New ADHD study leaves some wiggle room

@littlek,

Quote:

But in practice, with more than one in a class, it can get a little messy.

But that's what I think is the problem littlek -- distrubting the wiggly kids throught the still population. Group them all together for a wiggly class and they might all do really well if the day is designed around the need to wiggle.

Just for example - because I know this isn't practical -- Mo is pretty good at math but ask him to sit down and do a sheet of math problems and it can an hour for him to complete it. Take him out on the golf course and he can calculate birdy, eagle, bogie, double bogie from par in his head in seconds.

There's no reason you couldn't teach math to the wiggly room by letting them shoot trash into the basket and calculate answers.

Sure it's unreasonable to do this when you have 2 kids in each class who need to learn this way but if you group them all together it isn't so unreasonable anymore.

Also, I can really identify with that noose making kid -- I'm kind of like that. It doesn't mean that I'm not working on the problem, most likely that's when I'm really working on the problem. People I used to work with always knew when I was "on to something" because the place would be littered with paper clip "sculptures".

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@High Seas,

That magician article was great!

That's the kind of research that may lead to really changes in the way kids are educated. As it stands now, schools really like that brute force approach focusing problems.

Honest to god, I think my refusal to play along with their ADHD scam put a target on Mo's back and that's why he gets in trouble so often. I sometimes think they think they'll just wear me down and I'll start drugging him.

Your post also reminded me of something I read a while back on the scholar/athlete. I'm going to have to try to track that down.....

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@High Seas,

That is an interesting article.

This medical history/medical testing stuff comes up all the time in adoption forums. Adoptees become desperate to find medical info on their bio families for some reason I could never understand. I know my medical history and it doesn't change one single thing about my approach to health care.

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@boomerang,

I think Li'l Kay has a good point. I would observe that there probably are some ADHD kids out there, but not nearly so many as schools seem to want to believe there are. I strongly suspect that there is something seductive about identifying an active child as hyperactive, and then doping them up so as to obviate the problems.

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Littlek always has a good point!

I was outside painting my window (painting is when I do some good thinking) about the kinetic learning thing -- clapping rhythms, etc. and how that might relate to Mo and his drum playing.

He LOVES his drum lessons and has stuck with it without a single complaint for almost two years now -- a record for Mo sticking with anything.

His teacher still hasn't started him on reading music yet because he has recognized that Mo learns differently and that Mo can remember complicated rhythms without much effort.

Figuring how to translate that to academics would be great......

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The big push for a chunk (very technical) of educational years has been to work within the philosophy of inclusion. Wiggly kids who were taken out of non-wiggly classes in the past and put into wiggly-only classes weren't getting what they needed. I imagine there are ways to give them what they need in that situation, it just wasn't being done.

Currently, we can't pull kids out of regular ed classes unless it is NOT during a core academic segment of the day. In elementary school, if the class has free reading, the sped kid might go to Occupational Therapy (and thus miss out on a highly enjoyable and relaxing piece of the classroom schedule) (although, OT is also quite enjoyable). Or, more likely, the wiggler will go to guided reading during that time. In middle school, we sped teachers have students during what would be their foreign language or study hall periods.

In the future, our middle school may be moving towards grouping their sped students by need. We may be about to make wiggly sped rooms and non-wiggly sped rooms. I have a group of adhd kids together for one period. I need to find a way to keep them focused. I kept thinking of a pot of popcorn on a stove as I watched their attention bouncing off one-another.

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I'm just asking this out of pure curiosity, littlek, but have you ever tried providing them with a common distraction? Like playing French (insert any foreign language) rap or hip-hop music? Something that is kind of familiar but not too familiar?

I know there is not going to be any sea change in education while Mo is in school. Our schools here are so pathetically underfunded that it's remarkable that they accomplish anything at all. I know they can't tailor their teaching to Mo and that's why I'm always grumbling, miserable and looking for alternatives. A girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway.....

When Mo and I are getting nowhere on his homework we sometimes do "random dancing" which is something I stole from a TV show he likes to watch. We just stop, dance for a few minutes, then get back to work.

We play every morning for at least 30 minutes before school - physical play, basketball, badminton, golf, something. We play every day after school, serious hard physical play. We dance off the homework stumbles. I do everything I can think of.

Today he got in trouble at school for "making shooting noises" while playing Star Wars during recess.

Seriously. Saying "pshoo, pshoo, pshoo" like you're a laser thingy on a space ship requires speaking to your mom about your violent behavior.

Every day I hear about his "bad" behavior and honestly, it is like the school who cried "wolf". At first I thought Mo was the problem but now I think it's the school. Most days I just want to stop in the office and tell them to take a frikken chill pill.

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Making shooting noises is "violent behavior"??? That is ridiculous!

Of course, I was the mother who got her son in trouble by teaching him how to give wedgies. ("Inappropriate sexual contact," they called that. Laughing

)

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@Eva,

YOU MONSTER!!!

But yeah, shooting noises are strictly forbidden least someone think your finger is a intergalactic war ship that fires missles. Perhaps I should paint his fingertips orange or something......

Sometimes it seems like Mo gets in trouble for getting out of bed in the morning. No kidding: one day he got in trouble at school for riding his scooter in front of our house!!

It's completely absurd.

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<peeks out of hiding long enough to ask...>

In front of his own house??? What's wrong with that?! And how would they even know?

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@Eva,

We live less than a block from school and the school bus driver saw him. He reported it to the school saying Mo was unsupervised and in danger. He said that Mo got in the street and chased the school bus, being so close that he could not be seen in the bus mirrors. When Mo tried to explain they wouldn't even listen. He called me for backup. I too had been in the yard that morning and I was dumbfounded when I got the call. I had to go to school and explain that yes, Mo is allowed to ride his scooter in front of our house and the reason he couldn't be seen in the bus mirrors is because he was inside the house getting his backpack.

I was afraid they were going to call CPS!

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@boomerang,

Sounds like that bus driver needs some meds.

"I can't see him, so HE MUST BE CHASING ME!!!!!!"

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@boomerang,

The more I think on this, the more appalled I am.

I hope you made them squirm at their own ridiculousness.

"So, he didn't see Mo behind the bus? And because he didn't see him you reasoned that he was therefore chasing the bus? And you're in charge of teaching my son to think logically?!?!?"

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This just doesn't make any sense at all.

Mo is lucky to have a sensible mother.

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See why I call it Ionesco Elementary?

Really though, I do feel guilty about my part in having him labeled as a troublemaker because I don't punish him for the bullshitty type stuff they report on him every day.

"You went "pshoo, pshoo", Mo? Just wait til your father gets home!"

He'll probably get in trouble today for choosing to wear his Green Day t-shirt with the heart shaped hand grenade on it since weapons aren't allowed in school.

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Boomer, I don't run the LC, I just work there.... sort of. My gut feeling tells me that the music would be helpful for some and hard to handle for others. One big issue is that 2 kids might be working on math and 2 kids on English and 2 kids on SS. When I am able to carry all of them through the period on one common subject, it works much better.

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i swear i have ADD.

im not very hyper but i have so much trouble with math etc..

i can feel it when i am trying to do long math problems...

nah.

im just insane.

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@boomerang,

Bio history is important because of genes. This is a forthcoming article on one gene, which may indicate a 50-50 chance of learning disabilities or similar diagnoses:

Quote:

So - if the 50-50 split holds with more testing - that gene may indicate at least an increased risk when it's damaged, and conversely when it's not. Have you thought of gene testing? Lab costs are now down to a few hundred.

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@High Seas,

PS this article bears no direct relation to DNA but is also on topic (btw, sorry both articles originate with proprietary databases so can't post more of the texts):

Quote:

Methylphenidate potential treatment for internet addiction.
Source:
Brown University Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacology Update; Jun2009, Vol. 11 Issue 6, p7-7, 1/3p
Abstract:
The article reports on the impact of Internet video game addiction on the patients with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in the U.S. It mentions the result of a new medical study which states that playing video games can be a self medication in patient with ADHD. It also mentions the use of methylphenidate (MPH) for the treatment of ADHD.
ISSN:
15278395

1 Reply

@High Seas,

OK, one more, these authors don't believe there is such a thing as ADHD, but definitely believe there's such a thing as lazy teachers who'd rather address zombies than living children:

Quote:

ADHD: a scientific fact or a factual opinion? A critique of the veracity of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Authors:
Visser, John1
Jehan, Zenib1
Source:
Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties; Jun2009, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p127-140, 14p

Abstract:
This paper is a contribution to the debate on the phenomenon of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It explores how and why the discourses surrounding the aetiology and interventions are dominated by a bio-medical understanding of ADHD. Competing discourses are examined, particularly those marginalised because they do not support the prevailing neurological paradigm of ADHD. The reasons for the controversy over psychostimulant medications are explored by examining the reasoning and evidence which contribute to the medicalisation of behaviour. Given the uncertainties, possible contradictions and ambiguities within the bio-medical model of ADHD, educational professionals would do well to look beyond the label to the child's needs rather than assume that such a condition 'exists' and is the provenance of those in the medical profession.

Author Affiliations:
1School of Education, University of Birmingham, UK

1 Reply

New ADHD study leaves some wiggle room

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