Week Four

The article Medicating Young Minds was a very relatable and interesting article. Kids and young adults suffering from ADHD are more common than we think. According to the same article up to 10 percent American kids have mental illness. We are living in a society where we tend to lean toward pharmaceutical solutions for almost every health problem. We are medicating young children which are a concern for the parents as no parents want their child to depend on medications. It is a very fine line to how one is diagnosed of ADHD. Is ADHD heredity? Are some children more prone to ADHD if their parents have it as well? What exactly causes ADHD or is a development issue that is linked to prenatal care?

Another topic that caught my attention was Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences. I was not aware of the fact there are different types of intelligences. There are seven different types Linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic and existential. There are some of these intelligences that I have encountered in different people for example musical, naturalistic and logical-mathematical. I assumed that this is part of their personality rather than intelligence? I always thought of intelligence as knowledge, able to solve problems, or do certain things and tasks. With this reading I now have a new outlook towards intelligence as it is not limited to ones definition.

Hereditary and Environmental factors also play a role with intelligence. The terms street smart and book smart will fit in this situation as people who are street smart is due to environmental factors. People that have experienced different cultures and environments may or may not have benefit as they might have more knowledge due to their experiences. I have lived in two complete opposite environments which i feel like sometimes gives me a benefit. I can have two different perspectives to a situation and could think of more or different possibilities. As people say the best money spent is on travelling as one can gain and learn so much through the experience. I am sure there is a reason to why people want to explore the world and learn about different parts of the country as it thought of as knowledge.