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.