ADD/ADHD – U CAN LEARN

Skills We Need Before We Read!

ucanlearn11@gmail.com ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Education, Processing Disorders November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 0 Comment

Unfortunately children don’t begin reading by instantly decoding sounds and acquiring sight vocabulary. They move through predictable phases of recognizing letters, recalling their sounds, and then understanding that when the sounds are blended together, these are words. Words carry meaning and when combined into sentences, a story is built.

There are other areas that silently play into being a good reader – visual processing skills that we take for granted because they just seem to happen for most of us. There are many visual processing skills that affect more than just reading.

Visual discrimination uses the sense of sight to notice and compare the features of different items to distinguish one item from another. While reading, we do this with letters and then words in a sentence. Children with poor visual discrimination have a hard time seeing the difference between two similar letters, shapes or objects. This affects the speed to learn new words and spelling skills.

Visual processing speed is the ability to recognize numbers, letters and words quickly, an important factor in good reading fluency. Research shows that children with good visual processing speeds are faster readers that children with slow processing speeds.

Visual sequential memory is the ability to determine or remember the order of symbols, words, or objects. This skill is particularly important for spelling. A child who struggles with visual sequencing may leave out, add or switch around letters within words. Recognizing and remembering patterns may also prove difficult.

Visual memory means that students must be able to look at a word, form an image of that word in their minds, and be able to recall the appearance of the word later. Once the word is erased or out of sight, students with good visual memory will recognize that same word later in their readers or other texts and will be able to recall the appearance of the word to spell it.

Reading Comprehension

ucanlearn11@gmail.com ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Education, Processing Disorders, U CAN LEARN Happenings November 12, 2015 0 Comment

Reading comprehension is a complex task that seems to be taken for granted by skilled readers. When we take a close look at comprehension, we find that it involves many important skills, so when someone says, “Jimmy is really struggling with reading comprehension,” that’s like saying “my car is having engine trouble.” Knowing which part of the ‘engine’ is crucial to improvement.

Good reading comprehension is the phrase used when many skills are working together to form a big picture of the passage. The skills of inferring, predicting, vocabulary, comparing, problem solving, summarizing, and sequencing, fall underneath the big umbrella of comprehension. For example, I had a recent experience with one of our students while reading a story about a birthday party for a young girl. She had invited many of her friends over and they were just about to sing and eat cake. There had been no mention of her age in the story thus far, then the writer included the important detail. The story reads, “Jamie closed her eyes and made a wish, then blew out all 8 candles on her cake at one!” At the conclusion of the story, I asked the student how old the birthday girl was, but he couldn’t tell me. Then I asked the student how many candles were on the cake, and he supplied me with the correct answer, but could not connect the candles with the young girl’s age. This points to the skill of inferring, which is very important for readers beyond the 2nd grade. Note that the student’s memory and attention to detail was strong, but the skill of inferring was weak, and therefore caused poor comprehension skills. After practicing this skill, the student was able to improve and increase his comprehension skills.

Thankfully, proper assessments and testing can reveal which skill or skills need extra help, and with good tutoring and frequent practice, any child can improve their comprehension skills. Let’s start building those big pictures!

504 or IEP? What’s the difference and does my child need one?

ucanlearn11@gmail.com ADD/ADHD, Education November 12, 2015 0 Comment

A bit of history first:

Prior to 1973, children with special needs were usually all treated the same way and were literally “housed” at one end of a school building with little integration into activities with their same-age peers. Less was expected of this group of kids. Then the Section 504 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed, requiring any school receiving federal monies to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) to each individual with a disability, regardless of the nature of the disability.

Then in 1990, Congress passed The American with Disabilities Act (ADA), which encompassed the previous 504 recommendations and added the IEP process to education.

The main points of ADA are:

Equal opportunity of a qualified student with a disability to benefit from educational services.
That the disabled student be educated with his/her peers in a regular classroom with the maximum time extent possible.
Equal access to academic services.
These services are offered free.
Equal access to nonacademic settings, such as extracurricular activities, meals, recess and PE.

How does ADA define a disability:

Any person with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities, or
An individual who has a record of those impairments.

Major life activities can include: (but are not limited to) performing manual tasks, seeing hearing, speaking, eating, walking, standing, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, and thinking.

Physical impairment can include: (but are not limited to) disfigurement, loss of limb, immune system, bladder or bowel, neurological, skin or respiratory problems.

Mental impairment can include: intellectual disability, mental illness or specific learning disorders like reading, writing, communication or academic failure.

The difference between an IEP and a 504 accommodation –

What is an IEP?

An IEP modifies the learning program to allow the child to learn through special services. It does not mean the child is doing grade-level work the same as his/her peers.
IDEA requires public schools to develop an IEP for every student with a disability who is found to meet the federal and state requirements for special education. The IEP must be designed to provide an educational program to a child with a disability and to provide written documents that describe that educational program.
Students must be assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability (ies), including accepting outside testing. Other considerations are access to the general curriculum, considering how the disability affects the student’s learning, developing goals and objectives that make the biggest difference for the student, and ultimately choosing a placement in the least restrictive environment.

What is Section 504?

Unlike the IEP, 504 is an accommodation program, a way to level the playing field for children who remain in the regular classroom. It is not meant to reduce the learning expectations of the child, but it allows for special considerations in order for the child to learn equally as well using their learning style.
A student is eligible for accommodations under Section 504 if the student has mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more of a students’s major life activities that impacts education.
Many students eligible for Section 504 accommodations have special health care needs; some could include: HIV, Tourette syndrome, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), heart malfunctions, communicable diseases, urinary conditions, blood disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, school phobia, respiratory conditions such as asthma, epilepsy, cancer, birth defects, tuberculosis, diabetes, and food allergies.
Some children who do not qualify for special education may be eligible for services under Section 504, developed by a team that includes the parents and can provide the student with accommodations or services that are needed.
It must be emphasized that Section 504 falls under the management responsibility of the general education program. The school staff and parents need to work in collaboration to help guarantee that the student is getting a fair chance at learning or being involved. There are hundreds of accommodations available. The school counselor or the state education website governing your state should have these listed out.

Things to know:

IEP’s and 504 accommodations are legally binding, written documents that outline the special education program, services and related accommodations based on the child’s disability.

Parent and student participation in decision making: IDEA requires that parents must be given the opportunity to play a central role in the planning and decision making regarding their child’s education. Parents must have the opportunity to participate in the meetings regarding identification, evaluation, educational placement and the provision of FAPE to the student. Student participation is strongly encouraged, particularly when addressing transition planning.

For additional information, check out this practical and clearly organized infographic for the IEP process The National Center for Learning Disabilities has put together. Use the tool as a “road map” to your child or student’s education.

Social Skills – Part 2

ucanlearn11@gmail.com ADD/ADHD, Education, Processing Disorders November 10, 2015November 11, 2015 0 Comment

Social Skills 101: Helping your child with more complex situations

In my last article I outlined the most basic skills needed to communicate effectively, which were ‘picking up’ on non-verbal cues like noticing others facial expressions, feelings and make eye contact. Although these skills are important whenever communicating, they aren’t enough to help the child who can’t make or keep friends.

Children learn at an early age that in order to get someone to like you or play with you, they should do a few things. A child can show interest in what another child is doing or he/she could share a positive thought about the activity. Asking questions gets the potential friend talking and the child can demonstrate that he/she is fund and interesting. Most children without good social approaches find other ways to engage. They get bossy or pushy, demand time from the potential friend and are either uninterested in the new child’s hobby or overly intent and too personal.

Most of us never think about the layers of communication and meaning in the conversations or interactions. Children with Asperger’s syndrome or who struggle socially have a great disadvantage due to the multitasking that is necessary in creating relationships that go deeper and last longer. This article will cover a dozen objectives or goals that your child should master in order to make friends and be efficient in more complex situations.

Learning to show interest in others. Explain why we all like to have others notice us and want to know more about us. Talk about why it’s fun to have a friend and come up with ideas of things to talk about. Practice good approaches, like, “Do you want to play with one of my yo-yo’s?” versus a bad opening, like “Hey, do you know I have forty yo-yo’s and I’m better than you at them?” Often, struggling children will try to be the expert on a subject and will bore others away from them. Demonstrate to your child by making him/her sit through a one-sided discussion from you on a topic he/she has no interest in, then ask him/her how they felt or how interesting you seemed to them.
Becoming more interesting to others. Children often persevere on their one good talent they’ve been told they have when in fact they have many other interesting things they can do. Make a list of these and practice talking about them. Practice talking about yourself in a short, one minute introduction and have your child try it. Help your child understand what most children like to discuss; things like pets, favorite TV shows or trips and that astral-physics and dinosaur anatomy really leaves a lot of people out of a conversation.
Trying out new hobbies and interests. To become more interesting, your child may have to expand their current activities. One way to have more friends is to be involved in groups that have a cause or interest. Talk about different hobbies such as collecting items or taking some new classes. Your child can ask other children what they are interested in, then explore the subject by attending a similar program or researching the topic at the library. Sports is not always the answer to getting your child involved since they might be motor-delayed or clumsy. Ask adults what they were interested in as children or visit a craft and hobby store in your area to get ideas.
Learning to encourage and compliment others. Children need to understand what discouragement or rude comments feel like first, so discuss time when you know your child has been discouraged or someone has been rude to him. Talk about what would have been nice to hear someone say during that time. Make a list of encouraging statements and practice them at home and in public. Watch movies and decide if the people are using encouraging or discouraging statements. Talk about people in your child’s environment and list the nice compliments that could be said to each of them.
Understanding fairness and letting others choose sometimes. Some children feel that if someone is their friend, the own them or can dictate everything they do together. Give example around the house that show fairness. Role-play situations where choices need to be made and practice letting someone else make a choice without being angry or bossy. Talk about how to work out disagreements by discussing who gets to choose first, asking what else they can think to do or putting off personal choices until the next time.
Sharing friends. Often a child will get on best friend and then have a very hard time when that best friend plays with others. Talk about family dynamics and that parents don’t have just one favorite child. Help your child recognize that getting to know another person makes two friends to play with. What can you do with three people that you can’t do with two? Explain that begging a friend to not play with others makes you seem needy and not fun to be around. Practice saying statements that are sincere, like, “I hope you had a good time” or “What did you do together?”
Keeping promises. Children share secrets all of the time and promise not to tell. They promise to take turns and to share things. But if your child makes bold statements such as, “I’m going to bring you an expensive present” or invites someone to come to an expensive outing, you can see how they will not be able to keep those promises. Discuss that your child doesn’t have to promise things that are spectacular and that just little promises are the most important idea in keeping a friend.
Don’t badmouth or gossip. Discuss what these both mean. Badmouthing is criticizing and gossiping is spreading around a bad story about someone. Think of times your child has had both of these done to him/her or when he/she has done the same thing and talk about the feelings they cause. Talk about how saying bad things about people won’t change them or their irritating habits. Practice saying something nice about a person when gossip starts to fly. Help your child understand that gossiping is the wrong way to fit into a group and can only come back to hurt him/her or get him/her in trouble.
Having clear expectations. Discuss how it makes us feel relaxed to know that is expected of us and what is “being prepared”. Talk about how to be prepared for different activities. Would we feel embarrassed if we were the only one to wear a costume to school or if we went to a birthday party and didn’t bring a present? Practice asking the correct questions in order to know enough information. Role-play being prepared for different situations like visiting a relative versus going to a sleep over. Going to the circus versus playing a soccer game. Most embarrassing situations can be avoided by understanding the expectations.
Learning to say ‘no’ without being rude. Children who struggle socially can be brusque or rude when they feel pressured or don’t want to do something. Discuss why it’s important to be able to say ‘no’ but also how to do that politely. List rude comments like, “you’re crazy, forget it, go away, or no way” and come up with positive statements like, “Sorry, but I can’t”, “I won’t be able to do that but thanks anyway”, or “no thank you, but maybe we can do something else later.” Discuss that by being rude, your child may not get invited again.
Don’t say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘no’. Children who have limited friends often agree to do things even when they don’t want to just to keep the interactions going. Point out some instances in your family where that has happened and discuss the negative results of saying what you don’t mean. Tie this into the earlier goal of always trying to be honest and keeping promises. Mentions that you could get into trouble or hurt by agreeing to do things you know are wrong. Talk about what some of these are.
Not hurting others feelings and apologizing. These are hard rules for everyone but for socially struggling children, they are even harder. These kids usually make statements without realizing that they are hurtful and when it comes to apologizing, they get angry because what they said was true. “You have a long nose” or “You’re too fat for my team.” Talk about all of the different feelings someone can have when they are hurt: sad, mad, shocked, crying, pouting. Practice seeing what those faces look like. Talk about what you should say if you see someone has this look on their face. Practice ‘sorry’ statements. Talk about why saying sorry makes you more grown-up, a better friend and shows you are responsible enough to take the blame for doing something wrong.

Putting It All Together

For any child to have success, they must be able to put together all the above objectives and develop their own style by practicing. The work of connecting non-verbal and verbal communication is central to healthy social skills development. You can talk about them being cool. In essence, ‘cool’ is knowing and using correct connections of word choice, tone, and politeness. Developing these good communication skills makes you ‘cool’.
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Social Skills 101 – Part 1

ucanlearn11@gmail.com ADD/ADHD, Processing Disorders November 10, 2015November 11, 2015 0 Comment

Helping the Child Who Struggles with Social Skills

Social and communication skills seem to come naturally for most, and because of that we never stop to wonder how we learned those skills. There isn’t a preschool class specific to manners and communication, yet when growing up, most toddlers easily make friends, answer questions appropriately and understand that having a conversation is a “give and take” deal. So when we encounter someone who struggles in these areas, we’re not sure how to start teaching the skills.

Teaching the Basics

Start at the most basic level of the communication process: recognizing a good conversation and what the roles are when people communicate.

Notice others and what they are NOT saying

The language of non-verbal communication is based on a language of the eyes and carries a great deal of information about the conversation you’re having. Here is a list of the non-verbal cues children need to learn to notice:

Mood or feelings
Expressions
Posture
Spatial relationship to others
Tone of voice
Speed of speech
Word choice

Only mentioning what these are will not be enough. All of these cues need to be modeled and practiced in order to become ingrained and automatic on a daily basis. Model the behavior for your child. For example, show how your posture or expression can signal different feelings and talk about why that’s important to know. Try asking the child to explain what you just did, then ask him/her to model or demonstrate what you just did and then develop a way to add the behavior to the child’s through practice.

Beyond the Basics

Once your child is able to ‘read’ another person’s non-verbal expressions, tone and meaning, then you can begin to build a foundation of good social skills. When developing a foundation of social skills, assess your child’s social deficits and strengths first. Here are some important skills:

Making eye contact and using and noticing facial expressions, posture and physical proximity
Speaking clearly while using intonation and appropriate volume
Choosing topics of conversation that are appropriate to the setting and audience
Maintaining a topic in conversation as well as being flexible in changing topics
Taking turns while conversing and waiting to be acknowledged or called on before speaking
Using appropriate conversational small talk
Introducing oneself and others
Asking for help when needed
Keeping others in mind while conversing – a conversation isn’t a monologue

Addressing the above skills should be done with appropriate modeling from siblings, peers or a professional. Ensure it’s someone who will be encouraging and instructive.

Activities to increase these skills:

Videotape your child making a series of facial expressions: happy, sad, angry, worried, scared, bored and so on. Have the child watch the video and discuss what they observe.
Turn off the sound on the TV during a video or movie and work with the child to decipher what is happening. This will require that the child correctly ‘reads’ the facial, posture and gestural cues.
Read a story and ask, “What do you think would happen next?” Discuss cues and how important it is to have some theory of action; some way to predict what is likely to happen next.
Teaching your child to listen to another’s ideas can be accomplished by having the child repeat back or respond to the opinions of family members on certain topics. “Dad likes golf because….” “Mom doesn’t like it because….”. Your child can be a reporter and pretend they are recording the speaker’s comments to show on the news later. Show what happens when you don’t listen to them. Talk about how they feel when you didn’t hear what was said.
Take your child with you to places where people are doing a trade. Model for your child how to show interest in another person’s work by asking questions and using appropriate answers that imply that you are listening. Have your child prepare to ask a few, pre-practiced questions themselves ans to remember what the person told them. Remind your child this is not the time for them to begin talking about their own interests.
Use dolls or puppets to act out how to make a friend and how to engage that new friend in a conversation.
Help your child come up with ways to spend time with friends by discussing places to go and things to do with friends. Talk about possible disagreements and the ‘give and take’ of friendships.
To teach an understanding of how other people feel, discuss situations with your child about times they were scared, elated or very angry. Find a book or magazine and identify what people in the pictures might be feeling. Go to a mall and people-watch. Identify people who are happy, hurried and depressed.

When your child practices and masters these very early skills, their self-esteem and confidence will increase and their anxiety in social situations will decrease. They will be ready to learn the more complex social skills, like letting go of an argument or dealing with humor or sarcasm.