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ADHD

What causes ADHD?

ADHD is caused by a neurological inefficiency in the area of the brain that controls impulses, aids in screening sensory input and focusing attention.

ADHD Person is:

1. Chronic Boredom

2. Able to multi-task (50 things at once, normal brain 8 things at once)

3. Creative

4. Spontaneous

5. Inquisitive

6. Forgiving

7. Warm Hearted

8. Honest

9. Loyal

10. Sincere

11. Energetic

12. Trusting

13. Resilient

14. Risk Taker

15. Resourceful

16. Innovative

17. Intelligent

18. Humour (Is important. Finding humour in what we do. Rediscover childhood playfulness).

19. Perceptive

20. Intuitive

21. Needs tactile (touch things and put them back together)

22. Engage children (figure out ways to connect).

23. Quote by Tom (Now my father, he was smart). They think everyone else is smart.

24. They don’t know what is important so they pay attention to all of it. Attention surplus!

25. Low self esteem.

26. Forgetfulness, losing things.

27. emotional immaturity 2-5 years behind.

28. Hypersensitivity (bothered by tags, put socks on backwards)

29. clumsiness

30. over-whelmed in high stimulus areas – behaviour therefore is angry and frustrated. Over taken by too much stimulus.

31. Don’t have the ability to read people’s faces.

32. One of the parents has ADD.

33. Blame thing for the behaviours instead of ways to control them.

34. Impulsive- can cause tension, blurt stuff out.

35. Bed wetting in children.

36. Lives in the moment, not 2 minutes ago or 5 minutes from now. Rewards have to be immediate!

37. Talkative

38. Experiences poor social relations.

What is ADHD?

1. Inattention/Distractibility

2. Impulsivity

3. Restlessness/Hyperactivity

Distractibility

When a child has difficulty focusing for a period of time on something that requires mental effort. Easily distracted when doing homework, other noise in the room.

Hyperactivity

When a child appears to be in constant motion. Tapping feet, swinging legs or wiggling her body. May get up and down in class or try to do several things at once. Switching from one thing to another without completing anything.

Impulsivity

When a child does not stop to think before they act. May blurt out answers, interrupt when someone is speaking. An impulsive child might hit another child when he gets frustrated without considering the consequences.

It’s not:

1. A lack of intelligence

2. A lack of motivation

3. Intentional

4. Not a choice.

5. Not stupidity

6. Not a moral failing because people suggest they should do better.

ADHD people know what to do, they just don’t know how to do it!

They don’t feel like they belong, they don’t feel understood, they feel dumb and stupid. Bring ADHD people together and for once they can feel they for once belong! They never grow up, living in the moment. They have a race car engine of a brain but the brakes don’t work so well.

· Late season growth bearing new fruit!*

· We are “perfectly imperfect”.

· Progress not perfection.

7 Habits of Highly Effective ADD Adults

1. Do what you are good at.

2. Delegate

3. Connect to creativity (tactile)

4. Get “well enough” organized to move forward.

5. Heed advice from those you trust.

6. Close friends.

Always go with your positive side.

Autism

Autism is a neurological disorder that can affect the way a child behaves, thinks, verbal and non-verbal communication, and social interaction with others. It’s more common in boys than girls, and it is usually detected and diagnosed when a child is between 15 and 36 months old. They have a marked impairment with social and communication.

Social:

· Marked impairment in the use of eye to eye gaze, facial expression, body postures and gestures to regulate social interaction.

· Failure to develop peer relationships

· Lack of social engagement ie. Lack of showing, bringing or pointing out objects of interest.

· Preoccupied with one or more patterns of interest that is abnormal in intensity or focus

Communication:

· Delay or total lack of development of spoken language.

· If they can speak, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others.

· Repetitive use of language

· Talk at someone rather than with someone

· Robotic speech

· Lack of varied or spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play

· Poor on symbolic or abstract thought and sequential logic

Behaviour:

· Communication problems, delays in developing speech, repeating words, speaking in a monotone pitch, robotic like speech.

· Poor social interaction

· Repetitive behaviour and interests

· Unusual behaviours, such as spinning or flapping hands, walking on toes, jumping, skipping.

· Prefer to play by themselves.

· Not acknowledge other kids who play alongside them

· Like to line up objects and sort them into colours.

· Have difficulty making eye contact with other people.

· Stopping speaking altogether.

· Problems with communicating needs

· Throwing tantrums that are prolonged and begin with little warning.

· Laughing or crying out of nowhere

· Unusual responses to many sensory experiences, especially to sudden, loud noises or high-pitched sounds.

· Obsession with predictable rituals and sometimes playing with only one part of a toy.

· Delay in gross motor eg. Throwing, catching, kicking

· Upset by changes in familiar environment, minor changes in routine.

· Ritualistic or compulsive behaviours ie. Insistence on eating particular foods, hand flapping, memorizing weather info., province capitals, or birth dates of family members.

· Develop attachments to odd objects ie. Batteries, elastics,

· Sensory stimuli: physical touch, unusual social responses, such as touching or smelling people ( girl used to touch people’s hair)

· Good at manipulative or visual skills or immediate memory

· Excellent rote memories, special skills in music, mechanics, mathematics and reading.

Asperger’s Disorder

Asperger’s Disorder is a neurological disorder characterized by a lack of social skills; difficulty in communicating effectively with others; poor coordination and poor concentration; restricted range of interests, but normal intelligence and adequate language skills in the areas of vocabulary and grammar. These children possess an average to above average intelligence. There seems to be a hereditary component to AS.

Signs and Symptoms:

	Inappropriate or minimal social interactions
	Conversations almost always revolving around self rather than others
	“scripted”, “robotic” or repetitive speech
	lack of “common sense”
	problems with reading, math, or writing skills
	obsession with complex topics such as patterns or music
	average to above-average verbal cognitive abilities.
	Average to below-average nonverbal cognitive abilities
	Awkward movements
	Odd behaviours or mannerisms
	Trouble demonstrating empathy for others (they may giggle when someone gets hurt)
	Sensitivity to sensory stimuli (bothered by a light, cover ears to block out sounds, prefer to wear certain clothing made only from certain material)
	Good grammatical skills and an advanced vocabulary
	Very literal
	No problem feeding or dressing themselves.
	Problems with attention span, problems with organization.
	Difficulty with transitions or changes.
	Preoccupied with a particular subject of interest, obsessive routines
	Difficulty reading nonverbal cues
	Difficulty with personal space
	Have difficulty using language in a social context.

NON-VERBAL LEARNING DISABILITY (NLD)

DEFINITION:

Nonverbal learning disorders (NLD) is a neurological syndrome consisting of specific strengths and deficits. It is has not been proved to be genetic. This learning classification resembles an adult patient with a severe head injury to the right cerebral hemisphere, both symptomatically and behavirally. Rather brain scans of individuals with NLD often confirm mild abnormalities of the right cerebral hemisphere. Communication is 65% Nonverbal and 35% Verbal. Child’s verbal processing may be proficient, but it can be impossible for her to receive and comprehend nonverbal information. Such a child will cope by relying upon language as her principal means of social relating, information gathering, and relief from anxiety. As a result, she is constantly being told, “You talk too much!”

Strengths:

· Top reader, achieves excellent spelling scores, expresses himself articulately.

· Early speech and vocabulary development (decoding and encoding)

· exceptional rote memory skills

· Attention to detail but will likely miss the big picture

· Early reading skills development and excellent spelling skills.

· Verbal ability to express themselves eloquently and excellent vocabulary

· Strong auditory retention (can tell you almost word for word parts of a movie)

· Very verbal

· Developed memory for rote verbal information

· Strong reading and spelling skills

· Strongest learning medium is simple/rote auditory –“if they hear it, they will remember it”!

· Do better in individual sports, ie. Karate, skiing, music.

· Does well in a highly structured environment, not conducive to change, ie. Substitute teacher.

· Acquire an unusual aptitude for producing “phonetically accurate” reproductions of words (spelling).

Deficits:

· Motoric (lack of coordination, severe balance problems (prefers to do homework on the floor, riding a bike , kicking a soccer ball, and difficulties with writing skills.

· Social (lack of ability to comprehend nonverbal communication, difficulties adjusting to transitions and novel situations, and deficits in social judgement and social interaction).

· Sensory (sensitivity in any of the sensory modes: visual, auditory, tactile, taste or smell)

· Visual-spatial-organizational (lack of image, poor visual recall, faulty spatial & balance perceptions, difficulties with decision making, planning, initiative, assigning priority, sequencing, motor control both fine and gross motor skills, emotional regulation, inhibition, problem solving, planning, impulse control, establishing goals, monitoring results of action, self-correcting. There is generally difficulty with reading comprehension. Difficulties in math are common, especially areas of computation, word problems, and abstract applications. Concept formation and abstract reasoning may be significantly impaired. Has difficulty reading nonverbal signals and cues.

*Fine motor skills:

· Lack of dexterity in his fingers (holding spoon or fork)

· Learning to tie shoe laces

· Using scissors can be difficult to hopeless task

· Holding a pencil correctly or will have a “static tripod” pencil grip and press very deeply resulting in a slow and arduous process resulting in limited written output.

· His daily experience with fine motor skills has been likened to an adult who after having a stroke has extreme difficulty controlling their handwriting.

· Difficulty learning to ride a bicycle, catch and/or kick a ball, hop and/or skip.

Language/Communication:

· Very concrete and interpret information quite literally, ie “it’s raining cats and dogs”, or it’s either black or white as in playing games and setting rules.

· They do not process or benefit from nonverbal communication – body language, facial expressions, tone of voice may be lost on them.

· Social skills are often normally grasped intuitively through observation, not directly taught, they have to be taught.

· Poor social skills, have trouble making and/or keeping friends.

· Does not perceive subtle cues in his environment such as when something has gone far enough, the idea of “personal space”; the facial expressions of others; or when another person is registering pleasure (or displeasure) in a nonverbal mode.

Emotional/Behavioural:

· Difficulty in adjusting to new situations, or changes to their routine.

· Appear to lack common sense, or “street smarts” – they can be incredibly naïve.

· Anxiety and/or depression are very common.

· Suffer from low self-esteem.

· Talks incessently

· Due to child’s social and communication impairment, she should not be left unsupervised during unstructured time.

Social:

· Deficits in social awareness and social judgement will often be misinterpreted as “annoying” or “attention getting” behaviour. They are struggling to fit in but they perceive and interpret social situations inaccurately. They tend to be incessant and tenacious hence the label “annoying”.

· Naively trusting of others, does not embrace the concept of dishonesty. He will not recognize when he is being lied to or deceived by others. Deceit, cunning, and/or manipulation are beyond this child.

Compensations/Accomodations:

· Give him extra time to complete tasks and to get places.

· Do not force independence. Help him with new and/or complex situations with lots of verbal compnesatory strategies.

· Care and discretion need to be taken to shield the child from teasing, persecution, and other sources of anxiety. Independence should be introduced gradually, in controlled, non-threatening situations. The more completely those around her understand this child and her particular strengths and weaknesses, the better prepared they will be to promote attitudes of personal independence. Never leave this child to her own devices in new activities or situations which lack sufficient structure.

· Avoid power struggles, punishment, and threatening. This child does not understand rigid displays of authority and anger.

· Goals and expectations assigned to him must be attainable and worthwhile.

· Taking away “priviledges” will not cure a child of a neurological disability. The “confusion” and social awkwardness he displays are real and unintentional, they should not be viewed as conduct to be penalized.

· Take a positive approach. Most of the unusual behavioural responses serve a purpose and usually represent the child’s own attempt at compensation. It is wise to try to uncover the reason for the behaviour and to help the child devise an appropriate replacement behaviour. Have the child explain his dilemma and to try to determine what purpose the behaviour might be serving. Then serve the child’s need rather than punishing her resulting behaviour. 90% of your interactions with this child must be positive in nature!

· Active verbalization as opposed to copying text.

· Paper and pencil tasks need to be kept to a minimum. Use of a computer.

· No time constraints.

· Feedback should always be constructive and encouraging or there will be no benefits derived.

· Schedule needs to be predictable. Prepared in advance for changes in routine, ie. Field trips

· Needs to know what will happen next and to be able to count on consistent responses from the staff who work with him.

· Do not isolate this child but place him with a “good role model” so that they can label and learn appropriate behaviour.

Dyslexia

It is the most common neurobehavioral disorder in children. It affects both boys and girls equally with prevalence estimates ranging from 5-10% to as high as 17.5%.

It is a language disorder. Poor readers are as adept as good readers at copying visually confusable letters and words from memory, but they are significantly poorer at naming or pronouncing these items on second exposure. The poor naming of letter or word forms is due to less well-established verbal codes rather than to visual-perceptual deficits.

You are born with it. Dyslexia is dyslexia in any language. It is not due to the results of a head injury or an illness such as severe recurrent ear infections. Forty percent of dyslexic children also have an affected sibling, and studies have reported anywhere from 23% to 65% of children who have a dyslexic parent also have dyslexia. Dyslexia will not go away. A dyslexic child can be taught to read, but dyslexia is a chronic and lifelong processing difficulty. Even after they learn to read, they still read more slowly than other children and reading remains effortful for them.

Dylexia is a differential brain function manifesting itself as a specific learning disability for language, ie. Reading (decoding), spelling (encoding), and writing (memory of movement) as well as speaking.

It is characterized by difficulties in single word decoding (the ability to translate written symbols into recognizable words). The reading process can be broken down into two elements: decoding and comprehension. A dyslexic reader, because of trouble hearing and sequencing the sounds that make up words, will have difficulty translating the written symbols into sounds, blending them together, then identifying that combination of sounds with a known word. What truly identifies a dyslexic child is the inability to read nonsense words, like “zirdn’t”, which might be read as “dirty”. Although dyslexic children usually have adequate listening comprehension skills, their difficulty in decoding obscures their understanding printed material.

An insufficient phonological processing ability is another characteristic of dyslexia. A phoneme is the smallest identifiable segment of speech. Phonological processing is the ability to become aware that speech can be broken down into phonemes (sounds) and that these phonemes are represented by printed forms. For example, The word bat is actually three phonemes (b/a/t/), but it seems like one sound. When learning to read, the word “bat” can only be recognized if it can be segmented into its underlying phonological elements. Dyslexic readers have to be specifically taught to hear and attend to the phonological structure of speech, either through using alternate sensory channels to reinforce the sound-letter combination, or through using the motor image (the feeling a sound makes on the lips and tongue) of the speech sound to reinforce the association.

A second independent factor that contributes to dyslexia is known as rapid automatized naming or RAN. It is the ability to rapidly retrieve a label for an object that one already knows, like the name of a familiar person or a color. Problems with rapid automatized naming will, therefore, affect reading speed.

Reading is known as a receptive language skill, like listening. Information, if taken in by the reader. Writing and spelling are expressive language skills, the print equivalent of talking. The same processes, which affect decoding, will also affect the ability to output the correct sequences of sounds in written work, and the same type of errors are often found in a dyslexic’s reading and their spelling. It is not surprising that the same child who reads “sleep” as “sheep” will try to spell “look” as “lock”, or “done” as “dun.”

The Canadian Dyslexic Association categorized dyslexia into Three Basic Types:

1) Dysnemkinesia (Motor) Eg: The student will write b instead of d. The student will have difficulty expressing ideas in writing.

2) Dysphonesia (Auditory) Eg: The student will read home instead of house. The student will spell laguh instead of laugh.

3) Dyseidesia (Visual): Eg: The student will read farther instead of father. The student will spell unkl instead of uncle.

N.B. Many have a combination of the above three types.

Eleven Signs Worth Paying Attention To

There are several early signs of processing difficulties that will affect reading. If a child has more than one or two of these, it is worthwhile to have a more complete evaluation done by a competent psychologist with a specialization in reading or a clinical neuropsychologist who can specify the processing difficulties as well as the channels through which the child is most likely to learn the letter-sound connection.

1) Not being able to name letters or sing the alphabet song, particularly in the context of a good vocabulary.

2) Having trouble identifying words that begin with the same sound from a printed list or being unable to tell if two one-syllable words sound the same or different (e.g., “get” and “bet” or “sit” and “sat”). Children starting kindergarten should be able to recognize beginning and ending sounds.

3) Problems rhyming or recognizing rhymes.

4) Problems with phonological awareness-being able to identify and sequence the sounds within words. (e.g., “If I took the word “bat” and took out the “b”, what word would be left?”)

5) Not knowing color or shape names.

6) Speech and articulation problems, particularly those that involve oromotor praxis.

7) Trouble remembering automated sequences like numbers or days of the week.

8) Problems with fine motor activities like drawing a circle or copying letters, or gross motor sequences like jumping jacks or riding a tricycle.

9) Trouble retrieving specific words.

10) Sequencing errors in speech (“Dorsi” for “Doris”)

11) Trouble with verbal memory – difficulty recalling a sentence or story that was just told.

Why Do Students With Dyslexia Need Special Teaching Methods?

	The structure and the function of their brains are different from those of persons without dyslexia.
	They process language (reading, writing, speaking and listening) differently.
	They think in images instead of words.
	They cannot see the words “written in their heads”.
	They lack an awareness of the sound structure of words.
	They have difficulty with the memory of movement required to write letters.

Famous Dyslexics:

Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, John Lennon, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Henry Winkler, Walt Disney, Whoopi Goldberg.

Some people refer to dyslexia as a “gift” because of the creative achievements of some dyslexic people.

Winston Churchill – “It was not pleasant to feel oneself so completely outclassed and left behind at the beginning of the race.”

Freud – “The path of reality is best found by way of a detour”.

WRITTEN EXPRESSION

Disorder of Written Expression (Definition):

A disorder resulting from problems in poor writing skills which are significantly below what is normal considering the student’s age, intelligence, and education. Problem is primarily with output rather than input. They do not have difficulty in formulating what they need to write but rather have mechanical or technical problems getting information down on paper despite high levels of linguistic ability. Signs of a true Written Expression Disorder is when the individual has great difficulty improving his work, either in terms of accuracy or speed. Ie. Spent almost an entire year teaching him cursive writing each day through a multisensory approach, he would often forget how to write the letters and will have difficulty keeping the letters between the lines. When printing, he alternates between uppercase and lowercase letters.

Characteristics:

· Perceived as lazy;

· Slow copying from the board or from other visual material;

· Copying letter by letter rather than “chunking” material;

· They cannot remember what the letters look like long enough to transfer them to paper;

· Spelling problems;

· Difficulities in math when it becomes increasingly written, ie. Lining up rows and columns;

· Auditory problems due to weak long-term visual memory for letter formations and to an inability to reproduce them from the mind’s eye onto paper and not due to phonological awareness.

· They simplify their thoughts when they put them on paper in terms of quality and quantity even though they have a broad vocabulary.

· Letter & number reversals are a chronic problem. They have to double check their work which takes additional effort, detracts from their focus of listening, etc.

Avoidance Behaviours:

· Non-completion of homework assignments due to feelings of embarrassment;

· Need to sharpen pencil endlessly;

· Chatting to other children;

· Acting out behaviours resulting in removal from classroom;

· Crying;

· Being “helpful” when it’s not necessary;

· Defiance;

· Trips to the bathroom;

· Tummy-aches;

· Headaches;

· Frequent absences from school;

Strengths:

· Remarkable talent for creative drawing;

· Talent for painting;

· Extensive vocabulary;

· Remarkable in oral communication;

· Strong auditory memory when reading stories. Great comprehension.

· Keyboarding skills.

Developmental Coordination Disorder

Definition:

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) occurs when a delay in the development of motor skills, or difficulty coordinating movements, results in a child being unable to perform everyday tasks, eg. Dressing, playground skills, handwriting, gym activities.

DCD can exist on its own or it may be present in a child who also has learning disabilities, speech/language impairments and/or ADD.

Physical characteristics:

	Appear clumsy or awkward. Bump, spill or knock things over.
	Difficulty with gross motor, fine motor skills.
	Delayed in riding a bike, ball catching, doing up buttons, zippers, printing, handling a knife or fork.
	Intellectual and language skills may be quite strong.
	Difficulty learning new motor skills.
	Difficulty with activities that require constant changes in body position, eg. Baseball, tennis or jumping rope.
	Poor balance.
	Difficulty with printing, handwriting.

Recommendations:

1) Develop a relationship with the child using an Interest Inventory chart. Find out what the child is interested in and try to relate to them. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the child will work for you. Most people shy away from a child who people perceive to be different. Take an active approach!

2) Always try to find and point out the positive in each child regardless of their day. They are already overwhelmed with negative feedback from school, home and extra curricular activities. They have a low self-esteem, they feel dumb, stupid. Giving positive feeback will help the child improve their behaviour.

3) 3-H approach – a) Handshake, b) High-five, c) Hug (or hello)

4) Touch and Go chart – Have a chart on the wall by the door with the numbers 1-5, 1 being on the bottom, 5 at the top. Have the child touch a number on the chart as they are leaving. This will give you an idea of how the child did during that day. They might be a quiet worker but they may be suffering deep inside. This will give you this insight which will help improve the day for the child tomorrow. Simply say, “I hope your day is better tomorrow”.

5) Colour tree – Green for happy; yellow for sad; orange for upset, aggitated, angry; red for aggressive, explosive. Have the child put a coloured leaf on the tree as they are arriving. That way you will know what kind of morning the child is having. Or, if you don’t have a tree, just ask the child, “What colour are you today?”

6) When – Then statements: Avoid using the word “If”, ie. If you pick up your cup, then we can go outside. The word “if” is giving the child a choice, they can choose not to or to do an action. Use the word “when” instead. It is direct and you are giving them no alternative, ie. “When you pick up your cup, then we will go outside”.

7) State rules very clearly before activity starts. You have to be very specific and detailed with children with special needs. Keep instructions simple. Also, be clear about consequences if they don’t comply. Don’t punish them but rather give them a natural consequence. Ex: I will let you colour using this box of brand new crayons. You have to choose one crayon at a time and when you are finished with the crayon, you replace it in the box. I also know that sometimes, crayons break, I understand accidents happen and sometimes a crayon will break. If you only break one crayon, then I know it was an accident. But, if you break two or more crayons then I know that you are doing this deliberately. Therefore, if you don’t put crayons back in the box or repeatedly break crayons, then you can not use this fantastic brand new box of crayons. Rather, you can use this bag of broken crayons.

8) Make sure they have a solid routine to their day. A change in routine can throw these kids off. Also, be aware of transition times such as moving from one room to another. Make sure that you escort them to help with this transition.

9) Be mindful of their behaviour. Behaviour=Communication. What is he trying to communicate? A lot of these kids have high anxiety levels. Just being in a large group of kids is stressful, assembly, large class room, etc.

10) Replacement Behaviour - Don’t give a consequence without a replacement behaviour, ie: if a child strikes another child, have him sit on a time-out but then find out what the antecedant is and teach the child an alternative to his actions.

11) If you want to see them change, you have to love them:

a. Approval

b. Attention

c. Affection (high 5’s, pat on the back)

d. Acceptance (I’m glad you are here)

12) Allow freedom of movement in the room with a purpose and a freedom to work where they can work best and in a position that works best as it makes sense.

13) Close proximity for improvement in behaviour (off task)

14) Visual attention getters such as diagrams, objects, a different way.

15) When giving directions, make sure you are close to the special needs child, even placing your hand on their shoulder to make sure they are hearing you. Have them repeat the directions and what is expected with regards to their behaviour.

16) Talk to the parents of this child to find out ways to help in the transition. Find out strategies they use to discipline, ways you can make a connection.

17) Deer in the road! Go around it!!!

18) ABC - Antecedent (Environment) – Behaviour – Consequence/Reward. Always check the antecedent that is causing the behaviour. Remember Behaviour = Communication.