of their things, but because Josh is developmentally around eight, i can say he needs help without an argument. Is that fair to other boys who might need help? I dunno. Most 13 yos CAN organize enough to finish a merit badge on their own. Most 13 yos CAN call their counselor and discuss problems. Josh doesn't even know what the problem IS, just that he's not reaching his goal for some obscure reason.

I won't even touch on Breanna, but many of you have met her at conferences. A label helped me immensely with her. We were convinced she couldn't have autism because she didn't look like rainman. Hah. I hate that movie. Do you know how many people with autism really look like Dustin Hoffman? Less than 5%. Anyway, the label opened up a lot of resources that we wouldn't have had otherwise. I did have to learn a whole different style of brain.

My son with adhd does not just have a different personality. He has very physical manifestations of a disorder. He was in pain when he sat longer than two minutes. He would be so hungry and not able to eat. Physical therapy helped him a lot. Sensory integration therapy helped him. He gets frustrated when he can't focus on something he's interested in. He WANTS to do some things, and cannot complete them. Maybe for some people who have been labeled aren't really people with attention disorders, but are more artistic, but for some it's very hard.

I dunno, that's what I see in my family.

[Sandra Dodd]

http://sandradodd.com/giftedness

Some ideas I hope will help the undecided (or sway the overly-decided).