Life, Animated: A "Multiple Intelligences" Way to Think About Autism

Notes by Howard Gardner

By no means am I an expert on autism, Asperger’s syndrome, or what is now called the Autistic Spectrum. Nonetheless, when I was attempting to identify the separate intelligences, over thirty years ago, studies of autism were highly germane. One of the chief criterions for an intelligence is its strong existence, or its noticeable absence in a part of the population. Accordingly, I was very interested in prodigies. Most prodigies are not prodigious ‘across-the-board.’ Rather, they are especially strong in mathematics, in music, and/or in chess. By the same token, I was very interested in individuals with autism. Autistic individuals are virtually defined by their deficit in one or two areas: useful language and/or an understanding of other persons. And though it is scarcely the rule, many autistic individuals have a particular ‘island of strength’; for example, musical ability, mechanical ability, and/or skill in freehand drawing.

Of course, there has been a huge amount of research in this area in the intervening three decades. We are far better at diagnosing autism and at delineating types and subtypes along the autistic spectrum. We know something about the biology, the genetics, and the brain structure and functions of autistic individuals. And there have been numerous efforts to help autistic individuals, either by building on their areas of strength or by creating environments in which they are better able to accomplish their goals.

Still, I am quite sure that I was not alone in being stunned by the recently published book by noted journalist Ron Suskind, entitled Life, Animated. In this text, Suskind describes two decades in which he and his wife strove to help their autistic son Owen. An article summarizing some of the content from the book was published by the New York Times and is available by clicking here.

Of the various ‘treatments’ and experiences that the Suskinds went through with Owen, by far the most successful was the repeated viewing of Walt Disney full-length cartoon movies. While watching these movies innumerable times may have been tedious for the Suskind parents, the experience proved invaluable for their son. Through viewing the movies, and then replaying them in his own mind, Owen learned about the world of other persons. More specifically, he learned both about the range of emotions that individuals, including himself, experience; and how to talk about these experiences in ways that would make sense to others and to himself.

From an MI point of view, the movies were the catalyst or ‘trigger’ for awakening both of the intelligences that are classically weak in individuals with autism. The movies foregrounded various personal and emotional situations (love, jealousy, pride, fear), hence strengthening the personal intelligences; and provided a vocabulary with which to describe these personal situations, hence strengthening the linguistic intelligence. While it is no means clear that Walt Disney had these spheres as his original goals, his genius was to devise vehicles of entertainment that appealed across the globe, across the age spectrum, and, as we now see, across a range of human differences.

Changing the Mindset of Education

An article in the Huffington Post's Education section has referenced Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences in a call for greater empowerment of students' abilities.

Columnists Arina Bokas and Rod Rock draw on Carol Dweck's research to delineate two mindsets about success in education: 1) a fixed mindset where people believe that their achievements are due to inherent intelligence; and 2) a growth mindset in which intelligence can be cultivated and enhanced due to hard work. According to the authors, too often, the fixed mindset, reinforced by a belief in biological origins of intellectual capacity, wins out in education. By assuming that intelligence is not malleable and cannot be expanded, the minds of children cannot grow.

By embracing the alternative growth mindset, which is supported by neuroscientific evidence, learning can be better fostered. Gardner's MI theory holds that students have different strengths in many separate areas. The multiple intelligences can be employed to step away from "one-size-fits-all" education and move towards personalization and individuation.

To read the article in full, please click here.

Spatial Intelligence and Navigation

Notes by Howard Gardner

John Edward Huth's book The Lost Art of Finding Our Way, featured in an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, is a text that collects the various methods of navigation used by our forebears that have been dwindling due to the rise of technology.

When I developed the theory of multiple intelligences more than thirty years ago, I keenly remember one of the chief stimuli for the theory: my fascination with the capacity of navigators in the South Seas to find their way among hundreds or even thousands of islands, covering hundreds of miles, without a compass or any other technology. As I put it, they were able to use their ‘spatial intelligence’ to navigate, attending to and synthesizing such features as the configuration of stars in the sky, the feel of the vessel as it passed over the waters, and occasional landmarks. At the time I thought, "Human beings have a remarkable range of capacities; but how they are developed and nurtured, and to what end, is determined by the needs and desires of the ambient culture."

Three decades later, on an entirely different research trek, Katie Davis and I tried to understand in which ways young people today differed from their predecessors (including my peers and me over half a century ago). Of course, nearly all sources of evidence underscored the importance of life in a digital world. Ultimately, we determined that what defines this generation most sharply is their immersion in the world of apps. Not only are they always on the lookout for the app that will allow them to execute a task quickly, efficiently, and neatly; but to some extent, they see their whole life as a series of apps, what we wryly termed a "Super App."

Nowadays, almost all of us are beneficiaries of the app world. And few of us would throw away a GPS that would allow us to get from point A to point B efficiently.

But what happens if the technology breaks down? Or what happens if we are so app-immersed that, once at point B, we simply activate the next app for the next episode of life?

To address this dilemma, Katie and I introduced a distinction between app-dependence and app-enablement. An individual is app-dependent if stymied should the relevant app, for any reasons, not be readily available. A person is app-enabled if she uses the app when it is available, lets the app free her up for other activities, and, in the absence of the app, is still able to pursue her goals.

From my perspective, one educational implication is clear. It is great if young persons are able to use compasses, more complex navigational systems, or GPS;  but this technological enhancement should not be achieved at the expense of developing our brain-given cognitive capacities. And that means, we should all have the experience of finding our way around, in the absence of any external devices; and we should learn that, if one gets lost, one inevitably will find one’s way back home.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Finland, the Common Core, and MI

The Huffington Post's World Post reports that Finland has adopted new standards for its National Core Curriculum similar to those of the Common Core in the United States.

Under the new regulations, Finnish educators would no longer teach subjects like math, science, or history to students; instead, learning will be topical, meaning that lessons will be interdisciplinary and practical in nature. For example, a class on the European Union would combine elements of language, economics, history, and geography. As Finnish students consistently rank at the top of Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, the new measure has attracted a lot of attention across the world.

In the US, the same interdisciplinary and real-world criteria have been a part of the Common Core movement to enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills.

The World Post article points out that the reforms align well with Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) theory. By catering to different modes of instruction and incorporating various ways of approaching the same issues in the classroom, the standards implicitly acknowledge MI's relevance to the educational experience.

Click here to read the full article.

Using Our Intelligences for Good, Not Bad

Notes by Howard Gardner

Dan Goleman and I are always yoked together because both of us challenged the idea of a single intelligence in a way that was immediately understood by the general public, especially by teachers and business leaders.

We are friends and are very much on the same page on most matters. His notion of 'emotional intelligence' is quite similar to my concepts of 'interpersonal' and 'intrapersonal' intelligence.

Where we differ, on my analysis, is that my intelligences are amoral: you can use any intelligence for beneficent or malevolent ends. Both Goethe and Goebbels were masters of the German language; Goethe wrote great poetry, Goebbels fomented hatred. Dan combines description with prescription: he casts emotional intelligence as using one's people skills in a positive way.

The research reported in an article from The Atlantic indicates that emotional intelligence can be used for a variety of ends, including the manipulation of other individuals. Presumably both Nelson Mandela and Slobodan Milosevic had plenty of knowledge of how to affect others (in my term, they were both interpersonally intelligent). Mandela helped to reconcile a warring country; Milosevic introduced the notion of ethnic cleansing during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

On the street, it's perfectly fine to speak of 'emotional intelligence' as being desirable. Like grit, it is a capacity that we want to develop in our young persons. But, like grit, it has to be combined with positive values. We need more 'good grit' and 'good intelligence,' not simply more grit or intelligence for its own sake.

Click here to read the article via The Atlantic.