News Herald – Juliann Talkington
The statistics are alarming. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, boys are twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or a learning disability.
Certainly there are not twice as many “troubled” boys as there are girls. There must be some other reason for this difference. Perhaps part of the problem is our failure to recognize that boys and girls are different.
In general girls are cautious, calm, and good listeners. They are comfortable working in groups and are good team players. Boys often yell, jostle, wiggle, fiddle, and talk. They are often impulsive, energetic, competitive, and aggressive. Most boys would rather be moving rather than sitting in a seat.
Most boys are different alone than when they are in groups. When a boy is alone he may be content to read a book or focus on a task, but when boys gather together they want to interact – activity almost always ensues.
Some of the differences between boys and girls are genetic. For example, at birth the brains of boys have more cortical areas dedicated to spatial-mechanical functioning which makes many boys want to move objects through space, like model airplanes or just their arms and legs.
In addition, boys have less serotonin and oxytocin than girls. This means they are more likely to be physically impulsive and find it challenging to sit still.
Also, the male brain is set to renew, recharge, and reorient itself by entering a rest state. Females tend to recharge and reorient neural focus without rest states. This means boys will drift off when they are not engaged, but girls can keep their eyes open and still perform even if the material is boring.
Even though there are differences in the male and female brains, we know the brains of both girls and boys can be enhanced with use. This means it is critical to keep boys AND girls engaged and learning in the early years.
Boys will act out if most of the material is presented in ways that are difficult for them. It can be equally detrimental for boys to be placed in self-directed learning environments that do not force them to learn in challenging ways.
Instead it is critical that we meet somewhere in the middle of the road and make the learning environment as friendly to boys as it is to girls.