An innovative, comprehensive guide—the first of its kind—to help parents understand and accept learning disabilities in their children, offering tips and strategies for successfully advocating on their behalf and helping them become their own best advocates. In Thinking Differently, David Flink, the leader of Eye to Eye—a national mentoring program for students with learning and attention issues—enlarges our understanding of the learning process and offers powerful, innovative strategies for parenting, teaching, and supporting the 20 percent of students with learning disabilities. An outstanding fighter who has helped thousands of children adapt to their specific learning issues, Flink understands the needs and experiences of these children first hand. He, too, has dyslexia and ADHD. Focusing on how to arm students who think and learn differently with essential skills, including meta-cognition and self-advocacy, Flink offers real, hard advice, providing the tools to address specific problems they face—from building self-esteem and reconstructing the learning environment, to getting proper diagnoses and discovering their inner gifts. With his easy, hands-on “Step-by-Step Launchpad to Empowerment,” parents can take immediate steps to improve their children’s lives. Thinking Differently is a brilliant, compassionate work, packed with essential insights and real-world applications indispensable for parents, educators, and other professional involved with children with learning disabilities. Based on the author’s personal journey and years of advocacy, this book offers a new path forward with practical tools for parents: A New View of Neurodiversity: Move beyond labels and discover how to see your child’s learning difference not as a deficit, but as a unique way of thinking—straight from an author who has lived it. Self-Advocacy Tools: Learn how to equip your child to become their own best advocate in the classroom and beyond, a core mission of David Flink’s national mentoring program, Eye to Eye. Metacognition Skills: Go beyond tutoring with strategies that teach your child how they think, empowering them to take control of their own learning process for lifelong success. Actionable Parenting Strategies: Implement the “Step-by-Step Launchpad to Empowerment” to make immediate, positive changes in your child’s learning environment and daily life.
