In The Mislabeled Child physicians Brock and Fernette Eide work hard to help parents, teachers, health care professionals, and others appreciate just how complex learning difficulties are. This approximately-500-page book is a product of the work they do in their Edmonds, Washington, practice. At the Eide Neurolearning Clinic this husband-and-wife team focuses on identifying and meeting the needs of children who face what they refer to as “learning challenges.”

What may strike readers as they go through this book, are the differences between the Eide’s and other medical professionals they may have encountered in the past. For example, readers might notice that instead of focusing solely on what’s wrong with a child, the Drs. Eide also probe to identify what’s right. The authors explain that an important part of their approach to dealing with learning challenges is to identify and build on a child’s individual strengths.

Another difference that readers might note is the authors’ reluctance to let labels limit their understanding of a child. It’s not that they don’t use labels. The authors explain that they do, and they understand the usefulness and necessity of having them. However, the Eide’s caution that labels “can cause us to take an overly sterile, detached, and clinical view of a child’s learning challenges and forget that these challenges occur in the context of a child’s unique and complex life.”

Furthermore, they state, “Even the best and most accurate labels should always be used with caution. Labels only ever provide part of the picture; the part that describes a child’s current level of functioning, not some fixed and immutable future.” With the proliferation of labels in recent years, the authors express the fear that “‘abnormality’ itself will soon become the new norm.”

What also sets the Eide’s apart is their reliance on recent findings from the field of brain research. They base the work they do on research that shows that “…brain development is an ongoing process that can be shaped and accelerated through the use of ‘targeted experience.’” In other words, with the right stimulation a child’s brain can learn to function more smoothly, to create new learning pathways that bypass problems areas. Therefore, the authors explain, “We shouldn’t see children with learning challenges as disabled, disordered, or deficient,” but instead as “needing new experiences that can help them…function better.”

At the start of the book the authors discuss their view on labeling and mislabeling children, and they provide a brief primer on how the brain thinks and learns. Following are chapters that address five learning systems and the learning challenges children can face with each:

• Memory

• Vision

• Hearing

• Language

• Attention.

Next are chapters on what the authors term “broad types of learning challenges.” These include: autism, sensory processing disorder, and disorders of reading, handwriting, and math. Finally, the authors discuss giftedness and how it, as well, can cause learning challenges in children.

In each of these chapters the authors begin with case vignettes. They then describe behaviors typical of the particular learning challenge they’re discussing. Next, they look at the brain-based processes that underlie the learning challenge. Then they discuss ways to evaluate a child for the particular learning challenge. At the end of the chapter, they offer ways to help children meet the learning challenge through remediation, compensation, or accommodation.

Readers of The Mislabeled Child need to be ready to work when they sit down to read this book. It’s not a quick how-to type of book. It’s a detailed examination of a broad range of learning problems, and it takes a careful reading to absorb it all and select what best meets an individual reader’s needs. Be assured, however, that those who approach the book this way will be rewarded. 

For additional information on Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide please see this article from the February 2005 issue of 2e Newsletter: Looking at Learning Difficulties through a Different Lens – An Interview with Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide.