Unwilling to learn?

Guest post by Lisa Cooley - Cross posted at The Minds of Kids

In most of today’s public schools adults feel so strongly that the standard subjects that have been taught for a hundred years are so crucial that no matter how different the world is today and how achingly indifferent kids are, they must learn it. Covering content is more important than learning. This idea is supported by the testing culture -- or perhaps the testing culture is actually doing the driving. So we design clever ways and means of getting the information in. Differentiated instruction, finding learning styles, teaching with multiple intelligences, rearranging tables and chairs in the classroom, unpacking standards, letting kids choose how they will learn a prescribed subject so that it can be “assessed”.... sound familiar?

All these methods are supposed to serve as shoehorns; ways to ease the information into kids, past that rock-hard wall of not giving a damn, into their brains in some form that they can access it (at least long enough to take a high stakes test).

But in the meantime kids are catching on as Marc Prensky shared in his article Engage Me or Enrage Me. Prensky points out that many of the kids we are trying to drug for non-compliance, don’t have A.D.D., they’re just not listening because they know what we’re trying to impose upon them is irrelevant for their success.  We now have a generation of students who are mad as hell and they’re fighting back. They are doing so by talking, throwing things, not listening, talking, leaning back in their chairs till they fall over, chewing gum, texting, skipping classes, taking bathroom breaks, and talking, talking, talking.

We adults are stumped! We must create rules for discipline and behavior, ban and block the tools for learning that they love, restrict their freedom of expression, and any other way we can think of for capturing them, holding them still and making them learn what they really really don’t care about. (What does this remind you of?)

And we are still so sure that if we allow kids to take the lead in their own learning, they will stray off to worlds unknown, frightening, dangerous. We MUST control what they learn.  There is in this system a willful ignorance of the facts: that true learning can only take place when the motivation comes from within. And there is a fear of taking a leap of faith: that if kids learn what they love, they will also learn what they need.

Let’s put down the burden. Just set it down and walk away. Make schools places where the first job of adults is to discover who these kids are, and provide support, time and resources to help them become the people they want to be.

Their futures are more important than our outdated ideas.  Let’s stop making learning hard. Let’s stop making schools into battlegrounds where the will of teachers is pitted against the will of students. Can’t we all just get along?

Let’s put teachers and students into productive partnerships, where trust and respect is at the core of the relationship; where teachers use their expertise and experience to guide and facilitate the learning that is most meaningful to students. Imagine the joy in our own hearts as we watch our kids work hard at stuff they love! Imagine how free we will all feel!

You have read this article ADD cure / education reform with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2012/06/unwilling-to-learn.html. Thanks!

ARE ADHD DRUGS HELPING OR HURTING YOUR KIDS?

Are ADHD medications putting your children in danger? Readers of this blog know my feelings on the subject and those who don't can click here to find out. In short medication should be a last resort after many other options have been examined.  

I’m so excited that Anderson Cooper is tackling the controversial issue of medicating children for attention deficit disorder in his show Anderson. In a heated debate, he has invited two moms to face off on the appropriate ways to treat children with ADHD. One of his guests Laurie A. Couture is a frequent contributor to this blog. Laurie is an unschooling, alternative education and attachment parenting coach and consultant. She is the author of Instead of Medicating and Punishing: Healing the Causes of Our Children’s Acting-Out Behavior by Parenting and Educating the Way Nature Intended which was chosen as a finalist in the ForeWord Magazine Book-of- the-Year Awards in 2009. She appears as an expert in the documentary film, The War On Kids (2009) and is the host of The Free and Joyful Childhood Radio Show. Laurie was a recipient of the 2010 Manchester Union Leader’s Forty Under 40 honors.  Visit her website at http://www.laurieacouture.com.  

The pharma companies spend billions to get society to drug their kids. Laurie will tell us the many healthier alternatives. I can’t wait to hear Laurie advocate for children on this show. Here is a preview.

If you have a child diagnosed with ADD / ADHD this show is for you. Check it out and decide what's right for your kids.


To find out when it is on in your area, click this link and enter your zip code in the WHEN IT'S ON box.
Here is when it is on here in New York.
Debuts Thursday, March 08, 2012
Channel PIX11 M-F 4:00 PM

While you'll have to watch the actual show via your service provider, you can see what happened after the show below. 

To find out  Laurie's reaction to the show here. 

You have read this article ADD / ADD cure / ADHD / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2012/03/are-adhd-drugs-helping-or-hurting-your.html. Thanks!

The Gifted/ADHD Connection

Guest post by Dori Staehle | Cross posted at Next Stage Educational Consulting

It reads like something from a science fiction novel: Millions of schoolchildren lining up everyday for the medication that will make them sit still, pay attention – and behave! Orwell’s1984 or Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron perhaps?

This is life imitating art. We’ve become so convinced that children need to be medicated in order to learn that we’ve completely ignored what’s really causing their inattention and hyperactivity in the first place.

As an educational consultant and private tutor, I’ve seen children medicated needlessly. I’ve seen the prevalent side effects, I’ve heard from frantic Moms after their sons were rushed to the emergency room. The sad fact is that the majority of children who are diagnosed as ADD or ADHD (often by their teachers!), are actually highly gifted, talented, and creative kids. The problem is: No one was looking for that.

Like they say, if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. Since most teacher training programs and even graduate programs don’t cover this, let me explain what giftedness is. Giftedness is a complex phenomenon which encompasses high IQ and creativity, along with heightened sensitivities, and uneven development (combined definition from Dr. Linda Silverman, The Columbus Group, and this writer).

At many of my workshops, I outline the symptoms of ADD/ADHD taken from the psychologist’s “bible”, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).  Then, I add to the right side of the screen the traits of giftedness, as per The Gifted Development Center in Denver. Yes folks, both lists are exactly the same (you can seen this chart here).People who are super-talented, creative, or bright tend to be hyper. They space out when they’re bored or when they’re trying to figure something out. They tend to hyper-focus on areas of interest.

In addition, there are literally hundreds of medical conditions that can produce hyperactivity and inattentiveness (The Hyperactivity Hoax, Dr. Sydney Walker, http://amzn.to/z1djaQ).  Within my student population, 100% were right-brained, 95% were gifted, 90% were highly gifted with IQ’s in the 150-200 range (average IQ is 100), and all of them had allergies, asthma, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), food sensitivities, or a combination of all four.

In 2000, I spoke at a gifted education conference and posited that a huge percentage of students that are being labeled as ADD/ADHD are actually right-brained gifted, talented, and/or creative students. We are, in fact, medicating brilliance. We are also ignoring the underlying medical conditions and not accounting for the biggest trigger: stress.

Schools are left-brained institutions taught by predominantly left-brained individuals (Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child, Jeff Freed). They don’t understand those of us who are right-brained and creative, who think in pictures and tend to be random, not sequential. So, they medicate what they don’t like or don’t understand. Surely, there must be something wrong with these kids’ brains! In fact, ADD used to be known as a brain disorder – even though most of these kids have high IQ’s! You can almost call it a “left-brained conspiracy”. No wonder these kids are stressed out – they’re not allowed to be themselves!

Therefore, it is no surprise that there is a huge incidence of gifted, talented, and creative kids within the homeschooling population (www.hoagiesgifted.org). They can learn in ways that work for them and be with others like them. They can spend a great deal of time on their passions and take breaks or blow off steam when needed. This is their version of normal. Maybe it’s time to accept that and not try to change it.

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Dori Staehle has close to 20 years of tutoring and consulting experience and has worked with public, private, and homeschooled students and their families.  She holds a BA in French and German from Wagner College in NY, and an MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ. In addition, she has done both graduate and post-graduate work in gifted education and gifted psychology while in CO.

Dori has written and published several articles on gifted education and homeschooling and developed the theory known as The Gifted/ADHD Connection. She is currently writing a book which is tentatively titled Hearing the Music: Why We Chose Homeschooling Instead of Ritalin.

You have read this article ADD / ADD cure / ADHD / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2012/01/the-giftedadhd-connection.html. Thanks!

How Ritalin ruined my childhood

Guest post from Peter Jung @peter_d_jung | Cross posted at EduPeter.

I like Adderall. I don't take it often at all, but I have a prescription that I can get filled whenever. When I need to write a 20 page paper in a few days, I take a pill, drink a caffeine drink, and turn into a robot for a while. Normally, I don't need to take pills to succeed in a class- I pay attention well enough, keep up on the reading, and take decent notes. If I lapse in any of these things, it's not something that can be attributed to any deficits in my ability to pay attention, but another source, such as frustration with the teacher's lecturing style, exhaustion from sleep deprivation, or something of the sort.

I don't have ADD, at least not in a way that impedes my learning in any real way. So, then, why can I get Adderall?

When I was 6, ADHD was a big thing. Everybody's kid had it, which explained any number of frustrating behaviors that their kids would engage in. I was a kid that engaged in frustrating behaviors, who also had a bit of neurological damage thrown in there. The neurological damage caused a speech impediment and gross motor dysfunction, which led to me going through physical and speech therapy for many years, but caused no apparent cognitive deficits.

What my parents and first grade teacher saw was a kid who would wander off, get frustrated easily, cry when faced with math homework, and had a hard time paying attention, preferring to draw constantly instead. My parents and teacher had a lot of frustrations with me concerning math homework around this time, and finally decided they needed to see a doctor about me. After taking a test that involved me staring at a computer monitor, trying to determine which orientation a blip of light was facing, I was diagnosed with ADD.

From my perspective, first grade was a really hard time for me. I loved to read and draw, but didn't really get along with any of the other kids. They were often mean to me, and I found I preferred to be alone with my drawings. My teacher would force the entire class to do these idiotic 'two minute timings' that involved 200 basic math problems, and a two minute time limit.

Of course, most kids blew through these. I looked at the seemingly endless pile of problems, and the two minute time limit, and had the first grade equivalent of a mental breakdown. I mean, two minutes? Who can do two HUNDRED problems in TWO MINUTES?! Two minutes is not a lot of time! 200 is a VERY LARGE NUMBER. NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I DON'T LIKE THIS SCHOOL PLACE ANYMORE.

So, while such thoughts flew around my head, the unfinished two minute timings piled up, and my teacher decided that I needed to stay in during lunch and recess every day to finish them. I would just stare at them, occasionally attempt to finish one and get discouraged, then just draw. So, I missed recess for a good chunk of my first grade year, which led to me spending every recess inside with the teacher after that. Part of it was I liked to draw more than I liked being outside, but another part of it was that I was very shy, and didn't really like how the other kids treated me. Having missed that year made me feel like an outsider, and I was too introverted to try to make friends.

Of course, that led to me going to the emotional counseling support group with all the junior sociopaths in the school. I would just talk about my collection of toy robots, or stay quiet.

Anyway, Ritalin happened around the beginning of second grade. I was given a time release pill that I was supposed to swallow so it would dissolve slowly over the day. Well, that didn't happen, as I had a gag reflex. I chewed it, and got a day's worth of Ritalin in a very short period of time.

I really don't remember much else from that point on. I have pretty vivid memories of my childhood up until taking Ritalin, and then... nothing. I have seen reports of my behavior that are pretty disturbing, and found artifacts from that time period that seem to imply some degree of massive depression, although my memories are a haze. What I do remember is being a complete loner who was content to sit in the back and draw or read all day. I also remember being able to see the logical circuits for traffic lights, and other patterns.

In 5th grade, my mom became so tired of hearing all these problems with me, and had the district give me an IQ test. The next day I was placed in the highly capable program, although I still tended to prefer to disengage and draw, as I was still pretty introverted.

Somehow, I managed to skate through elementary school, but in 6th grade, by month three, I was doing terribly. I was failing one class, and doing badly in all the rest. I didn't know what was going on, but I started to get scared, as no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do well. They apparently made an IEP for me that involved me sitting at the front of the classroom so I would pay attention better, and the teacher could keep track of me. It was all very frustrating for everyone involved.

Finally, a math teacher asked me if I could see what she was writing.

I told her I could, and then she asked me what she was writing. I told her the wrong answer.

Within weeks, I had glasses and my grades went from Fs to Bs. I was still on Ritalin, which made me very socially awkward and led to a lot of bullying, which made my entire middle school experience a horrible mess of bruises and cuts.

By 8th grade, my parents took me off the Ritalin, and I began making actual friends with the nerdy kids. I'm still friends with some of them today, and hang out with one on a weekly basis. I slowly learned how to socialize, and became more like a normal person that wasn't stoned out of their mind.

By 12th grade, I was pretty much normal. I had been in the IB program for the first two years of high school, then switched over to Running Start, which allowed me to take a few classes at the community college to knock out high school credits, and get free college credit. I still took a few classes at the high school, but they were all classes I was interested in- Calculus, Advanced Biology, Weight Training, Art, etc. I had a good group of geeky friends, and could make friends easily. I was really awkward around girls, but not in an unusual way. I was a pretty stereotypical nerd.

One day, I got pulled out of class to talk with the school psychologist. He asks me to sit down and tells me I have an IEP. I ask what that is, and he tells me that it's something that has to do with my mental health issues. At that point, I had begun conversing with the ceiling about how this man was not to be trusted, and the psychologist just laughed. So, I asked what this was all about, and he describes the IEP to me- I am to sit in front of the class and the teacher is to make sure I'm paying attention. Now, I had forgotten about this IEP thing, and generally sat in the front of the class because I was a teacher's pet, but I was rather shocked. He told me I had Static Encephalopathy, which explained why I needed physical therapy and speech therapy, but didn't really explain why I had to sit in front.

I ask him when this IEP was made. He tells me, beginning of 6th grade. I take off my glasses and gesture with them, "I got these a few months into 6th grade."

He chuckles, and shreds the document.

I think most of my problems with Ritalin could have been avoided with two simple things. If the teacher had just sat down with me and really talked with me about the two minute timings, and offered to let me do 10 problems instead of 200, I could have shown her I was competent. Also, if someone had given me a vision test earlier, I would have avoided being consistently high and losing so much of my childhood.

Even so, I think I did okay. I am largely self educated, having read the entire time-life science series of books my dad found at a garage sale in a summer, and spending so much time in the corner reading. I have no difficulty with math, social skills, or academic ability. I just think it is very important that a kid is consulted when dealing with medication, as often, kids know exactly what's up. Sometimes, yes, medications are necessary, but the application of them is so often done as a blunt weapon rather than a precise tool. With me, the problems were easily solvable, not based on any neurological deficit. As such, I feel that the psychologist's diagnosis was most certainly wrong.

Although, I must say, it is nice being able to get Adderall legally. And I use it honestly, only when I need to really cram or finish a project. Still, the feeling I have while on it is incredibly potent, and the idea that I was on this stuff for years frightens me greatly, just from the possibility that it might have impeded my brain's development. Thus far, I think I've developed normally, but I can't really tell.

In any case, I just thought I'd throw that out there, as a story of someone who went through elementary and middle school in a drugged out haze because he needed glasses.

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Peter Jung is a graduate student interested in information technology and DIY Education. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-jung/13/6/5a6

You have read this article ADD / ADD cure / ADHD / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-ritalin-ruined-my-childhood.html. Thanks!

What the doctors and teachers may not tell you when recommending medicating your ADD / ADHD child

I'm pissed off! I am pissed off because parents and educators are hurting children and they may not even realize it. This post is written to change that.  


If you are a parent or educator who is allowing a child you know to be drugged because they have an ADD / ADHD "disorder" you could be responsible for receiving short-term gains in exchange for long-term detrimental effects.  


Drugging children has well-known risks which I share below, but now there's another to add to list as a parent / friend just informed me. Schools had convinced her to drug her son providing all sorts of evidence from doctors and others that this was best for her child. The risks were not presented. Fortunately, she eventually realized something was very wrong with the path down which schools were leading her child and she pulled him out of school so he could own his learning and have a happy and successful life.



Unfortunately, the damage may already have been done.

I was not given a list of this as a side effect and I may have condemned him to an adulthood of trials and pain. Doctors play down rare side effects just as well as educators. Children are statistics not people.

This mother shared what she just learned.

Did you know that a study last year indicated that there is a possible correlation between stimulant use (including ritalin and adderal) and parkinson's disease. Why is this important? My barely 20 year old son was given a tentative diagnosis yesterday of early onset Parkinson's disease (onset under 50). His only known risk factor having been prescribed Ritalin and risperdal before the age of 10. We will look for an early onset doctor and PUSH for more research to save other children from this debilitating disease. My focus changed yesterday!

Fortunately, there is at least one group that is trying to get information to parents. It is the responsibility of parents and teachers to deeply research this decision. Once they do it will be crystal clear that if you allow children to be drugged without standing up and sharing the numerous alternatives that can pursued instead, you may very well be condemning that child to serious long term effects which not only include Parkinsons but also include:



Effect on the developing brain — Some researchers are concerned that the use of drugs such as Ritalin in children and teens interferes with normal brain development.



Psychiatric problems — Stimulants for ADD/ADHD can trigger or exacerbate symptoms of hostility, aggression, anxiety, depression, and paranoia. People with a personal or family history of suicide, depression, or bipolar disorder are at a particularly high risk, and should be carefully monitored when taking stimulants.



Potential for abuse — Stimulant abuse is a growing problem, particularly among teens and young adults. College students take them for a boost when cramming for exams or pulling all-nighters. Others abuse stimulant meds for their weight-loss properties. If your child is taking stimulants, make sure he or she isn’t sharing the pills or selling them.



Heart-related problems — ADD/ADHD stimulant medications have been found to cause sudden death in children and adults with heart conditions. The American Heart Association recommends that all individuals, including children, have a cardiac evaluation prior to starting a stimulant. An electrocardiogram is recommended if the person has a history of heart problems. Unfortunately that didn’t happen in the case of this child:

The day after Christmas 2010, a grandfather discovered his 8 year old grandson dead in bed. The child was on Adderall, the prescribing physician missed an underlying heart murmur, the parents and grandparents under informed on proper use, the school and classroom teacher pushed for the child to remain on drugs after the father's resistance, when he became the primary caregiver. Evidence indicates that children on Medicaid are more likely to be prescribed than otherwise. This was also the case.

Parents or educators who do not intervene are responsible for hurting children if they are not trying options that don’t involve medicating first.  Pediatrician Lawrence Diller says that non-drug interventions value engagement with the child; they require more time, more involvement by adults and initially cost more money. Medical and educational systems value efficiency. Parents generally value engagement but if the treating systems only offer pills, parents will surely take them over no treatment.



Parents and teachers if your not sure what you can do instead of drugging children, here are some ideas.

• There are health and wellness coaches like Heather Jones DeGeorge that can help guide families to find the food and lifestyle choices that best support them.
• There are parenting coaches like Laurie A Couture who help children live drug-free lives and empowers them with healthy alternatives.
• There are guides like “Fix the School, Not the Child,” and books like “Instead of Medicating and Punishing” that offer numerous alternatives to drugs for children.
• If school is causing your child’s ADD / ADHD you can remove him or her.  
• If you are misinformed to believe ADD / ADHD is real, you can read information from these doctors, educators, and parents who disagree. They don’t disagree that children have behavior associated with ADD / ADHD they disagree that this is a disorder that should be medicated out of children.

As with most things in America, money factors rule. But a society that chooses to cope by using drugs, in the long term, does so at its own peril. -Lawrence Diller, M.D., Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrician, Author, UCSF Clinical Faculty

If you know a child who is being drugged, they and their parents should know the risks. If you don't want to tell them, just give them this article and save a child.

If you want to join the conversation you can do so here on my Facebook page or here on my page for parents, educators, and students interested in discussing innovative learning opportunities that provide a brand new type of learning environment outside of traditional school options.

You have read this article ADD / ADD cure / ADHD / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-doctors-and-teachers-may-not-tell.html. Thanks!

Midlife Crisis Begins in Kindergarten…

with labels such as ADD, ADHD, slow, dyslexic, learning disabled, just average, and even gifted!

Guest post by Mariaemma

Did you know that midlife crisis begins in kindergarten? Yes, it's true! It is in kindergarten (and sometimes in preschool!) that our society begins the process of teaching children (see how this happened to The Innovative Educator and Aaron Iba here) that they are not smart enough, not quick enough, not working to potential, not high enough on the bell curve, not as good as the next guy...just plain not measuring up!

Midlife Crisis is the term we use to indicate a trauma experienced in the middle years —usually having to do with the question, “What am I doing with my life?” There are stories of extreme reactions that all of us have heard: like the guy who is a doctor, quits one day, and goes to live in the woods; as well as less dramatic cases like the financial consultant who enters the ministry.

There is nothing wrong with changing careers. But we don’t say midlife celebration, we say midlife crisis!  Crisis, because this time is often associated with feelings of unhappiness and confusion. Some people choose to “run away.” Others are afraid to change anything, then believe for the rest of their lives that they have been short changed. These are the people who say in later years, If only . . . or  I missed my chance to . . .

And, so, we have books such as Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow by Marsha Sinetar, How To Find Your Mission In Life by Richard Bolles, Life Launch by Hudson and McLean . . . the theme being that if you knew what you were meant to do in the world, you would have a purpose, which leads to fulfillment, happiness, and good relationships.

How do we figure out our purpose? Look at your natural talents and interests, the books say. Many include self-assessments to help you figure out what you love, just in case you don’t know anymore.

When children start school they bring their natural talents and gifts with them. Some alternative schools and models like those mentioned in this HuffPo Ed piece by The Innovative Educator embrace this type of learning.  However in traditional public schools, instead of encouraging individual gifts and talents, the first thing we do is teach them to put their interests on hold. We begin early the process of hiding the clues, the keys to our adult lives. We begin attaching labels: slow, average, ADD, LD . . . Years later the potential scientists or artists or teachers have the seeds buried so deeply they can no longer remember what set them on fire. And they need a book or a therapist to help them rediscover who they are.

I have a sign in my office that reads, 

“It is better to build children than repair adults.”

We need to pay attention to the child who needs to drum on the desk, the one who memorizes better when shooting baskets, the one who is interested in rocks. We need to stop labeling children as dysfunctional and start labeling the positives: keeps excellent rhythm, very coordinated, a whiz at the computer, great rapport with animals, natural comedian! Children who grow up learning about their own talents and styles become confident adults who achieve dreams and are enthusiastic about lifelong learning.

Remember the old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? We can give children the right start by respecting each one’s unique learning needs. For those of us who are already grown up, see you at the bookstore!

©2011 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, M.S., Learning Style Specialist for School & Life Success

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Mariaemma is co-author Discover Your Child’s Learning Style, and co-founder of LearningSuccess™ Institute. For the last 20 years Mariaemma’s passion has been to bring out the star in every person - adult and child. She is especially concerned about adults who have grown up with negative school labels (Learning Disabled, ADD, lazy, not working to potential, average, below average, even gifted!), and the number of children who continue to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and/or medicated.

Get your free copy of the eBook version of Midlife Crisis Begins in Kindergarten when you sign up for the LearningSuccess™ newsletter: www.learningsuccessinstitute.com
For a personalized education option go to www.solimaracademy.com
To find out your children’s learning styles go to www.learningstyleprofile.com
To find out your personal success styles go to www.personalsuccessprofile.com
Contact: m@mariaemmawillis.com, 805-648-1739

You have read this article ADD cure / ADHD Cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/06/midlife-crisis-begins-in-kindergarten.html. Thanks!

Breaking Free From The Boring Prison of School

Former students like me and Aaron Iba felt like school was a sentence.  This Prezi gives some insight into why.

Breaking Free from the Prison of School - Aaron Iba on Prezi

You have read this article Aaron Iba / ADD cure / ADHD Treatment with the title ADD cure. You can bookmark this page URL http://benncam.blogspot.com/2011/06/breaking-free-from-boring-prison-of.html. Thanks!

Technology (not meds) Cured My ADD / ADHD & Sleeping Disorder

I slept through most of school.  I didn’t mean to sleep through it.  I felt really bad about sleeping through it.  Many of my teachers resented me for sleeping through it.  I tried a lot of things to combat this.  I got a good night sleep.  In high school I started drinking coffee.  In my first year of college, last year of high school I started taking No Doze until the day I got so sick from the coffee and No Doze that I stopped taking No Doze. From an assessment perspective, despite my sleeping, I was a great student.  I graduated in the top ten percent of my class in high school and college and did well on standardized tests.  The issue wasn’t just an issue in high school and college either.  Starting in pre-school, my mother got a call from the school concerned that I spent my days sleeping and they thought that perhaps I was retarded.  Yep, they actually told my mom that even though I was already reading and writing before I had entered pre-school.  My mom sent me out for tests at UCLA, and the results showed I was actually gifted.  So what was the problem?  If I was smart, cared about my grades and was doing well, why did I sleep so much?  

The answer is simple.  

I was bored in school.  

When I’m bored, I fall asleep.  It’s embarrassing, but that’s what I do.  This didn’t end when I graduated from school. I had the same problem when I was bored at work. The worst is during those boring big group meetings. I usually designated a colleague to kick me or pinch me if she started to see me fall asleep.  


I am one of those people some would label as ADD or ADHD.  I just label myself as having a brain that needs constant stimulation and I embrace that. You will find many who are labeled with ADD/ADHD recognize they have the same issue.  Read this and this and this and this.  Our brains just sort of turn off if we’re not stimulated and we fall asleep.  Anytime I am in a setting where it’s one-way input, this is an issue.  I need interactivity.  This is seriously dangerous when I am driving alone for any length of time and I have the same issue as a passenger.  I call it "CARpalepsy."  It also has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t like going out to movies or listening to lectures or concerts.  I was always the one who was shushed.  I wanted to talk about what I was seeing.  Make meaning, process.  It was that or I would fall asleep.  


When left to my own devices, I operate effectively at a mile a minute.  I love it.  At this moment I have ten blog posts in my cue that flew out of my fingers as I was reading, writing, tweeting, on facebook, talking, BBMing and texting.  Often I do all that and go running or play volleyball for a few hours in the middle while still doing much of that.  For me technology has been a godsend. It provides me not only with a way to not only stay awake when bored, but it also provides a funnel for my thoughts and ideas and a way to process and share. It has been the non-medication treatment for my problem of needing a lot of stimulation and it has opened doors, windows, and allowed me to make connections I never thought possible.  


Now I can go to movies and text my thoughts to the person sitting next to me or share with the world through Twitter or Facebook, get feedback and have conversations, without disturbing others.  In meetings I’m not just sitting there consuming information.  I too can have a part in it as I BBM my colleague asking their thoughts about what is being said or look up something that is being talked about that I don’t understand instead of tuning out.  With technology I have the world in my hands at any time and I am able to control the amount of stimulation that allows my brain to work at optimal speed.  And, to me this is the big idea...

Individuals need to be empowered with the ability to self-regulate and have ownership over the way they can function most effectively.  

What concerns me is articles like this one Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students where we hear from colleges and professors who want to strip students of their freedom to learn in the way they choose by taking away their technology.  We all learn differently. Rather than banning, which we all know is taking the easy way out, instructors need to empower students to differentiate learning and self regulate.  If teachers can’t update their practices to engage 21st learners, the answer isn’t to keep their students in the past.  The answer is to get to the root of the issue and update their practices.  Just how to do that is the topic of tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned! 

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