Forgive me if what I am to share concerns you, causes you to feel uncertain, or simply, seems so far-fetched: As an Education Advocate, every day I am in contact with parents who struggle with their child’s disability and related symptoms, especially within the context of school and learning. For many of these families, their child’s behavior is at the core of the stories shared, with anxiety as the common thread expressed by most parents.. As a result, I feel compelled to reach out to a wider audience and share what I have learned through the years for I believe the message is important as well as the intent; to support understanding and hopefully, lead to healing.
Canary in the Coal Mine Kids: Sensitive by Nature with Infinite Promise, Potential, and Possibility
Have you ever met someone who is doing something they were born to accomplish or has a career they were meant to do? As if their sole purpose is a part of a larger-mosaic, almost like intentional design or a calling? Often we associate this understanding with brilliant minds such as Mozart, Einstein, Mother Theresa, or Gandhi. However, the sense of genius or brilliance does not always present itself in a society-changing role, but may be subtle, and often impacts a much smaller circle of friends, family, or associates. Many of our children are inspired and driven by the same internal drive. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to this as follows:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
Lesson One: Promise Within: Children today are being called upon to do something remarkable with their lives. For the promise within is part of a larger plan, as if each is a puzzle-piece within a complex grand scheme. So our job as parents, teachers, and loved ones is to embrace this unfolding and help our kids move through the discovery process toward their own self-actualization or realization. Whether it takes a lifetime, or is presents itself within a few years, I believe this is one of the truths I see as I walk this path every day as an Education Advocate working with some of the most complex situations imaginable. Most notably, we are all being called upon to encourage their gifts, talents, and interests. Specifically, within the context of school, a meaning-centered, purpose-driven instructional program, guided by the students’ interests and strengths, provides the foundation leading toward self-awareness, self-realization, and what we often refer to as self-esteem. Anything else will likely be faced through avoidance, poor focus, high levels of distractibility, and may include oppositional defiance. Remember: The traditional, out of date framework for learning is based upon the “Empty Vessel” theory; children are blank slates waiting to be filled. Whereas, the new paradigm highlights a meaning-centered, promise-within model of learning.
Lesson Two: Highly Sensitive: The world transforms every day through a never-ending expansion of technology, science, arts, and cultural discoveries, and moves at lightning speed. The one thing that will be required to serve as the glue holding it all together is the ability of our children to relate to one another and be highly sensitive toward others and their needs. Empathy is an important part of this process. As a result, today’s kids demonstrate an extraordinary level of sensitivity toward their environment and one another. In fact, this level of hyper-sensitivity is something that has never been seen before at this level in previous generations for the numbers are astounding, In fact, epidemic would be an appropriate description. In review of hundreds of IEP (individual education plans), FBA (functional behavior assessments), and BIP (behavior intervention plans) documents every year, I observe a pattern all across the country; hyper-sensitivity presents itself amongst many children, especially, those diagnosed with neurological disabilities and mental health disorders.
Lesson Three: Fight or Flight: So when we put these lessons together, and start to observe patterns within the today’s children, we begin to see epidemic levels of ADD/ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, and most notably, Anxiety-related symptoms, from a much different perspective. Instead of thinking that our children are an expression of their disabilities, like “My ADHD son” or “My Autistic daughter”, and limited by these labels, we begin to see these remarkable young people as highly sensitive with extraordinary potential needing to be supported. In doing so, the notion of Canary in the Coal Mine Kids presents on a whole different level of understanding and meaning when we realize our children are just responding to their environments in the same way canaries, from years ago, served as messengers within the coal mines. Today, our children are teaching us new ways to parent, teach, and live our lives due to their very acute level of sensitivity. Specifically, due to the toxicity found within our food, our environments, our air, our medications &vaccinations, as well as the social-emotional conditions of a stress-filled lifestyle, the common theme amongst so many children today are often described within the conditions we call “anxiety”, with fight and flight responses at foundation of their behaviors. Within the context of school, as well as within our homes, we often best serve our children by focusing on their stress levels, anxiety, and reducing their feelings associated with being over-whelmed.
Lesson Four: Life Style Changes: Due to the expansion of technology within all areas of our lives, many of these amazing developments have brought about positive changes and solutions to some of our world’s greatest problems. However, a number of these developments have led to toxic waste, increased stress, or inflammatory health concerns, and are now being closely monitored. As a result, when we make lifestyle changes, including environmental adjustments and accommodations, we begin to see a significant reduction of anxiety-based responses, especially within our children. Breath-work, mindfulness, and calming strategies maybe most effective in these situations as a major component of intervention. Also, when we address inflammatory responses, through diet, nutrition, exercise, and integrated holistic practices, we also begin to see major changes in our highly sensitive children, especially those who have been identified with neurological conditions such as ADD/ADHD, Autism, and emotional disorders such as depression, bi-polar, and other mental health conditions.
Lesson Five: Listen to Your Own Truth: I am not a physician, nor do I claim to be, and have no expertise as a wellness practitioner. However, as an Education Advocate, walking a very intimate path with parents and their families within the context of school and learning, the previous lessons are clearly patterns I have observed the last 18 years, and serve as my own personal understanding and truth. In fact, as the epidemic levels of these neurological conditions continue to spiral out of control, I have seen extraordinary transformations when these children reduce anxiety in their lives, as well as establish lower levels of inflammation through an integrated wellness approach. From my perspective, the Canaries in the Coal Mine have taught us everything we need to know: It’s a matter of listening to their message. But most importantly, listen to your own sense of truth within as your guide and determine your course of action for the canaries have spoken.
Respectfully,
Larry M Davis
www.specialeducationadvocacy.org 206 914-0975 / 888 851-5904
Lesson One: Promise Within:
Sir Ken Robinson Finding Your Element http://sirkenrobinson.com/
Howard Gardner The Ap Generation https://howardgardner.com
Lesson Two: Highly Sensitive
Elaine Aron The Highly Sensitive Person http://hsperson.com/
Maureen Healy Growing Happy Kids http://highlysensitivekids.com/
Lesson Three: Fight or Flight
Dr. Dan Peters From Worrier to Warrior http://drdanpeters.com/
Deepak Chopra On My Way to a Happy Life https://www.deepakchopra.com/
Heartmath.org Science of the Heart https://www.heartmath.org/
Lesson Four: Life Style Changes
Dr. Mark Hyman Website http://drhyman.com/
Greg Braden Resilience of the Heart http://www.greggbraden.com/
Beth Lambert A Compromised Generation http://www.acompromisedgeneration.com/