Waldorf Methods Can Help the Child with Bipolar Disorder

Children with bipolar disorder can range from being manic (hyperactive, pressured speech, obsessed with completing a project -- or 10 projects, nonsense talk, poor eye contact, doesn't sleep enough, irritable, raging) to being depressed (lethargic, isolated, uninterested in anything, irritable, sleeps too much, raging.

Trying to get these children to sit down and work at a desk all day long is next to impossible.

Not to mention that getting them to go along with the group, quietly work independently, follow social conventions, just basically get along with the teacher and the kids is very difficult.

Waldorf puts an end to endless worksheets, battles over homework, boring-seemingly 'busy work' projects.

Waldorf extracts the child's knowledge and shows him how to find that knowledge within himself.

It gives them the confidence to look for what they need. It teaches them a reverence for education, a respect for learning.

Because art is part of every piece of work they do, they are brought to beauty and taught to expect the best from themselves in every project they undertake.

• Their will is called into action to make sure their handwriting is straight and beautiful.
• Their imagination is called to action to produce a beautiful border or illustration for every written page.
• Their intellect is called to action to put it all together.

Because there aren't textbooks in Waldorf and the child produces their own, the child with bipolar disorder is constantly producing his or her own textbook that, in the end, will be a marvelous book chronicling the year. What an accomplishment! How wonderful to look at what you have done and see how you have progressed.

Waldorf brings a feeling of peace and reverence to the school day.

Because Waldorf teaches in blocks....focusing on a subject for 3-4 weeks at a time:

• Transitions are lessened
   
• Subjects can be delved into much deeper and more richly
   
• If the child is having a difficult time understanding something you have ample time to present it in many different ways--(i.e...., math can be done on paper, on the chalk board, with manipulatives, mentally, even at the grocery store)
   
• Block rotation enables you to focus on a subject and then let it rest in the child. I am often amazed at how my daughter seems to get bored with a subject about 3 1/2 weeks into our work!
   
• Subjects like math, grammar, composition, science, and history don't become a dreaded subject that appears daily. Children have time to dig deep into a subject and know that it will 'go away' for a bit. Daily math worksheets can quickly kill a child's love of math.