Meeting the Needs of Special-Education Students

I don’t normally do posts like this, but I felt that the information it contained was important and I did not want this to become a game of telephone, with the message getting lost along the way. Therefore I would strongly encourage my readers to ... (Continued)

Some Setbacks...

Sorry for the delay in writing. We have had some good and bad days. OK - so we have had some bad days.

In my internet travels, possibly including here, I have mentioned the huge costs we have incurred with health insurance and out-of-pocket medical bills. I make a nice income, but when your medical costs are running over $50,000 each year for the past few (which requires gross income of around $75,000 just for the medical costs) it gets hard to keep up. On top of that, we... (Continued)

ADD? ADHD? OCD? LMNOP?

Welcome to the alphabet soup!

We've all seen it before: Ignatius Stockdale, M.D., Lawrence Tuttleworth, Esq. or Mary Ellen Peabody, Ph.D.

Then, with a knowing wink you look at me and say, "It works a little different in our world, doesn't it!". In our world it goes a little bit more like this: "Hi, I'm Bob: ADD-I, OCD, ODD" or "Hello! I'm Susan: ADHD, LD".

Those few letters ... (Continued)

You're Too Smart to Have ADHD

Does this sound familiar? Or how about this variation: “Your child is very intelligent, therefore he/she does not need (select one of the following: medication, accommodations, an IEP, or additional help/support).”

I don’t know about you folks, but I can say first hand that this is the kind of thinking we tend to run into when dealing with many in our children’s school district. The people I have come to know online who have ADD or ADHD, as children or adults, have related countless stories like this. Many explain how as .... (Continued)

A Vision for ADHD - Part IV

We have stirred the pot in the area of education for ADHD kids. As a few had indicated, it certainly deserves further thought and discussion. We will revisit education for those dealing with ADHD in the coming weeks.

For now, I'd like to expand the field of view for my vision for ADHD. Let's move to the area of public information.

Before we can help educate the outsiders to the experience of ADHD, we probably need to re-educate ourselves. ADHD as a disability or disorder, while accurate in today's context, may also be one of our greatest ...... (Continued)

ADHD Goes for a Drive

I'll return to "A Vision for ADHD", but right now I just need to go for a drive. The only problem is that my navigator for over 20 years has been ADHD.

Over the years I have had more accidents, tickets and close calls than I can count. Why? At times distraction has caused me to miss things others might have seen, like the line of cars braking in front of me in stop and go traffic. My thrill seeking nature and tendency to become easily frustrated by traffic, have led me to use excessive speed (just once - I swear!). I can't count the number of times I have driven a route I know well and go zipping past my exit - detour time! - then miss the next exit to correct, etc., etc. Add to all of this the fact that my teen years were spent just as society decided that driving home from a party was a no-no.

"Yeah, I know, some people are against drunk driving, and I call those people "the cops." But you know, sometimes, you've just got no choice; those kids gotta get to school!"- Dave Attell

The cumulative costs of my driving habits have been well into the ten's of thousands of dollars over my life. Who has to keep an Excel worksheet to track tickets and manage points on their license? Who has a speeder attorney practically on retainer? (By the way - the guy has the same car as me and has recommended a new chip for my car to make it go faster - I think I smell a conflict of interest!) Who has to keep notes on when the statute of limitations runs out on an accident so that he can finally take a breath when a lawsuit is unlikely?

I'm always looking over my shoulder, waiting to get pulled over. A radio show I listen to on the road likes to play sirens in the background when they are talking, periodically, leaving their listeners with palpitations. I've got to find a new station to listen to.

Although this may seem that I am making light of dangerous driving habits, I am not. My dark humor leans towards gallows humor with something like this. There has been alot of pain, so it is a "laugh or cry" situation for me. Every day people's lives are irreversibly effected by the traumatic events that can be caused on the road.

So what can we do? As adults, we should be well aware of our mental condition when getting behind the wheel. Are we awake or tired? Focused or swimming with thoughts? Relaxed or totally stressed out? We choose each time we get behind the wheel and with that choice comes responsibility.

For our teen drivers, studies have shown that teenage drivers with ADHD:

• are more likely to have received repeated traffic tickets, often for speeding
• are involved in three times as many car crash injuries as teens without ADHD
• are less likely to be demonstrating good driving habits
• are nearly four times more likely to have had an accident
• are found to be at fault for car crashes four times more often
• are six to eight times more likely to have their license suspended or revoked for their
• driving behavior
• are more likely to have driven, unlicensed and without adult supervision
  

I am not ejecting blame for my actions onto the back of ADHD, but there is no doubt in my mind that it's been along for many miles. Be careful out there!

(Please visit my main blog at ADHDHunter.com )

A Vision for ADHD - Part III

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Now, a little more seriously, about that design framework for an alternative school concept…

Do you realize how little schools have changed in the past 200 years? Sure we have added some computer labs and there’s no doubt that we have perfected the teachers’ unions, yet so much is substantially the same. Look then or now and the scene is pretty similar: The kids are sitting at a small, confining desk most of the day, being taught the “fundamentals”, in a class size of a couple of dozen kids. The kids have off all summer, which is obviously a good thing – how else would we all take care of our crops? Take a look at an old TV show or movie depicting an early 1800’s school house and it looks strikingly similar to today’s educational environment.

Once in a while, progress, whether natural or man-made, requires substantial, sometimes violent, upheaval. I believe we are long overdue for this kind of change in our educational systems. For those of you who feel that my thinking is naïve, uninformed or overly simple, I don’t propose that I have all the answers, but I can assure you that I have a few questions and concerns. I have seen enough to know that while our schools are wonderful overall, for the ADHD subset it leaves alot to be desired.

I want to start a serious dialogue on what a “dream” ADHD school would be like. Let’s start by breaking down and discarding all of our preconceived notions. Throw out what you imagine a classroom looks like – for that matter take down the walls! Drop your initial reactions to what the hours, curriculum, testing/grading systems, teachers, and discipline should be.

Let’s start from here and free-flow some thoughts:

- Would most of the average day be spent working in an open-air, covered outdoor pavilion?

- Would the students work at desks, lab tables or mostly standing at project tables allowing the kids to fidget in place a bit?

- Would one day a week be spent working on some charitable effort chosen by the students?

- Would one session a week be spent using distance learning? From home? Or taught by a teacher from across the globe?

- Since those with ADHD often respond better to positive reinforcement, what rewards and incentives would be used and how?

- How would goals and performance be set and measured? Would goals for the school year be worked out, for each individual student, between the teacher, parent and student? Would components of a child’s learning criteria be split between the teacher’s goals, the parents’ goals and the student’s goals?

- What kind of new curriculum might we see?:
Win/Win Negotiation? Sounds complicated for a child, but how much more could we all accomplish if the “childish” dealings with others we all occasionally have were already trained out by the age of 10?

Time Management/Organization/Planning? This is the bane of those with ADHD! Why not teach children to be more efficient and effective with their efforts? Say no to “Where is my homework/wallet/keys??”.

Life discipline? Part health, part philosophy – maybe the McDonald’s of this world won’t stand a chance against these kids. If the government would like to take some of the money they won’t need for public medical costs and support this particular program, I’m sure we could find a way to accommodate them.

Delegation? Knowing what we are not good at is just as important as knowing what we excel in. Being able to manage our weaknesses through delegation can be a huge help in avoiding problems in your career, when you are dealing with ADHD.

An Animal Care Program? A child knowing that they need to get in to school to take their turn feeding and walking one of the class pets could go a long way with anxiety issues, not to mention improvements in impulsivity control, empathy and responsibility.

- Would there be a lunch program? Food education and a gluten-free, dye-free diet, with "grazing" ( many small, healthy snacks/meals)throughout the day could provide for more stable moods and behaviors in school and at home.

- Would the school have ongoing therapy? In group, in private or both? Cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and yoga could all be part of the mix.

- What would the guiding mission of this school be? John Glennon had commented on Part II of this series and he put out a thought that seemed incredibly obvious, but at the same time I had never considered this significant point:

"...it’s incredibly important to realize that we have no shared vision about the
reason we educate our children. I would say this is akin to Dewey’s Aims of
Education. We don’t know if we’re educating them to be good citizens, good
thinkers, good soldiers, or just preparing them to move into a vocation/business
of some sort once they’ve graduated. Without this shared vision, we have
wandered aimlessly which has culminated in a poor system."

As I had stated earlier, this is only meant to start the ball rolling. We have a shared responsibility here. So with that, I turn the podium over to you, the reader. Please take a minute to share your thoughts by using the "comment" section below. I would really like to get the take of some of the parents who are homeschooling their ADHD kids (thanks for the suggestion Jack Blackthorn), as well as adults with ADHD who have thoughts on their own school experiences.

A Vision for ADHD - Part II

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As an ADHD adult, once again I find that impulsivity is riding shotgun. I have thrown out the idea that our schools, for a significant portion of society are due for radical change. But to be honest, I have not come close to fully fleshing out what they should be. It would be presumptuous on my part, to assume that something so important should flow from the thoughts of just one individual. That being said, I feel it is important to keep filling in the pieces as to what such a school might be like and why it could work.

Many comments I have received have centered on whether or not this could work:

“Our schools can barely afford what they have now. How can they afford a series of special schools?”
“It sounds wonderful but this could never happen in my lifetime”
“Won’t this be a problem for acceptance at colleges or jobs?”

I want to take any preconceived notions we have about school and throw them out the window.

Money and Funding:
As a CPA and financial consultant, I am working with educational institutions big and small. I feel that many educators at the primary school level have followed the status quo in both their programs and their finances. Creative thinking could come up with alternatives for funding.

Is it possible to establish sponsorship programs that have no effect on the educational material itself? An arm’s length relationship with sponsors could easily be established.

Our universities have learned to use fundraising appeals to provide endowments that could fund a school for generations. I am not talking about selling wrapping paper and candy bars. Direct mail campaigns and professional solicitation of large corporate and individual grants or gifts can be very powerful.

Lastly, there has been a proliferation of reports of financial abuse in schools in the past few years. We hear that a school’s budget is cut to the bone. Shortly thereafter, we read in the paper that administrators had been expanding their personal lifestyle on the school’s dime. There was one report of a school that hired a law firm on retainer, then also hired several of the attorneys as employees, with full benefits. We are hearing more of these cases, not fewer.

I do not passively accept the premise that we can’t afford such a program. I would greater argue that we cannot afford to ignore the potential for contribution from some of our brightest students, because they are outside the bell curve.

Something from the Future:
We cannot leave such important things for others to address down the road. If not myself to spearhead such a movement, then who? I believe that you create change. You don’t stand at a bus stop waiting for it to arrive. To motivate yourself to change, you accept that the change is needed, that failure to change is harmful, and that no one will do it for you. I am there on all counts. This can happen in our lifetime and I am committed to seeing it through.

An Acceptance Problem for Colleges and Employers:
Sometimes change requires upheaval. If I am right on this concept, I believe that the students such a school would produce would become not only accepted, but highly desirable. In any institution, there are needs for different contributions. Colleges and universities seek diversity in their student bodies. The best businesses today are looking for those who think differently, as they understand that innovation comes from those who have imagination in their hearts.

I have received many words of enthusiastic support for the idea of an alternative to public education for the ADHD student. Although this is only one component in the vision I have for ADHD, it is certainly a critical piece. In the next post, we’ll start to set up a creative framework for alternative schools for ADHD students.

Stay tuned for A Vision for ADHD – Part III: A Design Framework (or lack thereof).