Showing posts with label ADD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ADD. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
ADHD Classroom Strategies
This Grade 5 teacher has some good suggestions in this video. I also like his approach to discussing what works and what doesn't work. What do you think?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Tips for dealing with output and ADHD or problems commencing work
One of the big challenges for children with Written Output issues (and/or attention deficit) is beginning their work. It can take a long time to settle down and get started and they can tend to procrastinate with small distractions, but in reality their head may be hopping with ideas and the thought of not being able to output them at the desired rate is a very good explanation of why it's so difficult to start.
It can really help such children if from the outset they have some sense of a time expectation. This can be especially pertinent to children with attention issues for whom the concept of time can feel overwhelming. Therefore I recommend you equip the child with a palm sized kitchen timer and suggest to them you're going to spend 5 mins or 10 mins on x task. You may find the child settles down and begins much swifter because suddenly time has a manageable box around it and the ding or beep of the timer gives them comfort and the confidence to commence. It's important to let the child set and control the timer.
It's especially challenging for children who brains are abuzz with ideas that when they consider it's going to be very difficult to physically get them down on the page, they tend to become discouraged. This will give rise to an unwillingness to commence or a suggestion they don't have any ideas or they can't do it.
I think it can help to have realistic expectations so therefore if the child has a very significant idea they are trying to nail it's better to offer to scribe for them or let them dictate it while you touch type. It's critical to address this sense of ideas being stalled because if you don't, the child can perceive they have no hope of realizing a whole idea on paper. Gradually though with less extensive projects you can negotiate more writing on their end (or typing if they are willing.)
The only way to crack the resistance to writing is to give the child the experience of seeing their ideas materialize. It might help to imagine that for a child with written output troubles it's the equiv of running a long race when you're exhausted having taken two strides.
Ideas can be documented in many, many ways aside from neat paragraphs. If the child is showing acute frustration introduce an alternative such as "a picture with words." On a large sheet of paper they draw a picture and then using single words they can tell the story in the picture. You can then take these single words and build them into sentences and gradually the child can see the idea emerging.
Grab a tape recorder and have the child speak into it. Then the child can in their own time slowly transcribe their idea or story onto the page. This will help relieve some of the pressure and frustration.
Inspiration software is a really great investment. If you cannot afford it, which many families can't, do the same thing with a pencil and paper. Brainstorm words, link ideas and show the child how to form something from nothing. Use devices like multi coloured pens with different ideas. It can help the child to physically switch material. It's makes the consistent act of writing seem less daunting because there's some associated action and decisions to make.
Remember if the child is having a difficult time, get creative rather than insistent.
It can really help such children if from the outset they have some sense of a time expectation. This can be especially pertinent to children with attention issues for whom the concept of time can feel overwhelming. Therefore I recommend you equip the child with a palm sized kitchen timer and suggest to them you're going to spend 5 mins or 10 mins on x task. You may find the child settles down and begins much swifter because suddenly time has a manageable box around it and the ding or beep of the timer gives them comfort and the confidence to commence. It's important to let the child set and control the timer.
It's especially challenging for children who brains are abuzz with ideas that when they consider it's going to be very difficult to physically get them down on the page, they tend to become discouraged. This will give rise to an unwillingness to commence or a suggestion they don't have any ideas or they can't do it.
I think it can help to have realistic expectations so therefore if the child has a very significant idea they are trying to nail it's better to offer to scribe for them or let them dictate it while you touch type. It's critical to address this sense of ideas being stalled because if you don't, the child can perceive they have no hope of realizing a whole idea on paper. Gradually though with less extensive projects you can negotiate more writing on their end (or typing if they are willing.)
The only way to crack the resistance to writing is to give the child the experience of seeing their ideas materialize. It might help to imagine that for a child with written output troubles it's the equiv of running a long race when you're exhausted having taken two strides.
Ideas can be documented in many, many ways aside from neat paragraphs. If the child is showing acute frustration introduce an alternative such as "a picture with words." On a large sheet of paper they draw a picture and then using single words they can tell the story in the picture. You can then take these single words and build them into sentences and gradually the child can see the idea emerging.
Grab a tape recorder and have the child speak into it. Then the child can in their own time slowly transcribe their idea or story onto the page. This will help relieve some of the pressure and frustration.
Inspiration software is a really great investment. If you cannot afford it, which many families can't, do the same thing with a pencil and paper. Brainstorm words, link ideas and show the child how to form something from nothing. Use devices like multi coloured pens with different ideas. It can help the child to physically switch material. It's makes the consistent act of writing seem less daunting because there's some associated action and decisions to make.
Remember if the child is having a difficult time, get creative rather than insistent.
Dept of Health and Human Science overview on ADHD
Here's a link to US Dept of Health and Human Sciences (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) overview on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Lots of resources and links, including symptoms overview, which may be useful to parents tackling or wondering about such issues.
Latest on ADHD: Studies Track Treatment Outcomes for Kids With ADHD
Studies Track Treatment Outcomes for Kids With ADHD
Meds plus behavior therapy work best, but symptoms can return
(HealthDay News) -- Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement but were still at increased risk of behavioral problems in the years after treatment, say researchers.
Four studies appearing in the August 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry evaluated the outcomes of children who participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA), the first major randomized trial comparing different treatments of ADHD. The initial results of MTA were published in 1999.
Full story here
Meds plus behavior therapy work best, but symptoms can return
(HealthDay News) -- Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed sustained improvement but were still at increased risk of behavioral problems in the years after treatment, say researchers.
Four studies appearing in the August 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry evaluated the outcomes of children who participated in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA), the first major randomized trial comparing different treatments of ADHD. The initial results of MTA were published in 1999.
Full story here
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Pediatric Ritalin may affect young brains
NEW YORK -- (Press Release) -- U.S. medical researchers have discovered use of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Ritalin by young children might affect their brains.
The Weill Cornell Medical College animal study is among the first to investigate the effects of Ritalin (methylphenidate) on the neurochemistry of the developing brain.
Between 2 percent and 18 percent of U.S. children are thought to be affected by ADHD and Ritalin -- a stimulant similar to amphetamine and cocaine -- remains one of the most prescribed drugs for the behavioral disorder.
"The changes we saw in the brains of treated rats occurred in areas strongly linked to higher executive functioning, addiction and appetite, social relationships and stress, said Professor Teresa Milner, the study's lead author. "These alterations gradually disappeared over time once the rats no longer received the drug."
The scientists said their findings suggest physicians should be careful in their diagnosis of ADHD before prescribing Ritalin. That's because Ritalin might be helpful in battling the disorder but harmful if given to youngsters with healthy brain chemistry.
The research appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Dysgraphia/written output struggles -- we want to hear from you
There's a very interesting comment been posted at an earlier posting http://writtenoutputdisorder.blogspot.com/2007/01/dysgraphia-vs-written-output-disorder.html on this blog that I encourage you all to read.
Brent, just about to graduate with his master degree, (bravo!) details his background being gifted with dysgraphia.
It's very insightful to hear these stories. There's so few resources on written output struggles and first hand accounts are fascinating and help us gain a better understanding.
At the library yesterday I was looking at Samuel Beckett's theatrical notebooks. They were written in a squared notebook. I looked at three of them, curious to see how long he could maintain such upright, clear writing. In two of them it slanted to the right. While I was looking at them, (they are actually in German) I remembered the terrible cramps in my hands writing essays and exams. It made me wonder if unbeknownst to me at the time I had had my own struggles with physical writing. Obviously they did not impede me to the extent that I see my own child challenged by them, but I am far more fluid on a keyboard.
I often noticed that doctors handwriting can be completely illegible for example. It would be very interesting to hear from people who have been challenged by written output and have had to make choices based on those challenges because I am thinking the implications forty or fifty years ago of such a challenge would have been vastly different from today where accommodations can be made with technology.
A lawyer recently told me he was most certainly penalised for his poor handwriting all the way through university.
If you know anyone with such stories please encourage them email to writtenoutputdisorder.blogspot.com if they do not wish to comment on the actual blog. I can post them anon. as blog postings if they prefer. I'm very happy for people to consider this compiling of information rather than "sharing" of stories, which understandably not everyone feels comfortable with. Most people reading this blog are looking for strategies, so it's very valuable to hear the strategies people used to cope and what the implications of these challenges have been for them if they care to disclose. If not, that's fine. In short just tell us what got you through.
Someone recently suggested to me that one way to deal with ADD is to accept you might need to have five different careers in your lifetime. I thought that was quite a genius of a concept.
Brent, just about to graduate with his master degree, (bravo!) details his background being gifted with dysgraphia.
It's very insightful to hear these stories. There's so few resources on written output struggles and first hand accounts are fascinating and help us gain a better understanding.
At the library yesterday I was looking at Samuel Beckett's theatrical notebooks. They were written in a squared notebook. I looked at three of them, curious to see how long he could maintain such upright, clear writing. In two of them it slanted to the right. While I was looking at them, (they are actually in German) I remembered the terrible cramps in my hands writing essays and exams. It made me wonder if unbeknownst to me at the time I had had my own struggles with physical writing. Obviously they did not impede me to the extent that I see my own child challenged by them, but I am far more fluid on a keyboard.
I often noticed that doctors handwriting can be completely illegible for example. It would be very interesting to hear from people who have been challenged by written output and have had to make choices based on those challenges because I am thinking the implications forty or fifty years ago of such a challenge would have been vastly different from today where accommodations can be made with technology.
A lawyer recently told me he was most certainly penalised for his poor handwriting all the way through university.
If you know anyone with such stories please encourage them email to writtenoutputdisorder.blogspot.com if they do not wish to comment on the actual blog. I can post them anon. as blog postings if they prefer. I'm very happy for people to consider this compiling of information rather than "sharing" of stories, which understandably not everyone feels comfortable with. Most people reading this blog are looking for strategies, so it's very valuable to hear the strategies people used to cope and what the implications of these challenges have been for them if they care to disclose. If not, that's fine. In short just tell us what got you through.
Someone recently suggested to me that one way to deal with ADD is to accept you might need to have five different careers in your lifetime. I thought that was quite a genius of a concept.
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