Dressing for Success

ADHD and Clothing Sensitivities

Is your ADHD child driven to distraction by ill-fitting socks and clothing tags? He may have a heightened sensitivity to clothing.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most popular research topics in the field of learning disabilities today. Classified as a mental health complication, millions of children and teens live with the disorder in the United States alone. Pediatricians, neurologists, and other specialists search for a way to improve the quality of life for kids with ADHD while parents get to focus on the everyday minutiae of parenting children with this disorder.

Just to give you an idea of how this works, some children with ADHD are sensitive to certain types of clothing. This can be attributed to the heightened sensitivities experienced by ADHD children and adolescents. Clothing sensitivity can be seen in the need to micromanage the size and placement of a child’s socks, for example. A boy with ADHD can and will spend a quarter of an hour trying to make his socks yield the right fit. It helps to remember that it is the disorder—the ADHD—that is the driving force behind this picayune behavior.

Peer-Related Pressures

For teenagers, clothing sensitivity carries peer-related pressures. The trendiest clothing may not be wearable for a teen with clothing sensitivities. The problem may be tags, linings, or even specific dress materials. Your teen may experience a sensitivity to the stitching, or be bothered by the sensation of the cut or type of fabric in fashionable clothing.

For a parent accompanying a teenager on a shopping trip it can be very hard to pinpoint the exact nature of the difficulties experienced. That makes it a chore to steer children toward the clothing they can and will tolerate. We may also not be thrilled at the way the chosen (read comfortable) clothing looks on our children but may be forced to give in here and there to save everyone’s sanity: both parent and teen.

When your teenager with ADHD brings home new clothing items, check to make sure she’s made reasonable choices regarding fit, and then make sure to wash the clothing with laundry soap you know she can tolerate. This will remove any harsh manufacturing chemicals that might set off your child’s sensitivities.

A Biggie

The next step is to think about removing all tags related to care and branding. Clothing tags are a biggie when it comes to clothing sensitivities and the irritation can drive your ADHD teen to, well, distraction. If after you’ve done all of these things, your teen still complains about an item of clothing, it may be necessary to get rid of the offending article.

For some teens with ADHD, clothing sensitivities can worsen the symptoms of ADHD and it may be tough to spot your child’s clothing as the culprit. If you see your child having trouble with staying focused in class despite being on medication, think about removing his clothing tags or changing the way your child dresses. If you see an improvement after the fact, you’ll have proof that your child has a clothing sensitivity.

There isn’t a single facet of the ADHD teenager’s life that escapes the effects of this neurological condition. But you can make things a bit easier for your teen by choosing clothes that are not only stylish but decrease sensory irritation. If you make the effort in this area, you’ll see a benefit in your child’s schoolwork and begin to have a better experience when shopping with your child for clothes.

This post has been copied in its entirety with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be seen in it's entirety at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/dressingforsuccess

Dyslexic Reading

The reading errors of a person with dyslexia are anything but random. Their errors tend to be quite specific and are mirrored by their spelling mistakes. Here are some common errors in reading among those with dyslexia:

* Reads the word on one page, but doesn't recognize it on the next.

* Grasps phonics but is unable to sound out an unfamiliar word.

* Finds it slow-going and difficult to pick out and read single words on a page where there are no pictures or a story line for context.

* May substitute a word with identical first and last letters or a word with a similar shape, for instance from/form, trail/trial.

* May add or subtract letters to words, for instance cold/could, stair/star.

* May substitute a word with identical letters in a different sequence, for instance how/who, lost/lots, was/saw, blow/bowl.

* When reading aloud, the cadence is slow and phrases are choppy rather than smooth. They ignore, or seem to ignore, punctuation.

* They tire after only a short period of reading.

* They expend so much energy on figuring out the words that reading comprehension falls by the wayside. They understands a great deal more when someone reads to him.

* They confuse letter directionality when reading and writing. The letters b and d are good examples. One letter faces right, the other left. They may substitute one for the other on a regular basis. The same is true of up/down letters such as b and p, n and u, and m and w. When these letters are often substituted for each other, this is a sign of directionality confusion.

* Substitutes words that look similar, though the substitution changes the meaning of the text. For example, he may substitute horse for house, walking for wanting, white for while.

* As they read, they may substitute a word with the same meaning that doesn't resemble the original, for instance fast for quick, cry for sob, or travel for journey.

* Leaves out, misreads, or adds short function words like from, were, are, the, of, to, a, an.

* May leave off or substitute word endings, for instance talk for talked, needing for needed, late for later.

Dyslexic Spelling

The dyslexic's spelling tends to be much worse than his reading. Here are some examples of the spelling errors typical in dyslexia:

* Vowel sounds are hard for them to visualize. Rather than use an incorrect vowel, the dyslexic may just leave vowels out altogether as they write, making it impossible for anyone to read what has been written.

* With a great deal of effort, the dyslexic student may be able to retain a list of spelling words memorized on Monday for a Friday spelling bee, but won't be able to recall the spelling of those same words two hours later when they need to use those words in a sentence.

* Misspells common sight words (common, non-phonetic words) on a regular basis, for instance where, what, because, they. Frequent practice doesn't correct the situation.

* Misspells words while copying from a book or from the blackboard.

* Their writing displays signs of uncertainty—there are lots of crossed-out words and words that have been erased.

Thanks to www.cognibeat.com for allowing us to reprint their article here. The original can be found at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/readingspellingdyslx

Surviving the Season

Getting Through the Holidays with the LD Child

How can parents and their children with learning disabilities (LD) get through the holiday season with a minimum of emotional meltdowns?

This time of year, we often hear the words “merry” and “joyous” banded about in reference to the holiday season. But for the parents of a child with a learning disability, the holiday is anything but a happy time. Routine and structure are the lifeblood of a child with a learning difficulty of any sort and the long winter vacation offers just the opposite. It’s no wonder things get a little hairy and emotional meltdowns are the order, rather than the exception, of the day.

The antidote is clear: in order for parents (and their children) to survive, some sort of structure must be imposed and a routine created. Yet the holidays are hectic and overwhelming, even for well-organized adults. How can a parent compensate for the lack of structure and routine for a learning-disabled child when things are so frenzied?

The simplest way to help your child is to include them as a factor in your holiday planning. Just as you schedule your holidays plans in your calendar (bake X-mas cookies Wednesday, host open-house from 12PM-5PM January 1st) so too, you can pencil in activities with your child. The typical school day is broken up into regular blocks of time spent in routine activities. You can’t quite mimic that effect, and you’re not expected to do so, but any kind of quiet, scheduled activity, for instance 45 minutes of reading from a favorite storybook, can give your child back their bearings at this time.

Ongoing Activities

In order to keep your child from feeling pressured, you may want to make an activity an ongoing event. For instance, if your child likes decorating the tree, schedule a time of day for that, and let them decorate the tree over a period of days. You can start things off by stringing the lights. Then, during the time you’ve scheduled each day for tree-decoration, place a box of ornaments nearby for them to choose from.

The great thing about this activity is that your child feels included in your holiday preparations. They feel a part of things. Stay near your child to offer assistance as needed, and don’t neglect to tell them stories about the history of those decorations.

A parent should also prioritize their holiday plans and activities. Each demand on your time and energy should be considered in the light of your child’s needs and what you must provide to keep them happy and calm. In some cases, you may not have a choice. Some family outings, for instance, may be mandatory.

Examining Choices

If going to Grandma’s house for X-mas Eve dinner is nonnegotiable, attending five open houses in a row definitely is open to discussion. Keep plans down to a minimum for the sake of your child to avoid exposing them to unfamiliar surroundings, activities, and fuss. You can discuss this as a family and decide together which events take precedence and which, with regrets, you must skip. By examining your choices together as a family, you can determine the best way to spend your emotional and physical resources.

Last but not least, schedule in the joy. Clear a space on your calendar to just be with each other and enjoy time together. Take a walk in the snow and smell the air. Listen to some holiday music and sip a cup of hot cocoa together. Talk to your child and listen to them, too. That’s the stuff of joy for both you and your child and the holiday dividends of being a parent.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks to www.cognibeat.com for allowing us to reproduce this article. It can be found in it's entirety at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/survivingtheseason/

Can’t Do Math

Moderate Dyslexia

A big blond man with a bigger personality, David Baron seems quite comfortable sharing and speaking about his struggles with dyslexia. Though David never received a formal diagnosis, his wife of over 20 years is a Special Ed teacher. To her, it's plain as day that David suffers from moderate dyslexia.

No Answers

Back when David was a schoolchild, in the 1950's and 60's, his parents knew something wasn't right, but back then, no one had any answers. It wasn't until he was a high school sophomore that a counselor sat up and took note that something just wasn't right. This was back in 1968 when David took the Illinois Standard Test of Educational Achievement, a test he was told was administered to all U.S. high school students.

Failing Chemistry

David's counselor called him in for a meeting to discuss his test scores and prefaced the discussion by inquiring as to David's favorite subject. David told him he liked chemistry. The counselor admitted he was aware of David's preference for this subject and had spoken with David's chemistry teacher prior to the meeting, whereupon he discovered that David was just about failing in the subject.

It's The Math

"My counselor asked why. I told him that I understood the material well enough but the tests all had a significant mathematics component, and it happened that I'm terrible at math, so I got poor to failing grades on the tests. I told him that if the tests were conceptually-based rather than mathematical, I would do very well.

Scientific Reasoning

He then pulled out my ISTEA test scores and whadaya know; my math score was appalling as it was almost rock bottom at 5.5 percentile while my scientific knowledge and scientific reasoning tests were at the maximum of 98.6 percentile. My counselor said that I probably answered every question correctly—to which I responded that it was a fact that I answered every question right. Besides, I finished those tests in 10 minutes flat.

Not My Language

My counselor couldn't understand the combination of my inability to deal with math at an intermediate algebra level while I could handle scientific reasoning at a high level. He said, 'But mathematics is the language of science!' To which I replied 'That's true, mathematics is the language of science, but it's not my language.'"

Just Average?

David's counselor was very puzzled because within the battery of tests covering chemistry, David's results were all over the place, while his composite score showed he was within the 51st percentile. Just average, according to these results, yet it was clear to everyone, including David, that this score didn't reflect his true abilities. "What was clear to me then as well as now is that I have a serious imbalance of talents, far greater that the average person."

No Improvement

David repeated the same test in 1970 with the only difference reflected in his math scores, which was much lower this time. Over those two years, there was no discernible improvement in his math abilities. He managed to squeak through basic algebra, but was forced to drop out of his intermediate algebra class. Everyone else in his class improved their math skills, while he stayed at the same absolute level. Relative to his classmates, he fell behind in his math skills.

Saving Grace

David's saving grace arrived in the form of a university instructor who believed that anyone could do the math that applied to statistical data. This teacher taught David's required statistics course from a conceptual angle and David found he did quite well.

Driving Dyslexic

Most people know that dyslexia can cause reading difficulties, but how many know that dyslexia can have an adverse effect on driving skills? One small study compared the responses of dyslexic and non-dyslexic drivers to traffic signs and found that dyslexia can slow a driver's reaction to the same degree as a moderate drinking bout.

30% Longer

These results are bound to cause some controversy as people wonder whether it's safe to allow people with dyslexia to get behind the wheel. According to the study, the reaction time of those with dyslexia is 30% longer than for the typical driver. In the UK, drivers who just exceed the drinking limit of two pints of beer, tend to have a 10% longer reaction time. Experts are wondering if those with dyslexia should undergo testing beyond standard driving tests before receiving driver's licenses.

Simulated Roads

Hermundur Sigmundsson of Trondheim's Norwegian University of Science and Technology administered two tests to a group of 17 volunteers, including six individuals with dyslexia. The first test had the participants drive for 4 minutes along a simulated rural road at 50-80 kilometers an hour. The second task required the volunteers to drive on simulated city roads at lower speeds for10 minutes.

Traffic Signs

As the participants drove, a simulator flashed traffic signs within the drivers' visual field. The drivers were asked to respond to these signs by pushing a button or saying the word, "Now," and their response times were recorded. When driving in the rural road simulation, the signs were located straight ahead, while during the urban simulation, the signs appeared in random locations.

Delayed Reactions

During the rural road simulation, the 6 dyslexic drivers needed an average of 0.13 seconds longer to react than did the non-dyslexic participants, and took 0.19 seconds longer to react while using the more complex urban simulation. In both the urban and rural simulations, the control group—the non-dyslexic participants—needed 0.6 seconds to respond. This means that the drivers with dyslexia experienced a delay of 20%-30% reaction time.

Sensory Information

These results jibe with earlier studies in which dyslexia was found to affect the method by which the brain processes sensory information. Those with dyslexia are known, for instance, to be clumsy as children, and are often later in achieving developmental milestones such as crawling, walking, or riding a bike when compared with their more typical peers.

Cellphone Usage

The UK has banned certain activities known to slow a driver's reactions. Drunk-driving has long been illegal and cellphone usage while driving has also been outlawed. Cellphone usage while driving has been found to slow a driver's reaction by 45%.

Issue Warnings

But driving impairment expert Oliver Carsten from the UK's University of Leeds says that it isn't sensible to outlaw driving while dyslexic. Carsten says it makes better sense to issue a warning to dyslexic drivers rather than forbidding them to drive. Meanwhile Sigmundsson says that larger studies must be performed to confirm his results before taking any action regarding the dyslexic population and driving.

Other Factors

A spokeswoman for the UK's Department for Transport specified that reaction time is just one cognitive function used while driving. Furthermore, quick reaction time has not been found to be a good predictor of driving excellence. Young drivers in their teens, for instance, have shorter reaction times but tend toward more accidents due to overconfidence. Drunk drivers have other impairments in addition to their slowed reaction times. Their peripheral vision may be impaired so that they cannot see objects on their periphery. They also tend to be more aggressive when driving.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/driving

DU-U-UDE - A Young Adult’s Experiences with Ritalin

DU-U-UDE

A Young Adult’s Experiences with Ritalin

Does your child hate taking Ritalin? Find out why in this firsthand account of what it’s like to take this prescription drug in common use for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is Part I of a two-part interview with Nathan Engel.

Nathan Engel is a stocky, personable 20 year-old who seems quite happy to have been approached by Varda at CogniBeat to relate his experiences with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and his experiences with ADHD medication in the form of Ritalin. This is a young man who has a warm, open nature. He likes to talk.

I began by asking Nathan how old he was when he started taking Ritalin and why his parents decided he should take medication. Here’s what he had to say:

Nathan Engel: I was around 14 when I first started taking Ritalin. My parents thought it would help me to be more cooperative in class; deal better with the stuff I was learning.

Varda: And did it help?

Teacher's Helper

N: Well it helped up to a point. It made me quiet in class. That’s all it did. It helped me be quiet in class. But that didn’t help ME, it helped the teacher.

V: Were there other kids taking Ritalin in your class?

N: Not in my first school, not that I knew about. But in the second school, the whole class was on it—DU-U-UDE (laughs). It was an experimental school for kids with learning disabilities…20 kids in the class.

V: What was it like in your class, were they all quiet like you on the Ritalin?

Hopped Up

N: Some were, but not all. Some weren’t taking their pills. Some were hopped up. It was a mix.

V: Did you ever try skipping your pills in secret?

N: Plenty of times (laughs)

V: And did you get away with it?

N: Yeah.

V: Always?

N: Yeah. Always.

V: Why didn’t you take your pills?

N: Because they gave me side effects, like no eating—nothing at all. I wasn’t hungry. They gave me nausea. I felt lousy all day. And they prevented me from having a social life because I would be quiet and not responsive. I also had angry outbursts because I got picked on for being so quiet when I took the pill, of course.

V: Did you have any other side effects?

N: Headaches, a sick feeling. My hearing was affected. Things were quieter. Everything was as if it were muted. Like a down.

To be continued.

See Part II of DU-U-UDE: A Young Adult's Experiences with Ritalin: http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/11/du-u-ude-ii/

Why Read?

Those Who Can’t Read Lose Out

We take reading for granted. But what do people with reading difficulties miss out on through not being able to read with ease? Why is reading so important?

For quite some time now, we’ve known that large numbers of people can’t read, or at least not without a struggle. Many people with reading difficulties manage to get through life without anyone ever realizing they can’t read, while others strike a compromise and ask others to read to them when necessary. They may ask for oral instead of written instructions on the job.
What is it these people miss out on by dint of their reading difficulties?

Abraham Lincoln had a succinct way of framing the importance of reading: “A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”

A dyslexic may have an intense thirst to read, yet the words refuse to order themselves on the page for his perusal and comprehension.  It is clear that without the capacity, the taste for reading cannot be fulfilled.

Academic Success

But reading isn’t just about a thirst for literature. It’s more basic than that. The U.S Department of Education dumbs it down like this: "It is no exaggeration to say that how well children learn to read affects directly not only how successful they are in school but how well they do throughout their lives. When children learn to read, they have the key that opens the door to all the knowledge of the world. Without this key, many children are left behind."

Reading is so indispensible in our lives that we it for granted. But step back a moment and imagine what it would be like if you couldn’t read the instructions that come with your medication. Imagine how the inability to read would tend to limit your job opportunities. Imagine yourself as a child who cannot read, falling behind your peers in school a bit more with each passing day.
Reading keeps the mind active.

The brain needs regular exercise to grow and develop and reading is the perfect medium for this purpose. The more we read, the better we comprehend the written word.  By making reading a habit, we train our brain to seek out and relate to the written word as a reference for just about everything in our lives.

Active Listening

Reading helps teach us to stop talking and to be active listeners, instead. As we absorb the written word, we become adept at listening.

Reading also helps to exercise our imaginations. As we read, we imagine what will happen next.  Through the context of the words, we are able to make educated guesses about how the rest of the story will unfold.

No matter how much knowledge you’ve accumulated, there’s always room for more. Reading is one way to feed your brain with new information. The more you read, the more you know.
 
Reading wakes us up and excites the flow of ideas. As we read, we generate our own ideas. This dynamic empowers us with creativity in the home and in the workforce. It also makes us great conversationalists at dinner parties. The bookworm always has something new to discuss.

Proficient reading is a confidence booster. The person who reads with fluency will always have an edge over those who cannot. He knows things and he can cite sources. He is unafraid to voice an opinion because he can base his opinions on what he has read. Knowledge is power, but reading is the key to that knowledge.

This article has been  copied in whole with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found in it's entirety at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/11/whyread

Dyslexics Don’t Learn From Repetition

Most schoolchildren can hone in on the teacher’s voice even amidst the cacophony of a boisterous classroom. That’s because the typical brain has the automatic ability to focus on auditory information that is repetitious, predictable, and relevant, but it’s different in kids with dyslexia.

The teacher’s voice may become lost within the larger spectrum of background noise, such as chairs scraping across the floor, whispered voices, clanging locker doors, and playground chants. That’s because dyslexic children have trouble separating important auditory information from other, competing sounds.

Sound Regularities

These findings come from research conducted at the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, which offers evidence that kids who have trouble picking out speech from background noise also have a measurable neural (nerve) deficit that has an adverse impact on their ability to take advantage of sound regularities within their sound environments.
Nina Krause, Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology and director of the Laboratory, says that in order to hear speech within noise, we must have the ability to single out repetitive elements through a kind of sharpening or fine-tuning of these elements. This is the way we tag voice pitch, a cue that is crucial for singling out a specific voice within an environment of background noise.

Current Context

Krause and her colleagues showed that the brain manages to focus on the relevant factors of the sound environment thanks to an auditory system that is capable of adapting and changing its activity depending upon a current context.

Both typical and poor readers were shown a video as the sound “da” was broadcast in their ears via earphones during two separate sessions. The responses of the subjects’ brains to these sounds were measured.

During the first session, the sound was repeated in a continuous manner. In the second session, the sound “da” was used at random among other verbal sounds. During a third session, behavioral tests were administered to the children. At the same time, the kids were asked to repeat sentences that had been spoken to them against a backdrop of ever-increasing levels of noise.

Repetitive Speech

Even though the typical children were distracted by a movie, their auditory systems were able to tune in to repetitive speech sounds and sharpen the encoding of those sounds. But the poor readers showed no improvement in encoding sounds with repetition. The children with more typical adaptive auditory systems did better on the behavioral tests that required them to try to pick out speech within a busy sound environment.

Beneficial Strategies

The results of this study suggest that poor readers, who have trouble processing auditory information within a noisy background, might benefit from such strategies as situating the student in front of the teacher or using technology to enhance a teacher’s voice for a particular student.

This article has been copied in it's entirety with kind permission from www.cognibeat.com and can be found at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/11/dyslexics-don’t-learn-from-repetition