Square Peg

December 3, 2012
This approachable, inspiring tale serves as both a memoir of a troubled childhood and a road map for helping children of all “variabilities” through the American educational system. Writing with Ellison (Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention), Rose shares his unlikely trajectory from childhood delinquent of “diabolical naughtiness” through high school dropout to Harvard professor at the Graduate School of Education. He provides compelling anecdotal evidence for how our public schools are failing our kids, as well as a framework for what educators and parents could be doing better. Each chapter concludes with a “Big Idea” section as summary and a list of “Action Items” for parents. Rose presents behavior as something that “emerges from the interaction of a person’s biology, past experiences, and immediate context,” arguing that within this understanding of complex systems, there’s hope for all. Readers will find Rose’s journey heartening; Rose’s mother and grandmother show how essential parents and mentors can be for struggling children. But this story serves as more than just a beacon of hope, as Rose also leaves his readers armed with real “strategies and tools,” such as using technology, readdressing labels such as ADHD, “rethinking Ritalin,” finding mentors, understanding metacognition and variability, and the “potentially transformative power of context.”

December 15, 2012
A "memoir and a manifesto" by the co-chair of the Harvard Graduate School Institute Connecting Mind, Brain and Education, who references his own experiences as a high school dropout to make the case for a much-needed learning revolution. Assisted by Ellison (Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention, 2010, etc.), Rose describes how he was labeled as an incorrigible troublemaker by the age of 13, when he detonated stink bombs in class. Even as a preschooler he was a problem child, bullying his younger siblings. The author explores his boredom, distraction and difficulty concentrating on schoolwork. His impulsive, destructive behavior alienated his peers as well as school authorities. A diagnosis of ADHD and the prescription of Ritalin (which he refused to take regularly) did little to solve his problem. Rose writes that he was caught in a negative feedback loop, failing in school and bullied by other children. While he traces his problems to underlying neurological problems--a poor short-term memory exacerbated by stress and differences in how his brain processed dopamine--the school system in his community failed to deal with his special needs. Only when his parents moved to another town was he able to begin the difficult process of getting his life on the track to an academic career in the application of advances in biological and cognitive sciences to education. Fundamentally, these are based on using modern technology to allow students to individualize their learning experience with the guidance of their teacher. For example, dyslexic students can use learning aids such as text-to-speech programs (with headphones), and those with problems following complicated instructions can get step-by-step reminders. An inspiring personal story, but unfortunately, the author relegates his pioneering new methods to a short epilogue.

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February 1, 2013
Both a memoir and a manifesto, Square Peg recounts Rose's turbulent adolescence in 1980s rural Utah. Always a troublemaker, Rosewho now teaches educational neuroscience at Harvardwas diagnosed with ADHD in middle school. At age 17, he was a married high-school dropout and expectant father with no career prospects. Rose credits his eventual turnaround to his mother's intuitive parenting and the encouragement of several nonrelative mentors. He also begins taking Ritalin, which he had refused to do for years. The book's final chapters, the manifesto, call for reinventing American education, transforming a cookie-cutter system into one that takes into account students' natural learning variability. Rose peppers his narrative with pertinent findings from brain research and cognitive science, and provides glimpses into technological innovations that offer hope (with some caveats) for a coming learning revolution. This upbeat and accessible book, cowritten by Ellison (Buzz: A Year of Paying Attention, 2010), is geared to both parents and young adults wishing to understand the biology underlying ADHD and the progress that is possible with the right combination of contextual supports.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)