The Power of Being Understood

Attending The Howard School matters. Being here actually changes your child’s brain! Students who learn differently deserve schools that celebrate them and don't simply  “manage around” them. At Howard, we know the journey is not linear. It is not straight-forward. It is not simple. The Howard community cares for the physiology, emotions, and cognitive behaviors of each student. 

The relationships between our physiology, our emotions, and our thoughts is best represented by bidirectional arrows. It’s all connected… when we are happy, our heart rate goes up; when our face flushes, we might feel embarrassed; when we think calming thoughts, our blood pressure lowers. These facts form a foundational truth that makes a place like The Howard School so important. Students who learn differently deserve educational centers that truly understand how their brains work and how the emotions, thoughts, and physical responses of a child are all connected. Our students deserve schools that SEE them and do not simply “observe” them.  

Early in their Howard School journey, I watch students (and their parents) relax into the awareness that they “fit in” here… they belong… “did you know there are other kids with dysgraphia?!?!”  “My child no longer cries when they have to go to school.” “My son’s teachers truly understand how to teach him.” Self-confidence and a sense of personal pride return to our students as they find their voices and come to know themselves as capable and valued contributors to their classroom environments. 

Feeling rejected or misunderstood actually shuts down the brain pathways for learning. Kids with learning differences spend a lot of their lives feeling misunderstood. Coming to school every day, where your learning differences are now the norm and NOT the exception, is a very powerful facilitator of learning. The Howard School creates the space where students can learn deeply. How you FEEL impacts how you THINK. 

There is even more remarkable news: being in community makes a huge difference to our physiology (and therefore our learning), too. When strangers sit together and watch a live performance, their heart rhythms synchronize. It’s true: read more about it here. This is an example of one of the many reasons why communal gatherings within a school serve such an important purpose. Better connected communities, communities “in sync”, learn better. 

So when we gather as a Howard School community, learning, laughing, and living in sync, we aren’t just building belonging; we’re literally strengthening the brains that make learning possible.

Along the lines of “working in unison”, one thing we all have in common is that children’s frontal lobes are not fully developed until they are 25.  Living with people under the age of 25 means that we have people with limited executive functioning in our care. It can be hard!  So, mark your calendar and join us for this Parent Ed Event: Executive Function, ADHD, and Behavior, March 3, 8:30 a.m., The Hawk's Nest.  Guests are welcome to attend. Please register for the event using this link: https://bit.ly/4tRtTov

Dr. Anna B. Moore, Head of School