Chapter 20 · 12 min read

Special Considerations

Parent Perspective · Kieran, father of Jude, age 10. "I Wish I Had Found It Three Years Ago"

"Jude is ten and he has ADHD. Getting him to sit and do homework has been a battle every single evening for four years. Not because he isn't bright. He is extraordinarily bright. But the format of standard homework is almost perfectly calibrated to be the opposite of how his brain works: long tasks, no immediate feedback, no clear end in sight, abstract goals. I'd tried everything. Reward charts, timers, reading aloud together. Then his occupational therapist suggested we try an AI maths tutor, and I'll be honest, I was sceptical. Within the first session, he had spent forty-five minutes on mathematics problems. Forty-five minutes. Without anyone asking him to. The tool had adapted to his pace. It gave him feedback instantly. It didn't judge him when he got things wrong. It just tried a different approach. I rang the OT the next day to tell her. She said: 'Yes, that's what non-judgmental, adaptive repetition does for ADHD brains.' I wish I had found it three years ago."

Most books about technology and children are written for the average child. The average child doesn't exist.

Every class of thirty children contains a range of learning profiles that would make any standardised approach look clumsy: a child who is two years ahead of curriculum in every subject and desperately bored; a child managing dyslexia alongside a passionate talent for storytelling; a child for whom English is the third language she's operating in; a child whose ADHD means that any task lasting longer than eight minutes requires extraordinary effort; a child whose visual impairment shapes everything about how she interacts with written material.

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In this chapter

1No Child Is Average
2Neurodivergent Learners: ADHD and Autism
3Dyslexia and Other Learning Differences
4Gifted Learners: AI for Depth, Not Just Pace
5English Language Learners: AI as Patient Language Coach
6Working with Specialists and Schools
7Chapter Summary and Key Takeaways
8Reflection Questions for Parents
9References

2,675 words, about 12 minutes to read. Part Five of Raising AI-Ready Children.