Tom – Middle School Principal How could I have been so blind? Why did it take me so long to tune in to my own son? My name is Tom TenBrink and I'm an educational administrator with twenty years of administrative experience at all levels. I take pride in working with parents to help them identify the problems that stand in the way of their child's learning. Even though I have proven to be very effective in assisting parents and students who are not working up to their potential in my own building, I was not finding much success with motivating my own son. I spent two frustrating years trying to understand why he wasn't being as successful in school as he had been during his first five years of formal schooling experience. Since Tyler was going to be a seventh grade student in my building this year, the pressure was on to figure out what strategies I needed to employ in order to help him be successful in his junior high experience. In 1983 I began to investigate the impact that attention deficits had on students learning and behavior in the school environment. Through the years, I garnered much information and have had many opportunities to work with parents whose children suffer with these disabilities. I was introduced to the work of Dr. Mel Levine in the area of Neurodevelopment during the 1997-1998 school year. His book, Educational Care, was very informative and left me thirsting for more. This past summer I was fortunate to participate in the initial Schools Attuned weeklong training along with four other teachers from Jenison Junior High School of which I am the principal. Before the Schools Attuned workshop, we were asked to collect information for the "Bring a Student" activity. I chose my thirteen-year-old son, Tyler, as my case study because of the struggles we had together over the past two years with his schooling experience and the fact that he was going to have the opportunity to start fresh at Jenison Junior High School in the fall. As the week went on and I delved more into Schools Attuned content in the area of understanding and helping children with learning problems at home and in school, I began to realize that what I had been labeling as puberty and lack of effort may instead be a deficit in Tyler's neurodevelopment. I felt bad that I hadn't taken time in the past to really examine what was standing in the way of my son's learning. On the other hand, I now felt empowered to make a difference in his life. Understanding some aspects of neurodevelopment and how learning is impacted has broadened my horizons in regard to working with my own children and the 750 students whom I serve in my building. I've already had the opportunities on two occasions this year to share with parents of struggling students my own personal story and the difference it has made in my child's performance at school. They have appreciated my insight and have moved forward in taking the next steps of demystifying their own child. It is my privilege to work in a school district that is committed to helping students grow intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially. Jenison Public Schools is a K-12 district that serves approximately 4,500 students who come from mostly middle class homes whose parents are family oriented. The educators who are employed in our district are committed to helping all students find success in their educational experiences and are not willing to let any of our students slip through the cracks. Many educators in our district have caught the vision of how Schools Attuned can help identify and meet the individual needs of students. In future entries I will be sharing with you what we are doing as a staff, both in my building and across our district, to help students understand how they learn, strengthen their memories, and to adopt strategies that will help them be more attentive. I will also be sharing in more depth the results of demystifying my own son and the difference it has made in our lives.