Technology Is Your Friend

I am continually trying to find ways for my son to work around his "weaknesses," which include a relatively slow reading rate and frustration with many aspects of writing, including spelling and grammar. I had one idea while he was looking back to find a particular passage in the book he is reading for Language Arts. I thought of using the keyword search feature on the Kindle app to find the passage in the book (which I had downloaded for Kindle). Knowing what the paragraph was about we thought of some keywords and we found the passage in question fairly quickly.

During another Language Arts assignment, my son had to find four passages of interest from the book the students were reading in class, write down the passages, and then discuss them in paragraph form. Writing down those passages was the most frustrating thing for him, as he has trouble transferring word for word from a book to writing (even with typing).  I recommended that he use the microphone feature in the Pages app (which is the word processing app he uses for the iPad), to record the passages, but he was reluctant to do so. I then suggested he copy the passages on the home copier, cut them out, and tape them to a sheet of paper. He thought that would take as much time as typing the passages, but I still think it might be worth exploring at another time.

 I will definitely continue to promote use of the microphone feature in Pages. Copying word for word is just not a good use of my son's time or energy and is not the point of the assignment in this case. While I am happy to type the passages for him, (which I do on some occasions), it is my goal that he develop strategies that allow him to complete assignments as independently as possible.

Dimming the Lights

I have been suffering with congestion and a sinus infection for the last month. I have been to the doctor twice, and am taking antibiotics and nasal steroids. Some days are better than others. Twice I have been out to lunch with friends and have felt like I am suddenly in a fog, as though a curtain is going down or a light switch is dimming.

I shared this with my son, who basically told me "welcome to my world." He shared that he feels like that at school a lot of the time, especially in Language Arts, Social Studies and Spanish. It reminded me of a class I took with Paula Moraine, an educator and specialist in executive functions remediation,  where she compared attention to a light switch, and said that for those of us without attention issues, we turn the light switch on and it stays on, but for those with attention issues, the light switch keeps going down and has to be turned on again over and over. How frustrating that must be for my son and others like him. His teacher says he sometimes looks scared like he doesn't know what to do with an in-class assignment, even though it seems like he has been paying attention the whole time she was explaining the directions to the class. Maybe the light switch wasn't on the whole time for him, and it was going in and out, as it feels to me when I am sick.

This is a reminder to try to walk in my son's shoes sometimes so I understand what it is like to have issues with attention. This lingering illness has perhaps given me that gift.

The Upside of Minecraft

In the previous post, I mentioned that psychiatrist Suvrat Bhargave says that video games provide many of the things children with ADHD crave and benefit from, such as a sense of organization and motivation. A recent article in ADDitude magazine online (article by Randy Kulman, PhD) discusses three video games that actually "improve focus, concentration and planning skills," namely Bad Piggies, Roblox, and Minecraft. 

As the mother of an 11-year-old who "lives for" Minecraft, I can see how the game requires all of the above. Certainly I feel better about him playing this than something like "Call of Duty" or "Grand Theft Auto." I also use the game as a reward - something he can do after he completes his homework during the week and can do for a longer period on the weekends. Finally, because Minecraft is something that he feels like an expert in (he "tutors" others in the game), it offers a little boost to his self-esteem.

I was happy to see that the author of the article gives parents some ideas of how to "transfer" the skills acquired in the game to "real life skills," as transfer seems to be the biggest issue with computer learning in general, including with so-called brain performing enhancing programs like Lumosity. For example, Kulman encourages parents to talk to children about the skills involved in the games and discuss how those skills are used in real life. Also, he gives suggestions for activities to reinforce the skills from the game into life outside the game. For example, to enhance working memory skills that are enhanced by Roblox, the family could make something that requires following a recipe with step-by-step directions and "remembering what you have already done."

For me the additional challenge is watching out for the negative side of "hyper focus," as when my son is so focused on the computer game he experiences withdrawal when his time is up. When the timer goes off (I use the old-fashioned kitchen kind for his gaming time), sometimes he is ready to be done and sometimes he is not. Achieving balance seems to be a moving target for both of us.

Anxiety, Focus and Video Games

This week I listened to two broadcasts by Suvrat Bhargave (drbhargave.com), a renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist. The first was about anxiety and the second was about ADHD. In the first, Bhargave talks about how people with anxiety feel the need to control the environment, and can often be overly concerned with "fair" and "unfair." He indicates that this "black and white thinking" can help things seem clearer for the person with anxiety. He says that anxious people can be "emotional sponges," and pick up on what everyone around them is feeling. Therefore, tone is an important thing to keep in mind when interacting with anxious people, especially children. The more calm your tone, Bhargave says, the less the child will feel increased anxiety.

In the second broadcast I listened to (Focus, Focus), Bhargave began by saying that while ADHD may be overdiagnosed, it most definitely is real. He noted the three main characteristics of ADHD:

1. Not surprisingly, the hallmark of ADHD is difficulty with attention. The person tends to be distracted. This may lead to behaviors such as a child forgetting to turn in his homework or recalling specific details.

2. Fidgetiness is often present. This may be characterized by tapping feet, playing with hair, biting a pencil, etc.

3. Impulsivity is present. This can be shown by a person interrupting others or blurting out answers in class. This can also be seen by how a child overreacts when his or her emotions are running high.

Bhargave mentions that the difficulty with memory often associated with ADHD is really about retention, i.e., the focus involved when the person is learning the material in the first place, and that people with ADHD are generally at average or above average intelligence. He believes that people do not really outgrow ADHD, but they can learn to compensate using a variety of tools (see my earlier post about this on August 25th): structure, routine, reward, consequence, motivation, organization and medication. Interestingly, Bhargave says that the computer games that so many children with ADHD are obsessed with provide all of these (excepting the medication), which is why they are so appealing to the child with ADHD.

Glass houses

It is hard to be a parent and not to feel judged by others, at least once in a while. I remember a friend confessing to me that her first child was so well behaved that when she saw other children misbehaving, she mentally gave herself a pat on the back for being such a good parent and wondered what the other parents did not have more control over their children. Then this friend had her second child, who was quite challenging in contrast to her first, and this friend gained both an empathy for those struggling parents and a little more understanding of how much is nature rather than nurture when it comes to children.

I, myself, have found myself judging other parents for not intervening when I perceive (by my standards) that their children are "out of control" or "rude" or "inappropriate,"  and I often have to remind myself that I have no idea how it is to be that parent or what else is going on in that family's world. Also, truly, it is often none of my business. I am thinking of the words of Byron Katie, "I can find find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours, and God's…If you are living your life and I am mentally living your life, who is here living mine?" Or Eckhart Tolle's words of caution:  "Watch out for judging others - when you judge others, you are in essence judging yourself. Notice that."

Breaking Fast

We finally reached the end of our family "30 days without fried food/eat well" challenge. I have to give props to my son, who demonstrated incredible willpower over the time period. The hardest time for him was probably the first weekend when we went to a restaurant and all the tables around us seemed to be eating french fries. He really struggled that day, having an actual visceral reaction to the temptation just out of his reach.

In contrast, last weekend, when we were nearing the end of the "cleanse," french fries were brought to our table at a restaurant even though we had told the waitress repeatedly that we did not want fries. Amazingly, my son allowed us to send them away without any noticeable reaction. What a difference 30 days make!

My son is currently away on a 3-day class camping trip and has requested chicken tenders and fries for the night he returns. I am happy to let him have this as a reward, but am now tasked with figuring out how to help him achieve balance in his diet going forward. One plan is to make sure the habits we established during our 30 day cleanse will continue. These are:

- No sugary drinks including fruit juices (with the exception of fruit and veggie smoothies).
- No snacking after 7:30pm during the week
- A fruit or vegetable with every meal
- Protein for snacks as much as possible

No matter what happens, my son has learned that he can have power over food rather than food having power over him. I would think it is never too early to learn a lesson like that.

Common Core

I am very interested in how the Common Core standards are being implemented in Pennsylvania. If you are not familiar with them, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is an "educational initiative in the United States that details what K-12 students should know in English language arts and mathematics as the end of each grade…and seeks to establish consistent standards across the states as well as ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit-bearing courses at two- or four-year college programs or to enter the workforce." (Wikipedia)  In other words, in most states (43 states so far, I think), there are specific subjects a student will now have to demonstrate working knowledge of in order to graduate high school. (See the Common Core website to read about it yourself www.corestandards.org)

 In Pennsylvania, the Common Core has led the Keystone exams, which means my daughter,a member of the high school graduating class of 2017, is in the first class in Pennsylvania that has to pass state-wide tests in Biology, Algebra and Literature in order to receive her high school diploma. I am not concerned for my daughter, who is a traditionally good student and who passed the Biology and Algebra exams as a Freshman and who will be taking the Literature test as a Sophomore. I am, however, interested in how these Keystone exams are going to be passed by kids with learning challenges.

 I have been told by parents of high school students with learning needs that their children are allowed extra time and can take the exams as many times as they want, but that some of them are not getting any closer to passing after multiple attempts. This raises other questions for me. Are these students not going to receive their high school diplomas if they never pass? Will the state have to offer two degrees: one "with Keystone exams passed" and "without Keystones passed"? How is this going to affect the future prospects for the students who don't pass? Also, how much educational time is being wasted helping these children pass these exams?

For the record, I certainly do not object to the idea of "core standards." I believe that many students are going off to college without fundamental abilities and knowledge, and that the educational system in the United States, which performs far below many other first world countries, needs a serious over-haul. I just think there needs to be a little more flexibility in how it is going to be implemented for students with  learning needs (not to mention English Language Learners). One size fits all does not work here.

Brain Games

Last week I went to a Cognitive Neuroscience Conference at my alma mater, Temple University, on the topic of Working Memory and Working Memory Training. In addition to discussing the areas of the brain (e.g., pre-frontal cortex, parietal lobe) and neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, GABA) involved in Working Memory, the presenters discussed the difference between maintaining something in working memory (for example, recalling a phone number or a shopping list verbatim), and manipulating something stored in Working Memory (such as performing mathematical calculations on numbers stored in memory).  In terms of attention, it seems that attention does not affect the former, Working Memory maintenance, but may affect the latter, Working Memory manipulation.

As far as the efficacy of Working Memory Training programs, such as Cogmed and Lumosity, there was some disagreement among the presenters, but all presenters believed that these trainings are imperfect as they are currently designed. In the end, it seems that there is not enough transfer from a trained task in one of these programs to a new task in terms of working memory improvement. As one presenter put it, "Practice the skills you want to acquire. If you want to learn to play the piano, practice on the piano, not the violin."

One thing several presenters did agree on is that these Working Memory Training programs seem to help individuals learn strategies to use in similar Working Memory tasks. I'm sure this came as no surprise to anyone involved with children or education today. The best thing you can do for children is to teach them HOW they learn.

Saved by my Kindle

Since my son has required reading for school, I've found it helpful to read the same book as him while sitting alongside him (he reads the paperback and I read on the Kindle) and we discuss the chapters after we finish them. Yesterday, my son's allergies were bothering him and his eyes were tearing, so I used the Text to Speech feature on my Kindle and the text was read aloud to us as we followed along. The Kindle has a computer generated voice, which had unnatural pauses and accelerations, along with some mispronunciations, which we found quite humorous. It was a great solution for a night in which I didn't know how effective reading was going to get done, and I didn't have to buy an audio book, which I had considered. Caveat emptor: you have to follow along by reading the text or it would be close to impossible to understand everything!

A Fine Balance

Yesterday, two minutes after I dropped my son off  IN FRONT OF HIS SCHOOL, I received a phone call from his school saying my son had fallen and hit his head. How? He said he tripped on the sidewalk. Because of all the current concerns about concussions, I took my son to the pediatrician to have him checked out (he was fine), and he rested for the remainder of the day.

 Interestingly, during a web search about something unrelated, today I came across information on the web about a doctor, Harold Levinson, who for decades has been treating children with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD and related dysfunctions under the theory that these symptoms are related to a type of dizziness or motion sickness, and can be treated with inner-ear enhancing medications in combination with other treatments.

Levinson theorizes that certain disorders "are due to a simple signal-scrambling disturbance of inner ear (and cerebellar) origin, In other words, the inner-ear and its supercomputer, the cerebellum, act as a 'fine-tuner' for all motor (balance/coordination and rhythmic) signals leaving the brain and all sensory and related cognitive signals entering it. As a result, normal thinking brains will have difficulty processing the scrambled or distorted signals received." (dyslexianonline.com)

I am not sure of the efficacy of this theory, but it sounds like an interesting one to explain my son, who struggles with many of the things Levinson discusses including balance, coordination, dysgraphia, spelling, and processing speed, and who spent the first year and a half of his life with middle ear (not inner ear) infections. Is there a relationship? I don't know. Something new to consider.

Super Tasters vs. No Tasters

My son came home the other day talking about a science experiment they had done in class in which every student put a small piece of paper in his or her mouth and determined whether he/she was a "Super Taster," a "Taster" or a "No Taster." My son was in the group who found the paper taste aversive and spit in out immediately, putting him in the "Super Taster" category (which may at first seem counterintuitive).  Like many Super Tasters, who cannot tolerate strong tastes, the food my son likes tends to be quite "boring" or  bland: chicken, potatoes, hamburgers, tacos, cheese quesidillas, soup, pizza, peas, soft green beans, and corn. In contract, my daughter and I, the "No Tasters," like olives, pickles, calamari, escargot, mussels, clams, capers...and the list goes on and on. Often the stronger the taste, the better.

My son's story gave me the opportunity to talk to him about "hypersensitivity" and "hyposensitivity," and how someone can be "hyposensitive" in one area and be "sensory seeking" in another. For example, he might be super sensitive to taste and texture in his mouth, thus not like the touch and taste of many vegetables (especially broccoli!) and yet be "sensory seeking" in his sense of touch, and enjoy touching a variety of textures, which he also does. This is something I learned a long time ago when providing early intervention speech therapy services to babies and young children, which often involved feeding therapy with preemies who had difficulty tolerating different textures. For some children we needed to gradually increase texture and taste in the food. For others, who hated the bland baby food, we needed "big tastes" to be added to the food, like pickle juice or barbecue sauce.

This reminded me to go back to serving my son a variety of vegetables again and offer him ketchup on the side if that is what he needs to tolerate it. I also remembered that you sometimes have to eat a new food 20 to 25 times (or more) before you like it. Time to start that clock again!

Carb loading

I am always aware of the change in light in September, and how the days seem to get precipitously shorter. Many scientists have postulated that the decrease in light in the Fall leads to humans increasing their carb intake, as people unconsciously seek to add to their fat stores for winter.  I am always on the look out for that in my own behavior.

In terms of parenting, I find nutrition especially hard, specifically with my son, who does not like any vegetables that are not high in starch and who has a somewhat limited palate. In addition, with my son back in school and homework starting, I find there is less time to prepare food, especially as he often needs prompting to stay focused during homework.

One thing I did set into action a month ago is the promise that our family will give up fried food for 30 days starting Monday, September 8. I heard again today the statistic that it takes 45 days to start a new habit. Here's hoping that 30 days is enough!

2 Second Pause

Today on Hay House Radio I listened to Suvrat Bhargave, a psychiatrist, give advice to a woman whose child has ADHD and has taken a break from medicine over the summer. The son's behavior has been a little difficult without the medicine; for example, the boy has been more impatient, hyperactive, and impulsive. The mother asked about putting her son back on medication during the school year. Dr. Bhargave acknowledged that medication is not for every child, but indicated that it can be an effective tool for the right child because it created a "two second pause" between when something happens and when a child with ADHD reacts, thus slightly remediating the impulsivity often characteristic of ADHD. Dr. Bhargave said that how the child behaves after the two second pause is up to them, however. Dr. Bhargave indicated that medication is only one of seven tools for children with ADHD. The seven are:

Structure
Routine
Reward
Consequence
Motivation
Organization
Medication

On his radio show, Dr. Bhargave said he will be discussing ADHD more in depth in the upcoming month, so stay tuned!

Script writing

Many children on the Autism Spectrum benefit from social skills training, usually in the form of a group that helps with social interactions with similar aged peers. These same children seem to benefit from memorizing "scripts," or stock phrases, to use in certain situations so they don't have to figure out how to "read" a situation, which can be difficult for them. Actually, some of the most polite children I know use these "scripts" when interacting with adults.

While my son is in no way on the spectrum, he too could benefit from the learning of scripts, especially when his amygdala hijacks his frontal lobe, i.e., when his emotions get in the way of his reason. While taking deep breaths and counting back from 10 certainly helps, sometimes even I find it helpful to say to someone who upsets me "Let's just agree to disagree on this and move on." For me, one of the hardest things is to let my son find his own scripts that reflect his personality and not my own.

Anticipation

Like many parents, I am looking towards the end of summer with a sense of both excitement and anxiety. On one hand, I look forward to crisp weather, long pants, and fires in the fireplace. On the other hand, I worry about new teachers, increases in schoolwork, and tightly scheduled days and weekends.

Today I will try to be as present as I can, so I can recall these "lazy days of summer"when the snow and homework both start to pile up.