Link: Attention
The ability to pay attention has long been considered innate, with children who seem to lack this skill placed on medications, writes author Maggie Jackson. But scientific discoveries indicate that practice can pump up attention skills in adults and children -- including those with ADHD -- much like exercise can tone muscles.
Link: Attention
IN THE FAST-PACED, distraction-plagued arena of modern life, perhaps nothing has come under more assault than the simple faculty of attention. We bemoan the tug of war for our focus, joke uneasily about our attention-deficit lifestyles, and worry about the seeming epidemic of attention disorders among children.
Link: The Colombian
Autism. Asperger’s Syndrome. Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Depression.
The rush to any of the dozens of diagnoses that label troubled children can actually foil efforts to help them, Steven E. Curtis writes in his book,
“Understanding Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior: A Guide for Parents of Children with Behavioral, Social, and Learning Challenges.”
Curtis, a clinical psychologist, has gathered examples from his Bainbridge Island practice. A child with explosive tantrums had been presumed autistic before the boy’s parents observed him in school and figured out that he had a learning disability. A child diagnosed with ADHD actually had trouble seeing and hearing, which made it difficult for him to pay attention in school.
Link: VOA.com
We continue our series on learning disabilities with a problem that is not considered a learning disability by itself, but it can af fect learning. Our subject is attention deficit disorder, A.D.D., and the related form A.D.H.D., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These affect an estimated five to ten percent of children worldwide.
Link: Statesman.com
It was Jennifer Galjour's sophomore year of high school in Corpus Christi when her doctor told her that attending college would be a waste. She wouldn't get a single passing grade, he said. Initially, Galjour, who had dreamed of going to college, was crushed by the prognosis. But the question never really was whether Galjour would go to college. It was when, where, and how she would go. Now, with help from College Living Experience, a program that helps students with disabilities transition into adulthood, Galjour is taking classes at Austin Community College and just finished her first semester with a 3.0 grade average.
Link: TimesDaily.com
34-year-old Ben Glenn, known across the country as "The Chalk Guy," brought Florence High School students to their feet in awe at his dynamic, 12-minute production of a multi-dimensional mountainous landscape scene. He uses his art and his own life story of dealing with the challenges of dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and learning disabilities to inspire his audiences.
Link: LD Online
Read My Son's Disability and My Own Inability to See It, the story of a school system that did the right thing for one of their students — and the mother's experience. Read her thoughts after she found out her teenager had a learning disability, how he reacted to the news — and their journey to the moment when he showed her the honor roll report card he received in college.
Link: ADDA
The mission of ADDA is to provide information, resources and networking to adults with AD/HD and to the professionals who work with them. In doing so, ADDA generates hope, awareness, empowerment and connections worldwide in the field of AD/HD. Bringing together scientific perspectives and the human experience, the information and resources provided to individuals and families affected by AD/HD and professionals in the field focuses on diagnoses, treatments, strategies and techniques for helping adults with AD/HD lead better lives.
Link: ADD
With school about to start, kids are coming in for their physicals -- and for medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I'm seeing more kids each year with symptoms of ADHD. Some just have the attention problems and others are hyperactive, too. New treatments can be given once a day. They are relatively easy for kids to take at home and don't require the involvement of the school nurse during the day, as shorter-acting older medicines do.
Link: ADD
If school-age children can't stay focused or sit still, their teachers or doctors start to suspect attention deficit disorder.
But it's the quiet ones whose disorders often don't get diagnosed, even if their inability to stay on track is just as bad as it is for the ones who act up. Although they aren't disrupting the classroom, they need help, too.
"They're sitting in the corner," said Hope Workman, the mother of children with attention deficit disorder. "You think they're paying attention, but it's not getting between the ears." The American Psychiatric Association calls the illness ADHD. Its principal characteristics are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior.
