WHAT'S NEW AND NOTEWORTHY? |
1. About Reading. Reading is a complex process. Most people easily learn to speak, but many (perhaps one-third of all human beings) never learn to read. Drake D. Duane, The Reading Brain: The Biological Basis of Dyslexia, 1991, p. 179.
2. Defining Dyslexia. A person's tendency to reverse letters and numbers doesn't prove that he has dyslexia. Basically dyslexia involves an auditory deficit rather than a visual one; dyslexia is an inability to "decode" written language, or to break up a written word into the sound-units of which it is composed. Sally E. Shaywitz, "Dyslexia," in The Scientific American , November, 1996.
3. Study on Ritalin. A recent large-scale study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows that the drug Ritalin is more effective than behavior-modification therapy in treating children with ADHD. Adding behavior-modification therapy to Ritalin is no more effective than the drug alone, except for children with additional psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. NIH researchers studied 579 children, ages 7 - 9, over a period of 14 months. About 80 percent were boys. San Francisco Chronicle (December 11, 1999).
4. Managing Adult ADHD. There ARE ways of managing adult ADHD without drugs. For some very good suggestions, see "Fifty Tips on the Management of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder" in Hallowell and Ratey, Driven to Distraction , pp. 245-253, and "Twenty-Five New Tips on the Nonmedication Management of Adult ADD" in Hallowell and Ratey, Answers to Distraction, pp. 142-147.
5. ADHD and Academic Problems. Students with ADHD may have academic problems similar to those of students with learning disabilities. For example, a student with ADHD may have trouble learning to read and may always read somewhat slowly, with limited comprehension. She may write slowly and make numerous spelling errors. She may also make math calculation errors.
6. The Nature of ADHD. Russell A. Barkley, noted authority on ADHD, says that ADHD is more a disorder of "behavioral inhibition" than of attention. People with ADHD can often pay attention very well, especially when they are personally involved or strongly interested; what they can't always do is stop themselves from saying or doing whatever they feel impelled to say or do in the moment. They fail to look ahead and consider the consequences of their impulsive speech or action: not because they are irresponsible, but because they have a disability called ADHD that prevents them from "self-regulating." (Barkley, ADHD and the Nature of Self-Control, 1997, pp. 312-315).
7. Managing Children with ADHD. What's the best way
to deal with a child who has ADHD? Parents and teachers shouldn't
excuse the child's misbehavior: "After all, he can't help
it--he has ADHD." They shouldn't get angry and accuse the
child of moral degeneracy: "If he cared at all, he'd do his
homework; he's always been irresponsible." It can be disastrous
to let the natural long-term consequences of the child's misbehavior
fall on his head: "He didn't do his homework--so let him
fail algebra; the F will teach him a lesson." What parents
and teachers SHOULD do, is make the child IMMEDIATELY responsible
for each and every lapse: "You didn't do your algebra homework
tonight, so you lose your video-game privileges." (Barkley,
ADHD and the Nature of Self-Control, 1997, pp. 316-17)