Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Social Learning and Learning Disability

My human development class as been exposing me to the theories of Vygotsky and Bandura, and it finally dawns on my why ADHD is such a problem for someone already struggling with ASD. I suppose it's symptomatic of my own ASD tendencies that I've never considered social learning to be that important. The theories of Piaget and Chomsky have always seemed more compelling to me, that the unfolding of cognition is an inherent process. Relationships had a mysterious quality for me, like the notion that a relationship has a life of its own. It is strange for me to consider it a tool for learning. Of course the truth will lie somewhere in between for most people. There are other theories as well. I use cognitive behavior tools and speak of Maslow's hierarchy. I throw evolutionary explanations around on occasion. But if socialization is a learned process and learning is a challenge, where does that leave us?