Interview with Ph.D. Thomas Armstrong on Neurodiversity and Construction of a Talent Pedagogy: critical axes for a new Inclusive Education

• Main Author: Aldo Ocampo González
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos de Educación Inclusiva 2018-03-01
• Series: Polyphonía
• Subjects: Neurodiversity; talents; human nature
• Online Access: http://revista.celei.cl/index.php/PREI/article/view/161-165/pdf
• ISSN: 0719-7438; 0719-7438

The interview with the Ph.D. Thomas Armstrong, author of the famous book "The power of neurodiversity" and director of the American Institute for Learning and Human Development, delves into the emerging understanding of the field of knowledge of neurodiversity, trying to establish significant analytical and methodological links in relation to the dimension didactic of Inclusive Education. The central premise of neurodiversity - a concept that emerged in the early 2000s - provides a new framework for the understanding of human nature, through which neurological differences based on genetics in a person should be considered as variations normal in human functioning as well as in the diversity of gender, ethnicity, cultural origin, etc., states the Ph.D. Armstrong. In relation to the education of educators, it is recommended to apprehend to recognize the positive attributes present in the multiple singularities of the human being, to structure the educational and formative processes from the confluence of their interests, motivations and interests. Finally, he explains how Inclusive Education is linked to neurodiversity, arguing that, the neurodiversity paradigm helps to support inclusion in the classroom, because we begin to see that everyone has differences in the ways in which they attend, learn, they behave, they think and they feel. In short, the interview provides new keys to operationalize the understanding of the whole conceived as multiple singularities.