Study links childhood IQ to likelihood of future drug use

Mental exercise is good for mental development.





Is Mo an idiosyncratic person ?

Addiction surely is a complicated subject. I imagine there are as many reasons people get addicted (or don't) as there are people.

I've sometimes wondered if part of the reason "the war on drugs" hasn't worked is because nobody talks about the pleasant part of using drugs, then kids try them and find them pleasant, then they think adults are full of **** with all their warnings and dire predictions.

Same with sex. Kids hear a lot of warnings but nobody talks to them about how nice it can be. Then they try it and they like it and they wonder why adults are so weird about it.

I don't know where the line might be in discussing such things so I don't have any solutions to offer.

Aren't we all?

Some more than others.

My mother used to say:
"David, u r like someone from another planet."
It was not a compliment.





David

I thought that the results of the study showing that certain games can increase processing speed, which translates into an increased I.Q. score, was very exciting. I did some Googling on Silvia Bunge, the main researcher, and the work that's being done in Bunge's lab using brain scans to look at changes in the brain during certain cognitive activities, and it really is the sort of thing that will lead to meaningful interventions in the future to help kids and adolescents with all sorts of problems, including the type that Mo seems to have.
Those are the sorts of answers I think you'd like to hear from a neuropsychologist now--whether Mo's problems are neurologically based, and in what area(s) of the brain, and what sorts of interventions can improve functioning--but I don't think you can get those answers simply based on neuropsych testing at this stage of the game because this research is fairly new, and it involves brain scanning that's being done only for research and not in clinical practice. But, like the study Bunge did involving processing speed and playing certain games, it can suggest some immediate and practical interventions, like having Mo play those games. The next research step on Bunge's agenda would likely be to do brain scans while the games are played, or before and after a trial period of playing those games, to see what's actually going on in the brain.
So, even if a neuropsychologist can't answer the questions you have now, I think they might be able to do so in the near future based on the findings from such research. That's really hopeful stuff.
This article describes some of Bunge's other work--it's very interesting
http://www.ucop.edu/sciencetoday/article/18977

Are you familiar with Mind Reading--a game designed to help children read social cues better?
http://www.jkp.com/mindreading/mainfeatures.php
I don't know anything about it, or it's effectiveness, I just came across it looking up things I thought might help Mo.

I wonder if something like this Magic Wand Keyboard would enable Mo to "write" more quickly and easily when using a computer, and thereby help to decrease some of his frustration and difficulty about expressing himself via the written word. Just a thought.
http://www.magicwandkeyboard.com/

Since having to write something is probably mostly associated with schoolwork, I wonder if Mo would have the same level of difficulty with it if the writing occurred in a different context, like exchanging simple e-mails or messages with you--something that could be made more fun for him, less pressured, and something that wasn't going to be evaluated or graded. Or you might try exhanging brief hand written little notes on simple hand made greeting cards with each other.

I agree with you completely, about both drugs and sex ed. We are not honest with kids.

I don't have any solutions either, but I suppose it might focus on helping a child to learn that an immediate pleasant effect can lead to unpleasant or simply unforeseen, consequences that they might not be ready to handle just yet. Just because something might make you feel good on the moment, doesn't mean it's a good thing to try or do at a particular time. Encouraging kids to think and make good choices, and helping them to realize they always have choices, seems more sensible than just advocating abstinence.

Dieters learn that sort of thing. The chocolate might taste delicious, but "five minutes in the mouth, five pounds on the hips"--you have to think about future consequences, not just immediate pleasure.

So interesting and good to hear that, Boom.

Neither here nor there as I'm not sure how much it might apply, and I have probably told you about her before - I've a cousin who was dyslexic before that was a known tossed around word, but sharp in math, sharp in a general way. Flunked latin repeatedly, aced the math part of the SAT. By the time she went to college, there were small tape recorders on the market, and that's how she got through. How she wrote tests, I dunno - I'll have to ask her next time I see her. Presumably she messed up spelling but could otherwise write given time. It was reading that got her and the listening while trying to take notes.

She an elder now and reads for pleasure, so she's worked around it.

You can take aspirin and die from doing so in fact my mother almost did however that does not justify stating that a one time does will do you harm because you can point to .00000001 of people such as my mother that it happen to.

You are completely ignoring the fact that some drugs, like crack, can be powerfully, and rapidly, psychologically addicting--sometimes after a single dose.

meth is only as good as the strung out freak cooking it.

one dose is all it takes to fry brain cells.

man made chemicals causing brain changes...

most of what goes into meth can kill you by itself.

Quote:

Let see in my life I had between three to four doses of cocaine and never found it anything I would dream of doing for it own benefits instead of making a young lady happy in the hope of her making me happy in turn.

In fact I found I strongly dislike the effects of cocaine and fought them as best I could.

I question if crack would had driven me into being a drug addicted either

Psychologically addicting just another way of saying someone like the effects enough to keep doing it and can apply to a wide numbers of things that had nothing to do with drugs.

I think that one of the things that is good about written communication, is it allows us* to go back and re-read what we wrote to make sure it makes sense, and is understandable to someone else when they read it.

*not all of us use this opportunity. not naming names. BillRM...

I had a meth head chase me around my house. Not good for others either. (Not that I don't have some sympathy, he was in the recovery scene and not presently using.)

You got one vote up so far for taking a shot at me how nice for you.

that wasn't a shot, Bill. it was a request...

please respect those reading your posts enough to edit them to make them legible.

We just wanna understand what u intend to say, Bill,
because we think that what u say is worth KNOWING.





David

you're taking this farther than I would have, dave.

you got a mouse in your pocket?

I use a track ball.





David

It is exciting. There is a lot of exciting stuff happening in this area. I think they'll eventually come up with very specific ways to target learning disabilities.

I had our parent-teacher conference today and even the teacher brought up further testing for neurological problems. It was such a depressing experience to sit there listening to her say "I don't know" over and over again and only being able to respond "I don't know either."

The "Mind Reading" game looks pretty interesting. It made me recall the school psychologist saying something about showing Mo cards with illustrations and asking him to explain what people were feeling -- she said he only described what was happening. Notes about this test aren't included anywhere in the report I received...... Strange.

I don't know if the Magic Wand Keyboard would really help. Mo is amazingly strong. Seriously strong. He'd probably have it busted into pieces within a day.

We've tried having him write other kinds of things but the disconnect for him is really extreme. He did come up with a prank to play on Mr. B today and he had to write a little note to pull it off. It was the first thing I've seen him write down voluntarily in a long, long, time.

----------

For people interested in this sort of thing....

I've been following some of the research of Aditi Shankardass. This is a good listen for neurology lovers:



I'm also a big fan of education blogger Yong Zhao. I really like what he has to say about 21st century education and the importance of creativity. One of his latest, fine articles is about Lady Gaga: http://zhaolearning.com/2011/09/11/if-lady-gaga-can-be-useful/.

Zhao, along with Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink, and Alfie Kohn give me hope that Mo's "usefulness" will eventually be recognized.

Wow. Yeah. I think you're right. Good food for thought. Thank you.