Abstract
My interest in human adaptation follows from my efforts to understand neurodiversity. This topic has occupied my attention informally for nearly 30 years and has become, within the last decade, a focus of inquiry for me across a series of autobiographical, theoretical, and empirical papers. I was forced to take on this topic during the youth of my daughter, who began exhibiting unusual behaviors early in life, ultimately being diagnosed with a number of what are known as mental illnesses and neurodivergent conditions: Asperger’s syndrome, Tourette’s syndrome, severe chronic anxiety, depression, oppositional defiance disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as they are known in the diagnostic community. The charming manner in which she would, as a child, arrange her dolls and other belongings in well-ordered patterns in various rooms of our house eventually manifested itself in other ways that began to get our attention. Ultimately, it led us to consult with medical, psychotherapeutic, and psychological interventionists who provided various combinations of pharmaceuticals and interactive therapies designed to temper her extreme tendencies, which at times could be alarming and destructive.
References
Bardziński, F. (2013). The concept of the ‘New Soviet Man’ as a eugenic project: Eugenics in Soviet Russia after World War II. Ethics in Progress, 4(1), 57–81.
Beck, G. (2009). Glenn Beck’s common sense: The case against an out-of-control government, inspired by Thomas Paine. New York: Threshold Editions.
Black, R. W. (2008). Adolescents and online fan fiction. New York: Peter Lang.
Carnegie, A. (1889, June). Wealth. North American Review,148, 653–665. Available at http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nora;cc=nora;rgn=full%20text;idno=nora0148-6;didno=nora0148-6;view=image;seq=0661;node=nora0148-6%3A1
Cheng, Y. (2009). Creating the new man: From Enlightenment ideals to socialist realities. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Cole, M. (2002). Culture and development. In H. Keller, Y. H. Poortinga, & A. Schoemerich (Eds.), Between culture and biology: Perspectives on ontogenetic development (pp. 303–319). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cook, L. S., & Smagorinsky, P. (2014). Constructing positive social updrafts for extranormative personalities. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 3(4), 296–308. Available at http://www.petersmagorinsky.net/About/PDF/LCSI/LCSI_2014.pdf
Daiute, C. (2010). Human development and political violence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Darwin, E. (1796). Zoonomia or, the laws of organic life. Dublin: P. Byrne.
Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. Available at http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species/
Francis Galton, F. (1883). Inquiries into human faculty and its development. London: Macmillan and Co.
Friedman, M. (1993). Why government is the problem. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.
Futuyma, D. (2009). Evolution. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.
Hernstein, R. J., & Murray, C. (1994). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York: The Free Press.
Hoover, H. (1928, October 22). Rugged individualism. Available at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/rugged-individualism/
Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Damasio, A. R. (2007). We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education. Mind, Brain, and Education, 1(1), 3–10.
Kozulin, A., & Gindis, B. (2007). Sociocultural theory and education of children with special needs: From defectology to remedial pedagogy. In H. Daniels, M. Cole, & J. V. Wertsch (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Vygotsky (pp. 332–362). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lamarck, J-B. (1809). Philosophie zoologique. Paris: Librairie F. Savy. Available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/Mim/lamarck_contents.html
Lee, C. D. (2010). Soaring above the clouds, delving the ocean’s depths: Understanding the ecologies of human learning and the challenge for education science. Educational Researcher, 39(9), 643–655.
Lee, K. (2008). ADHD in American early schooling: From a cultural psychological perspective. Early Child Development and Care, 178, 415–439.
Lindley, R. A. (2010). The soma. Scotts Valley: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Miller, J. M. (1922). The amazing story of Henry Ford: The ideal American and the world’s most famous private citizen—A complete and authentic account of his life and surpassing achievements. Chicago: M. A. Donohue.
Norquist, G. (2015). End the IRS before it ends us: How to restore a low tax, high growth, wealthy America. New York: Center Street Books.
Ottoni, E. B., & Izar, P. (2008). Capuchin monkey tool use: Overview and implications. Evolutionary Anthropology, 17, 171–178.
Paul, R. (2011). Liberty defined:50 essential issues that affect our freedom. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Shumaker, R. W., Walkup, K. R., & Beck, B. B. (2011). Animal tool behavior: The use and manufacture of tools by animals. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Smagorinsky, P. (2011). Confessions of a mad professor: An autoethnographic consideration of neuroatypicality, extranormativity, and education. Teachers College Record, 113, 1701–1732. Available at http://www.petersmagorinsky.net/About/PDF/TCR/TCR2011.pdf
Smagorinsky, P. (2012a). Vygotsky, “defectology,” and the inclusion of people of difference in the broader cultural stream. Journal of Language and Literacy Education [Online], 8(1), 1–25. Available at http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Vygotsky-and-Defectology.pdf
Smagorinsky, P. (2012b). Every individual has his own insanity: Applying Vygotsky’s work on defectology to the question of mental health as an issue of inclusion. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 1(1), 67–77. Available at http://www.petersmagorinsky.net/About/PDF/LCSI/LCSI_2012.pdf
Smagorinsky, P. (2013). The development of social and practical concepts in learning to teach: A synthesis and extension of Vygotsky’s conception. Learning, Culture, and Social Interaction, 2(4), 238–248. Available athttp://www.petersmagorinsky.net/About/PDF/LCSI/LCSI_2013.pdf
Smagorinsky, P. (2014, November 26). Taking the diss out of disability. Teachers College Record. Available at http://www.petersmagorinsky.net/About/PDF/TCR/TCR2014.html
Smagorinsky, P., & Daigle, E. A. (2012). The role of affect in students’ writing for school. In E. Grigorenko, E. Mambrino, & D. Preiss (Eds.), Handbook of writing: A mosaic of perspectives and views (pp. 293–307). New York: Psychology Press.
Snyder, T. (2010). Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. New York: Basic Books.
Spencer, H. (1857). Progress: Its law and causes. The Westminster Review, 67, 445–447, 451, 454–456, 464–65. Available at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/spencer-darwin.asp
Springer, J., & Holley, D. (2012). An introduction to zoology: Investigating the animal world. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Stetsenko, A. (2011). Darwin and Vygotsky on development: An exegesis on human nature. In M. Kontopodis, C. Wulf, & B. Fichtner (Eds.), Children, culture and education: Cultural, historical, anthropological perspectives (pp. 25–41). New York: Springer.
Suskind, R. (2014). Life animated: A story of sidekicks, heroes, and autism. New York: Kingswell.
Tobin, J., Valente, J., & Horejes, T. (2010–2014). Deaf kindergartens in three cultures: France, Japan, and the United States. The Spencer Foundation Major Grant.
Trotsky, L. (1923). From the old family to the new. Pravda. Retrieved September 1, 2016 from http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/women/life/23_07_13.htm
Trump, D. (2015). Speech at Bluffton, South Carolina presidential campaign rally. Retrieved July 24, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj9xsrhJKOQ
Tulviste, P. (1991). The cultural-historical development of verbal thinking. Commack, NY: Nova Science.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1925/1997a). Predislovie. In A. F. Lazurskij, Psikhologija obshaja I eksperimental’naja (3rd ed., pp. 5–23). Leningrad/St. Petersburg: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel’stve/M. K. Kostin. [Preface to Lazursky. In R. W. Rieber & J. Wollock (Eds.), The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Volume 3: Problems of the theory and history of psychology (trans: van der Veer, R.) (pp. 51–61). New York: Plenum.]
Vygotsky, L. S. (1925/1997b). Soznanie kak problema psikhologija povedenija. In K. N. Kornilov (Ed.), Psikhologija I marksizm (pp. 175–198). Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel’stvo. [Consciousness as a problem for the psychology of behavior. In R. W. Rieber & J. Wollock (Eds.), The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Volume 3: Problems of the theory and history of psychology (trans:van der Veer, R.) (pp. 63–79). New York: Plenum.]
Vygotsky, L. S. (1927). The historical meaning of the crisis in psychology: A methodological investigation (trans: Van der Veer, R.). Retrieved from http://lchc.ucsd.edu/mca/Paper/crisis/psycri01.htm#p100
Vygotsky, L. S. (1930/1997). Разум, сознание, бессознательное. In L. S. Vygotsky, Elementy obshchej psikhologii (pp. 48–61). Moscow: Izdatelstvo BZO pri Pedfake 2-go MGU. [Mind, consciousness, the unconscious. In R. W. Rieber & J. Wollock (Eds.), The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, Volume 3: Problems of the theory and history of psychology (trans: van der Veer, R.) (pp. 109–121). New York: Plenum.]
Vygotsky, L. S. (1931). Genesis of higher mental functions. Retrieved September 1, 2016 from http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1931/higher-mental-functions.htm
Vygotsky, L. S. (1993). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Volume 2: The fundamentals of defectology (abnormal psychology and learning disabilities) (R. W. Rieber & A. S. Carton, Eds.; trans: Knox, J.E. & Stevens, C. B.). New York: Plenum.
Vygotsky, L. S., & Luria, A. R. (1993). Studies on the history of behavior: Ape, primitive, and child (V. I. Golod & J. E. Knox, Eds. & Trans.). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Walker, M., & Smagorinsky, P. (2013). The power of school music programs: Students come for the music and stay for the math. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved September 1, 2016 http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2013/01/01/the-power-of-school-music-programs-students-come-for-the-music-and-stay-for-the-math/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog
Wikipedia. (n.d.a). Tool use by animals. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals
Wikipedia. (n.d.b). List of sports team names and mascots derived from indigenous peoples. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sports_team_names_and_mascots_derived_from_indigenous_peoples#Savages
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smagorinsky, P. (2016). Adaptation as Reciprocal Dynamic. In: Smagorinsky, P. (eds) Creativity and Community among Autism-Spectrum Youth. Palgrave Studies In Play, Performance, Learning, and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54797-2_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54797-2_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-54796-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-54797-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)