Hello everyone,
This episode of The Hoot Chronicles came out on March 21st and you can listen to it on our podcast Chirping with ABA Owls. This should take you to our podcast page or you can listen on iTunes, Podbean and other podcasting apps.
Every month, we discuss a book or article(s) that we find interesting – This month we decided to go with Blind Spots: Why Students Fail… and the Science That Can Save Them.
About the author
Blind Spots was written by Dr. Kimberly Nix Berens, she is a scientist-educator, the founder of Fit Learning and has been using behavioural science in her practice since 1998, There are more than 30 centers worldwide – one is actually in London.
What is Blind Spots about?
The book focuses on the educational system, and how it is not serving students appropriately. Even though the data and information is relevant to the North American school system, there are a lot of similarities to the worldwide educational system.
Who should read this book?
In one word? Everyone! If you’re a parent, a professional, a student or just curious, this book is for you. We’ve all been students, we’ve all felt like we were doing something wrong because we were not understanding something in school and this book addresses that.
Inside the book
Dr. Kimberly divides her book into 8 chapters. The first 4 chapters discuss the current situation – she presents data, studies, etc.
In the 5th chapter, she discusses the 9 myths in education – the so-called “reasons” why children (both SEN and neurotypical) are not progressing.
One of the myths is called “But they are the experts” – this myth in particular caught our attention. Many behavior analysts (including ourselves) have come across situations where our knowledge is not perceived as specialist.
If you’re a SENCO, or a teacher, or a psychologist, then you are considered a specialist. Behavior analysts seem to have a harder time being considered specialists.
For the final 3 chapters, Dr. Kimberley presents her proposed solution for what can be done in the future and the evidence supporting her strategies.
Where can you get the book?
Disclaimer: the prices might have changed since the time this post was published or the podcast episode recorded.
Physical book
Creator’s website: https://www.drkimberlyberens.com/blindspots
Ebay: £15.45
Amazon and Book Depository: £16.29
Blackwell: £11.99
AbeBooks: £11.46
Waterstones: £17.99
Online version
Apple books: £7.99
We would love to have more books in audio format – even in different languages! Any ABA authors interested, feel free to drop us a message!
Final Notes and links
The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria has an episode with Dr. Kimberly discussing her book – session 136
You can also listen to her on The Controversial Exchange podcast by Ryan O’Donnell – TCE#035
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Kimberley Berens and FitLearning, here are some links for you:
https://fitlearners.com/
https://www.drkimberlyberens.com/
https://fitlearnersldn.com/
We hope you’ve found this helpful, we will try our best to publish blog posts as the podcast episodes come out.
You can also follow us on Instagram (@ABA_owls), send us an email on aba.owls.uk@gmail.com or leave us a comment below.
Thank you for reading,
Carla and Lauren