It Is Not Daydreaming

ADHD

Google ADHD and you'll get over 30 million hits many of which promote ideas like, ADHD is a vitamin deficiency, ADHD is caused by food coloring, ADHD is caused by bad parenting, ADHD isn't a real condition…and so on.

There are, however, facts about ADHD which dispel the myths.

First and foremost, ADHD is real. The diagnosis of ADHD as defined in the DSM-5 is very specific. Important things to remember which many people don't know…and which doctors might overlook, are:

• the symptoms must be present for at least 6 months and are inappropriate to the subject's developmental level
• the symptoms interfere with, or reduce the quality of, social, school, or work functioning.
• the symptoms are not better explained by another mental disorder (e.g. Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, etc).

In other words, a child of 4 who runs around a lot, climbs on furniture, and has a short attention span is very likely acting like a 4-year-old, and not a child with ADHD. An 8 year old who is under stress from family dysfunction, illness or childhood depression and can't pay attention in class should probably not be diagnosed with ADHD.

ADHD in children should not be diagnosed unless the symptoms are inappropriate to the child's age.

Wrong. "Back in the day" ADHD was called

• Hyperkinetic Disease
• Minimal Brain Damage
• Minimal Brain Dysfunction
• Hyperkinetic Impulse Disorder

ADHD is not a new disorder. It has been present in medical literature since the late 18th century. Treatment of the condition with stimulant medications has also been present for almost a century.

ADHD in children should not be diagnosed unless the symptoms are inappropriate to the child's age.

It is not the same as daydreaming.


MYTHS ABOUT ADHD

Some myths about ADHD and responses (see the links for the entire articles)…

7 Myths About ADHD... Debunked!

by Additude Magazine

Myth #1: ADHD isn't a real medical disorder

ADHD has been recognized as a legitimate diagnosis by major medical, psychological, and educational organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education. The American Psychiatric Society recognizes ADHD as a medical disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - the official mental health "bible" used by psychologists and psychiatrists.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (also known as attention-deficit disorder) is biologically based. Research shows that it's a result of an imbalance of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters, within the brain. Its primary symptoms are inattention, impulsiveness, and, sometimes, hyperactivity.

People with ADHD typically have a great deal of difficulty with aspects of daily life, including time management and organizational skills.

Myth #3: Children with ADHD eventually outgrow their condition

More than 70 percent of the individuals who have ADHD in childhood continue to have it in adolescence. Up to 50 percent will continue to have it in adulthood.

Although it's been estimated that 6 percent of the adult population has ADHD, the majority of those adults remain undiagnosed, and only one in four of them seek treatment. Yet, without help, adults with ADHD are highly vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and substance abuse. They often experience career difficulties, legal and financial problems, and troubled personal relationships.

Myth #5: ADHD is the result of bad parenting

When a child with ADHD blurts things out or gets out of his seat in class, it's not because he hasn't been taught that these behaviors are wrong. It's because he cannot control his impulses. The problem is rooted in brain chemistry, not discipline. In fact, overly strict parenting - which may involve punishing a child for things he can't control - can actually make ADHD symptoms worse. Professional interventions, such as drug therapy, psychotherapy, and behavior modification therapy, are usually required.

Myth #6: Children who take ADHD medication are more likely to abuse drugs when they become teenagers.

Actually, it's just the opposite. Having untreated ADHD increases the risk that an individual will abuse drugs or alcohol. Appropriate treatment reduces this risk.

The medications used to treat ADHD have been proven safe and effective over more than 50 years of use. These drugs don't cure ADHD, but they are highly effective at easing symptoms of the disorder. The drugs do not turn kids into addicts or "zombies."

9 Myths, Misconceptions and Stereotypes about ADHD

from Psychcentral.com

1. Myth: ADHD isn’t a real disorder.

Fact: ADHD is a mental disorder with a strong biological component (like most mental disorders). This includes an inherited biological component, notes Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D, a national certified counselor and licensed mental health counselor and author of four books on adult ADD, including Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed.

For instance, studies have identified several genes associated with ADHD (e.g., Guan, Wang, Chen, Yang & Qian, 2009). One study revealed that kids with ADHD had hundreds of gene variations that weren’t found in other children (Elia et al., 2010).

5. Myth: “Everyone has some ADHD these days,” Tuckman said.

Fact: Our technology-driven society has definitely caused many people to get easily distracted and overwhelmed. We get sidetracked during one project and feel forgetful about everything else. But as Tuckman clarified: “The difference is that people with ADHD pay a much higher price for their distracted moments and it happens much more often.”

Think of it this way: All of us feel anxious and depressed at certain points in our lives but that doesn’t mean that we have a diagnosable anxiety disorder, depression or bipolar disorder.

7. Myth: “ADHD isn’t a big deal,” Tuckman said.

Fact: This couldn’t be further from the truth. Individuals with ADHD typically struggle in all areas of their lives, from the big responsibilities like job performance to simple tasks like paying bills on time, according to Tuckman. ADHD is also tough on relationships.

Plus, “There has even been research showing that people with ADHD have lower credit scores and higher blood cholesterol levels, revealing their difficulties with managing a broad range of lifestyle matters,” Tuckman said.

9. Myth: “People with ADHD just need to try harder,” Tuckman said.

Fact: While effort is important in overcoming obstacles caused by ADHD, it isn’t the whole story. Tuckman likened the misconception of working harder in ADHD to poor eyesight: “We don’t tell someone with bad vision that he just needs to try harder to see well.”

He added that: “People with ADHD have been trying harder their entire lives, but don’t have as much to show for their efforts. This is why it’s important to address ADHD with appropriate treatment and ADHD-friendly strategies that take into account how the ADHD brain processes information.”

ADHD Myths and Facts - Topic Overview

from WebMD

Myth: There is no such medical condition as ADHD.

ADHD is a medical disorder, not a condition of the child's will. A child with ADHD does not choose to misbehave.

Myth: ADHD is caused by bad parenting. All the child needs is good discipline.

ADHD is not caused by bad parenting. But parenting techniques can often improve some symptoms and make others worse.

Myth: Medicine prescriptions for ADHD have greatly increased in the past few years because the condition is being overdiagnosed.

ADHD is estimated to affect about 3% to 7% of all school-age children in the United States.1 There is little evidence to support claims that ADHD is overdiagnosed and that ADHD medicines are overprescribed.

Myths and Misconceptions About ADHD: Science over Cynicism

from the National Center for Learning Disabilities

Myth #1: ADHD Is Not a Real Disorder

According to the National Institutes of Health, the Surgeon General of the United States, and an international community of clinical researchers, psychiatrists and physicians, there is general consensus that ADHD is a valid disorder with severe, lifelong consequences. Studies over the past 100 years demonstrate that ADHD is a chronic disorder that has a negative impact on virtually every aspect of daily social, emotional, academic and work functioning. It is a real disorder with serious consequences.

Myth #3: ADHD Is Over-Diagnosed

It is difficult to find evidence that ADHD is over-diagnosed or that stimulant medications are over-prescribed. Moreover, in some cases ADHD may be undiagnosed and/or untreated. Rates vary depending on the rating scales employed, the criteria used to make a diagnosis, the use of cut-off scores, and changes in diagnostic criteria.

Changes in special education legislation in the early 1990s increased general awareness of ADHD as a handicapping condition and provided the legal basis for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in the school setting. These legal mandates have increased the number of school-based services available to children with ADHD and may have inadvertently led some to conclude that ADHD is a new disorder that is over-diagnosed.

Myth #4: Children With ADHD Are Over-Medicated

Although there has been an increase in the rate of prescriptions for stimulants and an increase in the production of methylphenidate, “most researchers believe that much of the increased use of stimulants reflects better diagnosis and more effective treatment of a prevalent disorder.” Others suggest that the changes may be a function of increased prescription rates for girls and teens with ADHD. The percentage of children who receive medication of any kind is small. So while there has been an increase in the number of prescriptions, a relatively low overall rate of stimulant use is reported in school-aged children.

[UPDATE: This ADHD Awareness Month, ADDitude is debunking 31 myths in 31 days.]

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

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Stop the Testing Insanity!

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2013 Medley #22

Reign of Error, Choice, Neil Gaiman,
Bill Gates, Teaching Profession.

REIGN OF ERROR BOOK TOUR

On her book tour Diane Ravitch is pounding home the facts.

• America's Schools are not failing.
• The achievement problem with America's schools is rooted in poverty, not bad teaching.

Here she is on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

CHOICE...

…is for private and charter schools, not students or parents. Public schools work with whoever enters their doors. There are no requirements to pass "the test." Private and charter schools, on the other hand, get to "choose" whether or not to keep students who are difficult to teach.

Florida Charter school, get your kid FCAT tutoring or we will kick them out!

From the Cornerstone Charter Academy in Orlando Florida.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICE

The Cost of Ignoring Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Humans, like all other animals on the earth, need time to develop. Trying to teach children things before their brains and/or bodies are ready is like expecting a butterfly to fly while it's still a caterpillar.

We understand that concept when it comes to talking and walking. Rarely do parents try to hurry up their children in those areas…most of us are content to let our children's physical development with talking and walking develop at it's own rate. Learning should be the same...

When we ignore or interrupt healthy development, we tend to have problems. Exposing kids over the long term to environments, programs, and expectations that are not appropriate to their development has some clear effects...an increase in behavior problems...it often overlooks the foundational skills that are typically developed in early childhood.

...If we look at other countries that top the US in the international metric (PISA scores), it seems we’re trying to catch up to them by doing the opposite of what they’re doing.

...If we are indeed so anxious about our children becoming academically successful, why would we push increasingly for models that seem to directly contradict the programs that have been proven to yield the results we desire?

NEIL GAIMAN SPEAKS UP FOR LIBRARIES

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them.

Gaiman's thoughts are reinforced by Stephen Krashen in The Case For Libraries and Librarians.

Research shows that better public and school libraries are related to better reading achievement. The reason for this is obvious: Children become better readers by reading more (Krashen, 2004), and the library is a major source of books for children.

BILL GATES: WHAT'S GOOD FOR "ORDINARY STUDENTS"

Bill Gates tells us why *his* high school was a great learning environment

Bill Gates loves the opportunities he had at Lakeside school…

• average class size of 16
• nearly 80% of the faculty with advanced degrees
• drama, chorus, jazz band, chamber orchestra, as well as other bands and arts
• 24 varsity sports

Bill says Lakeside was great because the teachers pushed the students to achieve...
Bill says Lakeside was great because the education was relevant to real life…
Bill says Lakeside was great because of relationships…
Bill says: I want as many students as possible, from as many different backgrounds as possible, to enjoy a Lakeside education…

Gates believes everyone should get the same benefits…except for public school students, that is.

Bill says for ordinary students, class size doesn’t matter.
Bill is funding Teach for America, because for ordinary students, teacher training and advanced degrees don’t matter, 5 weeks of training and a BA is plenty.
Bill is funding high-stakes testing…
Bill is also funding Common Core…
Bill thinks when schools and teachers fail his tests, the school should be dissolved, the teachers should be fired...
Bill Gates wants to keep a central database of all student information.
Bill is going to make a lot of money on all the things he’s imposing on ordinary students...

ANYONE CAN TEACH

Teaching is so easy, anyone can do it!

Forget college teacher training programs. We don't need to require students to spend 4 (or more) years learning about and practicing teaching.

Training teachers is a waste of time. So says Anthony Seldon in Teaching is like parenting: you don't need to have a qualification. He tells us that all you need to be a fantastic teacher is on the job training because, after all, it isn't a profession like being a doctor or a veterinarian. It's more like being a parent…you learn it by doing it. No special training required.

A college professor in Minnesota disagrees...

...teaching itself is a skill. It requires constant work and adjustment. In my introductory classes, I’m comfortable with the content and it requires only a little attention to keep up to date on the science, but I’m constantly fretting over how to communicate concepts better this time around. There actually is a teaching literature, you know, perhaps Mr Seldon is unaware of it. There are always new and better ways to instruct coming out and being tested, and there is academic knowledge behind it.

Another view from across the pond

Do teachers need to be qualified? Don't ask such silly questions

Teaching is hard, students can be challenging, the job can affect you in ways you never expected. Working towards a qualification prepares you for this.

I trained alongside some incredible people at university; people that ran their own tech companies, computer programmers, some trainees with first-class degrees – people who, on paper, would be far better teachers than me...The problem is, many of them did not cope well. They found it hard to deal with behaviour and students' social problems. They struggled to communicate their vast knowledge to students. Lots of people drop out. If they had been employed by a school straight away rather than starting a PGCE they would have quit, leaving students without a teacher.

Is it not fair on the unqualified teacher, their colleagues or students to employ them without having proof that they can meet a national minimum standard. We should not be experimenting with this.

GUIDELINES FOR EDUCATORS

A dozen basic guidelines for educators

Alfie Kohn provides us with a sample list of guidelines for educators, parents and students. Numbers 11 and 12 are at the top of my wish list...

1. Learning should be organized around problems, projects, and (students’) questions — not around lists of facts or skills, or separate disciplines.
2. Thinking is messy; deep thinking is really messy. Therefore beware prescriptive standards and outcomes that are too specific and orderly.
3. The primary criterion for what we do in schools: How will this affect kids’ interest in the topic (and their excitement about learning more generally)?
4. If students are “off task,” the problem may be with the task, not with the kids.
5. In outstanding classrooms, teachers do more listening than talking, and students do more talking than listening. Terrific teachers often have teeth marks on their tongues.
6. Children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions.
7. When we aren’t sure how to solve a problem relating to curriculum, pedagogy, or classroom conflict, the best response is often to ask the kids.
8. The more focused we are on kids’ “behaviors,” the more we end up missing the kids themselves — along with the needs, motives, and reasons that underlie their actions.
9. If students are rewarded or praised for doing something (e.g., reading, solving problems, being kind), they’ll likely lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.
10. The more that students are led to focus on how well they’re doing in school, the less engaged they’ll tend to be with what they’re doing in school.
11. All learning can be assessed, but the most important kinds of learning are very difficult to measure — and the quality of that learning may diminish if we try to reduce it to numbers.
12. Standardized tests assess the proficiencies that matter least. Such tests serve mostly to make unimpressive forms of instruction appear successful.

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Who Will Staff Tomorrow's Schools, Part 3

WHO WILL WANT TO TEACH?

Over the past few years I've written repeatedly asking where tomorrow's teachers will come from. The current trend of public school teacher and teachers union bashing has reduced the number of teaching candidates in America's colleges of education (see HERE and HERE. Need more? There's also HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE).

Diane Ravitch posted yet another comment from a teacher who has decided to leave the profession...

Teacher: Why I am Leaving Teaching

Seventy hour work weeks, failing technology, rotating cast of half my class load with various medical conditions that impede cognitive function. Adaptable, hard working, using differentiated learning and hands on learning/multimodal approaches does not mean jack now. Teachers are not able to control the tests, cannot develop multiple means for students to demonstrate mastery. So half my well meaning students will christmas tree their end of course test and my own family will suffer the consequences when I lose my job. Bleaker future than the past five with consistent pay cuts and benefits cut. Furloughs are a yearly experience now.

(to "christmas tree" a standardized test = marking bubbles on an answer sheet to create a visual pattern, rather than attempting to answer the questions)

Other times I've posted on this topic...

• 2007: Who Will Teach the Children?
• 2011: Help Wanted
• 2011: Who Will Staff Tomorrow's Schools
• 2011: Who Will Staff Tomorrow's Schools, Part 2
• 2012: Shocking News -- Teacher Morale Lowest it's been in Decades
• 2012: Teachers Who Quit

(There may be more I didn't find…if you see any others, let me know and I'll add them to this list. I'm not very good at tagging posts)


RANDOM QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHING

The vast majority of so-called "failing schools" are schools which have high numbers of students living in poverty. If "failing schools" = "poor teachers" how did it come about that all the bad teachers ended up in those schools and all the good teachers are employed in areas without high poverty?

"Reformers" will frequently harp on getting rid of all the bad teachers as the way to improve the nation's schools. If all the teachers at "failing schools" are fired, where are the "good" teachers going to come from?

There's a direct correlation between family income and achievement test scores. The lower the family income the lower the scores. This is true world-wide. The only solution that other nations have found has been to relieve the conditions of poverty. How will firing all or most the teachers in "failing schools" change the conditions of poverty for students? How will firing all or most the teachers in "failing schools" improve student test scores? If there's a statistical correlation between test scores and family income, how is it statistically valid to blame teachers for low test scores?

"Bad teachers" are frequently being defined as teachers who have decided to dedicate their careers to teaching children with special learning problems or children from less advantaged homes (or no homes at all).

In the latest Federal funding bill compromise (10/16/2013) included a provision which allowed the phrase "highly qualified teachers" to include students still in teacher training programs, including Teach for America novices. How does that improve teacher quality? How is the definition of "highly qualified teachers" related to the debt ceiling, the Affordable Care Act, or anything else related to the latest government shut down? Why was the phrase "highly qualified teachers" included in the No Child Left Behind Act?

In what other profession is there an effort by administrators or boards of directors (school boards) to remove the most experienced workers and replace them with poorly trained novices?

LESSONS FROM A HIGH ACHIEVING NATION

Much has been made of the fact that Finland is a "high achieving" nation. Their students are recognized as among the best in the world on international tests. One of the things which Finland worked on and improved was the way their teachers approached teaching.

The Finns understand that good teaching doesn't just take place within the classroom. Preparation, collaboration and professional development are all important if teachers are going to be expected to provide high quality lessons.

One of the most difficult problems facing American teachers is having enough time to do their jobs. Developing age-appropriate lessons, project based activities, lectures, in-class assessments, presentation materials, hands-on activities and other in-class activities for students takes time. Assessing student progress is also time consuming...grading tests, homework or in-class assignments, and projects.

Teachers in the US are traditionally allowed one class period a day as a preparation time. It's easy to see how a normal secondary teacher's student load of 150-200 students would generate a large volume of out of class work. It's also similarly easy to see how an elementary teacher with 25 students, who has to teach Math, Reading and English, Science, Social Studies, and Health would also have a lot of work in researching, collaboration with colleagues, planning and assessment.

According to Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons, teachers in Finland spend a little less that 700 hours with their students annually. The balance of their work time is spent on curriculum development, professional development, collaboration, research and all the other administrative chores required. American teachers, on the other hand, spend nearly 1100 hours a year with their students. American teachers don't have the time during the school day to take care of all the things they need to do. That's why teachers stay late, work on weekends and/or take tote-bags laden with paperwork home with them in the evenings.

It's easy to see why a major complaint of American teachers is lack of time to do their jobs. The simple fact is that American teachers are not given time to do their jobs.

THE FUTURE OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

Teachers in America's public schools are being crushed under a mountain of paperwork and regulations resulting from the passage of No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top -- the administration's current program -- and now, the adoption by many states of the Common Core State Standards.

Teachers are being blamed for the nation's economic crisis because many states have pension plans for public school teachers (in many states, Indiana included, these funds are paid for by the teachers themselves).

Teachers are being punished for the failure of students who have multiple learning problems caused by the physical, emotional and academic damage done by the massive levels of child poverty in the United States over which they have no control.

State legislatures around the nation are removing job benefits for teachers and teachers unions which, in Indiana, include, collective bargaining rights and local control over teacher evaluations.

The privatization of public education is leaving public schools with the more difficult and more expensive to teach students while state legislatures are redirecting public money to charter schools and vouchers for private schools. There is no proof that charter schools on the whole do better than public schools teaching similar students and no proof that either charters or vouchers improve student achievement through "competition."

Experienced teachers are being forced out of their teaching jobs by evaluations based on test scores and school turnover -- the closing of public schools which are being replaced by private or charter schools.

Merit pay plans -- evaluations based on test scores and rewards for higher test scores -- punish teachers who teach in poor communities or teachers who teach students with special needs and lead to school turnovers and "churn."

America is systematically destroying it's teaching profession.

You might also be interested in...
Pasi Sahlberg: What Can the US Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
Teacher Education in Finland

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~

Diane Ravitch on Melissa Harris Perry - MSNBC

Diane Ravitch is on her book tour talking about her book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools. Yesterday (October 26, 2013) she visited Melissa Harris Perry on MSNBC. The following three videos contain an excellent discussion of what's happening in American Education. Three videos follow...

Melissa Harris Perry interviews Diane Ravitch: The case against school privatization
Former Asst. Secy. of Education under President George H.W. Bush, Diane Ravitch, discusses why she became a critic of “No Child Left Behind” after supporting it, and she discusses her new book “Reign of Error.”




A panel discussion with Diane Ravitch: How charter schools can lead to disparity
The MHP panel continues its discussion on education and school privatization and why charter schools aren’t necessarily the way to fix problems with public schools. Pedro Noguera and Trymaine Lee discuss.




The panel discussion continues: Poverty and its impact on education
President Obama spoke this week about education at a New York school affiliated with IBM. But is an IBM-sponsored education a solution or a problem?

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Sign An Education Declaration to Rebuild America

All who envision a more just, progressive and fair society cannot ignore the battle for our nation’s educational future. Principals fighting for better schools, teachers fighting for better classrooms, students fighting for greater opportunities, parents fighting for a future worthy of their child’s promise: their fight is our fight. We must all join in.

~~~

Stop the Testing Insanity!

Sign the National Resolution on High Stakes Testing!

~~~