SAVING LITERACY Dr. Susan Rich Sheridan is a scholar/teacher with degrees in English, Art and Education. Her Neuroconstructive, brain-based theory and marks- based practice of literacy have a twenty-year history, including teaching first grade through college. Saving Literacy introduces the Scribbling/Drawing/ Writing program for children 10 months to 6 years, including developmental SAVING LITERACY benchmarks, lesson plans, evaluation tools, and research questions designed for professional caregivers: preschool and daycare providers, elementary school teachers, child psychologists, art teachers and art therapists, speech How Marks Change pathologists and researchers in child development and education. The goals of the program are sustained attention, emotional control and connection, expanded speech and literacy. Autism and the effects of technology are Minds discussed. Dr. Sheridan has published a companion book for parents, HandMade Marks. Attention “What we most need now… is a fresh perspective on the masses of data that neurobiologists have gathered, and on the puzzles those data pose… How do brains make sense of the world (?)… (A) new general theory… requires new assumptions and new definitions. I believe that the idea of meaning, a critical concept that defines the relations of each brain to the world, is central to current debates in philosophy and cognitive science, and will Connection become so in neurobiology… Doodling can and should accompany if not even precede speaking. Language derives from the dynamics and structure of intentional behavior... and the face and hand areas of the cortex lie side by side, undergoing the same patterns of neural development. They are inextricably linked, as we know from the necessity of Literacy moving our hands and fingers as we speak to communicate meaning most effectively.” Correspondence between Dr. Freeman and the author, March 17, 2001. “Your hypothesis of guidance of (brain) activity into doodling (scribbling, drawing) as a means to approach constructive and intentional control of central (brain) activity is pregnant with all kinds of meaning.” Correspondence between Dr. Freeman and the author, August 5, 2009 “You certainly raise a fascinating and important question when you ask how and at what point scribbles become symbols. Both are expressions of intention, but at very different levels, one being an expression of the developing mind of the individual, the other being an expression of the desire to share insights with other minds. You provide the tools and the raw materials for forging answers... prime research topics for multiple Ph.D. theses.” Correspondence Dr. Susan Rich Sheridan Dr. between Dr. Freeman and the author, January 8, 2010. Walter J. Freeman, M.D., Ph.D., biologist, theoretical neuroscientist, philosopher, Professor of Neurobiology Walter J. Freeman Neurophysiology Lab for Nonlinear Neurodynamics, University of California, Berkeley, CA. “The often devastating impact of learning disabilities can be avoided with the right kind of early intervention... This is where your insights and systematic program can be so valuable. You recognize that children can be encouraged to develop the ability to use scribbles and markings as the initial step toward capturing meaning on paper, and perhaps in so doing providing the crucial early experience that will prevent some children from developing learning problems in later years. I think your book and your larger body of work are firmly grounded in science, wisdom and vast experience.” Correspondence between Dr. Royer and the author, 2003. ™ James M. Royer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Scribbles and drawing need to be understood in terms of brain science. SRS 2009 A Guide for Professional Caregivers www.drawingwriting.com Including Teachers and Therapists of Toddlers, Preschool and Early Elementary School Children Dr. Susan Rich Sheridan SAVING LITERACY HOW MARKS CHANGE MINDS A Guide for Professional Caregivers Including Teachers and Therapists of Toddlers, Preschool and Early Elementary School Children Volume I: Saving Literacy: How Marks Change Minds A Guide for Professional Caregivers Volume II: HandMade Marks: A Child's Way Into Literacy A Manual for Parents with Children 10 months to 6 years by Dr. Susan Rich Sheridan © 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 ®2006 Saving Literacy FPO for Infinity To be provided to Inifinity in file format Copyright © 2009 by Susan Rich Sheridan Other books by Dr. Sheridan: Drawing/W riting and the new literacy: Where verbal meets visual, 1997. The Thinking Child, A handbook for parents: How Literacy at home starts with scribbling and draw- ing, 2002. HandMade Marks: A Child's Way into Literacy, A Manual for Mothers with Children 10 mos. - 6 years, 2010. Cover Credits: Photographs © Suprijono Suharjoto - crayons © Pavel Losevsky - children chalk drawing © Larisa Lofitskaya - mother and son © Mashe - markers © Konstantin Pigrov - young child Drawing: ©Sam Sheridan - drawing Graphic Designer: Helen Messemer-Thomas 308 Kelley Point Road Jonesport, Maine 04649 II Saving Literacy In memory of Dr. Elliott Dyer, visionary art and technology educator *** I owe C. Ronald Becthle, my mentor and my friend, a debt of love to match the wealth of love he’s showered on me since I was ten, encouraging me as a painter and as a person. A joyful, working artist at age 84, Charlie’s work stays close to the aesthetics of scribbles. Charlie has the kind of brain that’s the goal of this book: a brain that reads and writes, loves music and paints. Bates College in Lewiston, Maine has the largest collection of Becthle’s work. C. Ronald Becthle Painting, "Light Lunch" “Complex thought is adaptive, intellectually and emotionally. The fact that many artists return to the abstract scribbles of early childhood may mean that the work we did as young scribblers persists as pleasing and useful and significant behavior even in the adult central nervous system as central pattern generators. Central pattern generators are necessary to all rhythmic behavior, including heart beats, conversations, love-making, parent-child interactions, and the dialogue with the self (through art and language).” Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, 1993. Parenthetical aside added by Sheridan. *** I dedicate this book to writer, editor, and friend, Panio Gianopoulos, whose intellect, editing skills, and belief in the importance of the subject matter made this book possible and who encouraged me to keep trying to publish when I’d nearly given up hope. Panio and his daughter, Mathilda i Saving Literacy With additional thanks to Nikki Toler, freelance editor, for help with the first proposal for this book (1999) and to Frances Lassor of Amherst for getting the graphics going, as well as to the following people for their on- going professional and personal support: Tony Burgess, William C. Wolf, Jr., James M. Royer, Peter Ginna, Jaak Panksepp, Walter J. Freeman, Walter Kaszniak, Alwn Scott, John R. Skoyles, Dean Falk, Sylvia Fein, Bruce Charlton, Louis Hodgson, Arthur Marr, Robert Kay, Maulfry Worthington, Susan Stropko, Cindy Matus-Moriss, Michael Silverstone, Alice Carmel, Anne and Duane Nyman, Carroll Reinhardt, Deborah Wasserman, Linda and Julian Garberson; the California group including Jay Greenlinger, Helene and Ken Greenlinger, Liane Brouillette, Kim Burge, Joan Booth, Diane Fassnacht, Dorte Christjansen, Kriste Bennett, Jim Thomas; Terese Giammarco and Donna Mickleson of the Garden Gate Nursery School, Westchester County, N.Y.; the contributing families, including Terese Giammarco and her son, Evan Wolfsdorf; Tina and Zack Lorenzen; Karen Whitney and her niece, Sarah; Jean Guptill and her grandson, Josef Lee; Nikki and Chris Allen and their sons, Parker and Wyatt; Jessica and Jeff Allen and their sons, Ben and Nate; Mathilda and her father; my three children, Jessica, Samuel and Sarah who have never stopped believing in me. Special thanks to Jessica Allen for designing the first version of this book which was called Families and Drawing, Marks and Mind (2002). Her initial support and enthusiasm were critical to the venture. Last, but not least, thanks to my sunrise and moon-set, early morning walking group for years of support and friendship. Special thanks to Helen Messemer-Thomas of Jonesport, Maine for her energy and expertise as a graphic designer and for her belief in the timeliness of this work. Special thanks to my website designer and manager, Jeannine Lawall. ii Saving Literacy Table of Contents The Importance of Mark-making to Child Development from a Neurobiological Point of View.................................................................................1 Rules of Thumb for Good Caregiving Practice......................................................5 Who, What and Why Three roles..........................................................................................................................9 Questions and Answers for Professional Caregivers...........................................13 Stories about Mark-making Using stories about nine children, including one autistic child to discuss why visual alertness, laughter, scribbles, child-art marks, and the use of metaphor are important milestones in children’s lives.......................................................................................................25 Scribbles, Development and Meaning.......................................................................55 Toward a new, brain-based science of early childhood.........................................57