OK, I've got a bright, engaging, interested, problem child.  I've known
that Timothy would have some trouble in school, etc. from pretty early
on.  His school *finally* suggested we have him tested for ADD <g>  Well,
they caught up.  It's why he's *at* a private school.  He also reminds
me very much of both Michael and myself as kids.  So- I'm looking for
opinions, suggestions, even just a bit of commiseration on alternative 
(that is, non-pharmacutical) ways to help a kid with non-hyperactive ADD
and possible depression.  He's not reading independently yet, at 8, either,
although all the "pieces" are there and he does reasonably well when we
work with him.  I'm being patient...

22 responses total.

My wife knows a *lot* about this sort of thing.  Mail me if you want to
talk to her some time.

I have the attention span of a gnat. Always have. I was never tested for ADD. I
did well in school until 4th grade or so. I taught myself to read... it was
like I didn't want to wait until kindergarten to learn how. Instead of being
squirmy, I'd be bored to death all day at school. I felt like it was killing my
imagination. I dunno... I think I was the sort who wanted to learn and was
eager, but didn't fit into the traditional school mold.

An all too common story.  How is the teacher in a classroom of 25+
suppose to address the needs of who fall outside of the norm?

(silly question, what does ADD stand for?)

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My attention span has slowly increased with age.  It's not as long as needed
to be practical towards my lifestyle but I seem to be doing okay.  I just
don't worry about it too much, I guess. <shrug>

Yeah, I've had a similar experience.  For both Timothy and me, I don't
think it's so much a *short* attention span- both of us can attend to
something of interest for *hours*, but rather, difficulty pinning ourselves
to what needs to be done rather than what's in our heads.  Certainly, my
overt behavior has improved, but I remember being frustrated that I c
couldn't settle down and work as a kid, and Timothy looks so much like I
did. I worry that he'll also develop a pattern of helplessness and getting
caught behind, rather than experiencing successes upon which he can build.

About the reading -- there are some kids anyway (I was once in a group with
the mother of one) who are as old as 8 before everything "clicks", and an ADD
child who is continually being distracted by his surroundings couldn't try
very well at something that doesn't quite make sense to him yet.
Maybe work at finding something that he would be *interested* in reading, 
at whatever level?

Grace, I think that's part of it- Timothy is distracted from the work of
reading by the intense need to *know* in his head.  He's got all the parts,
but they won't fall together without practice.  He's *so* close, but he
just won't see it. <sigh>  Thing is, the content level he's looking for
is waaay above his instructional reading level, much less his independent
reading level, so trying to make it interest-based is even more 
frustrating.  Best seems to be making it social- reading with Grandpa or
some such.

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And something that does have the content he wants, so that he can
see the goal for himself?  I vaguely remember an anecdote, I think from
_Summerhill_, about a child who had not been pushed to read and suddenly
mastered it from the technical radio manuals he wanted to use.

The stage of having all the pieces and not putting them together
independently is not just a matter of practice.  I remember that with
Jonathan there seemed to be two stages of mental sliding-into-place,
about a year apart, and after the second one (just about age six)
there was no stopping him -- at school he was distracted by all the
words on signs in his kindergarten room.  (Paul had a similar pattern
but a year later, so he was in first grade before he started reading
anything in sight)  The sliding-into-place, like most real learning,
probably doesn't work well under tension -- so the more you worry, the
harder he tries, the worse it gets!

Valerie, they're called "High interest, low vocabulary" books.  They tend
to be written for a stereotypical trade school student- slightly simplistic
and fairly concrete.  I think the right ones might work.  I don't think 
I've been looking hard enough.

Grace, your story from _Summerhill_ (and I've seen similar ones, sometimes
about kids with dyslexia) suggests perhaps Timothy needs to be *more*
frustrated- that is, he needs to be turned back on his own resources more
instead of getting the information he wants from us. Don't know if
Michael will go for that idea...And Timothy may not get it- just as he
never climbed out of his crib but hollered at us to first help him out
of it, then remove it.  Gareth slept in a crib 'til almost 3 because he
could just hop in and out at will.

As to the stress level, you're right.  I need to be more celebratory, 
less challenging.

For adult literacy materials, try the Ypsi District Library.  The section is
not all that large, but it exists.  (Or did a few years ago.)

I have also been a lifelong insomniac. I'd be tired but would be thinking of
all the stuff I needed/wanted to do and it would just keep me awake. I think it
ties in to ADD too. I am just dying to do some laundry!!

FWIW, Jonathan also would not climb out of a crib independently even when I
put a chair next to it.  Some years later, I realized that he was seriously
afraid of heights, especially *open* heights.  He still has to take courage
with two hands to go down some open staircases.

Set drift = off.

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valerie, that's really cool- that you remember it, that you had that
experience.  Wow!

Thanks, Grace.  I don't *think* Timothy is afraid of heights in particular,
but he has an uncomfortable level of natural caution (no, I didn't just
say he's a wimp- quite- but I'm encouraging him to take risks as I wish
my folks had encouraged me when *I* was a wimp...) in many areas so I do
think there was a measure of fear involved.  But the process of figuring
out that he wanted a bed and getting it was fun.

Hm, I'm not sure I know where the Ypsi library is.  I expect A2 has some,
too.  I should look.

You may find some in the A2 library.  But the Ypsi District Library is what
Washtenaw Literacy points its volunteers to.  Just FWIW.

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(Teaching has little to do with force-feeding information and a lot to
do with providing the right environment so that the child will learn.)

You're right Klaus, although kids are hungry for information at various
stages, and I'm looking for ways to harness that hunger to the learning
process, without stifling it.

(Sorry, guess I didn't say: there may be other branches, but try downtown
Ypsi, on Michigan.)

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