A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed by Mel Levine
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Book Summary Author: Mel Levine Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2002-12-31 ISBN: 0743202236 Number of pages: 352 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Product features:
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Book Reviews of the A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed
Customer Review: Overly anecdotal, barely scientific.
Summary: 2 Stars
In his book, Dr. Mel Levine expands on concepts of assessment to outline some different ways in which students' performance might be evaluated in school. He calls testing a "necessary evil" and that "any test format...will discriminate unfairly against certain kinds of minds". Dr. Levine states as a given that "an essay test, a standardized multiple-choice examination, or an oral quiz might be fair to one student and discriminatory against the child seated next to her". (p. 329) It is unfortunate for the reader that Dr. Levine makes his assertion without elaboration or explanation. He would have done well to offer some enlightenment here.
Dr. Levine outlines on pages 269-270 his recommendations for any child undergoing examination for his or her problems in school. Incredibly, Dr. Levine does so on the page of his book immediately after his case to dissuade parents and educators from "wasting their time" in attempts to diagnose the causes of such a child's difficulties. This struck me as unbecoming for a clinician and medical doctor such as the author; one would think diagnosis is crucial in ascertaining the best practices in treating and educating children with difficulties. Dr. Levine asserts "since you can never prove with certainty that any cause was the cause, you should skip the whys and instead devote sensitive thinking to describing and understanding your child's neurodevelopmental status and the best way to care for the profile." (p. 268) My confusion, then, is how the child's profile can be constructed without at least some investigation into the causes. As a man of science, Dr. Levine should concern himself with the causes of a child's difficulties, not only for his own enlightenment but for the education of parents, teachers and clinicians as well.
Dr. Levine states that dyslexia is an "unhelpful label" (p. 132) and that tests for language dysfunction are often "culturally biased" (p. 144); these claims create frustration when we are left to take the doctor at his word. Unfortunately for the reader, Dr. Levine once again puts forth assertions for which he provides neither evidence nor example. However, elaboration is deemed unnecessary by Dr. Levine, and as a result he often fails to convince.