Last weekend I had the opportunity to view HBOs Journey Into Dyslexia, directed by Alan and Susan Raymond. The free viewing took place at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch (SFPL) and was sponsored by the Northern CaliforniaBranch of the International Dyslexia Association (NCBIDA). Video Verite is the website for the films of Alan and Susan Raymond. There are lots of educational resource links on the site, notably Parents Education Network, SAFE Voices, LDOnLine.org, and of course NCBIDA. What I found so moving about this 77 minute documentary was the story of world-famous micro sculpture and dyslexic Willard Wigan. As a child growing up in England, he was made to feel like nothing. One teacher in particular held him up to his classmates as an example of failure. He found meaning in the very smallest of things and his work is created in the eye of a needle. He slowed his body down so that he can sculpt the micro sized objects between heart beats, in one-and-a-half seconds. Check out the camels in the eye of a needle. His work is so small to view it properly one needs to use a microscope.
NCBIDA has a recommended list of books for parents, educators and students, you might want to check out here. LDOnLine.org also recommends a few as does GreatSchools.org.
Graphic from cbbc Newsround pictures.
Katherine Ellison, Pulitzer prize-winning investigative journalist, author, wife and mother, spoke at a workshop I attended recently. She shared her experience raising her ADHD son (now in high school). Buzz, A Year of Paying Attention (Hyperion Books, 2010) chronicles her year of investigating Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). According to the National Institute of Mental Health:
Scientists are not sure what causes ADHD, although many studies suggest that genes play a large role. Like many other illnesses, ADHD probably results from a combination of factors. In addition to genetics, researchers are looking at possible environmental factors, and are studying how brain injuries, nutrition, and the social environment might contribute to ADHD.
Ellison describes ADHD as “interest deficit” or behavior that is attempting to wake up the brain. She said that 5.4 million US kids are diagnosed with ADHD. According to the National Institutes of Health, 3 to 5 % of the US population has ADHD, yet more than half those surveyed in the Roper Poll (October 2010) mistakenly think that learning disabilities (including ADHD) are a product of laziness. More than two-thirds of parents think specific signs of learning disabilities are something a 2-4 year old will grow out of (also not true) and are therefore are more likely to delay seeking professional help. And, while 31% of parents say they would turn to teachers for information about learning disabilities, 43% of teachers think the home environment is at least partially to blame for children’s learning disabilities. Delayed diagnoses of LDs and ADHD results in time lost where interventions could have been established, time, research shows, that cannot be made up. ADHD is treatable, but there is no cure.
So, where to go for help? You can start with your pediatrician, asking for a psychiatric referral to get an ADHD diagnosis. You can read, talk to parents/guardians of children with ADHD and get connected to folks with similar challenges. Parents Education Network (PEN) is a good place to network. They also sponsor workshops and EdRev in the spring in San Francisco. Books to read include Ellison’s and Dr. Ned Hallowell‘s Driven to Distraction and Delivered from Distraction. An online magazine I recently came across is ADDitude, containing lots of helpful information.
Check out some websites: CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder), LD OnLine (learning disabilities and ADHD), Harvard’s Helpguide. More next week.
Graphic Creative Commons License Marla Cummins.
0 Comments on ADHD–an invisible problem except when it isn’t as of 10/5/2011 2:07:00 AM
0 Comments on Back To School 2011 as of 8/1/2011 2:24:00 AM
