Posts Tagged Neuro Feedback
“Running Out of Gas” in School
About this time of year (if it hasn’t happened already), children with ADHD (ADD) begin to “run out of gas” at school. They are past the high point of Christmas, summer seems a long way off, and they’ve been working at school for over six months. After all, they’re kids. Often, they start to struggle and misbehave, and grades can decline.
This dilemma can become catastrophic for students with ADHD. They have been “running” much harder to keep up than their classmates have, and consequently are much more worn out than they are. An additional problem is the “foundation problem”, which refers to the tiered or sequential nature of education. As children move throughout the course of the school year, and progress from year to year, new concepts and understandings are built on the foundations of the previous ones. ADD often causes children to miss some of the key concepts of subjects. Then, when the teacher moves on to the next concept or set of facts, the child struggles with comprehening the new ideas because they are based on the previous ones, which they didn’t fully understand in the first place. This problem is of cumulative nature, and as school progresses, the lack of understanding increases and becomes overwhelming. Also increasing are the frustration, loss of confidence, and motivation… equally powerful in sabotaging the child’s success at school.
What makes matters worse are that these school programs may influence other areas of life, such as friendships and family life. Furthermore, the parents working with the child becomes exhausted too. This causes further “snow-balling” problems for the child and other members of the family!
The final piece of this dilemma is that at certain times in the education process, the teaching style, responsibility required of the student, or level of thinking required, take a big step up in difficulty. This may occur at fairly standard intervals, such as first, third, and sixth grade, middle school, high school, and college. But, with the increasing diversity in school programs and curriculum, it’s hard to know when these transitions will occur. This is often “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” for children with ADD.
Solution:
The solution is to correct the disorder. Unfortunately, many parents deny the existence of the disorder, or choose to not get help for their child because they fear the side effects and/or rigors of medication. There is, however, an alternative. Neurofeedback is a highly effective, drug-free, safe, non-invasive, and painless procedure in which the student learns to correct the problem. Once training is complete, no further treatment is necessary.
Add comment April 16, 2008
Ways To Improve Self-Esteem In Children With ADD – Dr. Stephen A. Ferrari
Self-esteem, or self-image is a critical determinant of who we are, how we feel about ourselves and how we operate in the world. When an individual has a disorder which interferes with their ability to perform and/or behave properly, such as ADD, self-esteem takes on a far more important role in how much they succeed in, and enjoy life. With this in mind, here are some methods for protecting and nurturing the self-esteem of a child with ADD.
- Alter Your Belief System. Prior to the improving their self-esteem, the adults in their life need to alter the way they view the child. Separate the child from the behavior, and separate the child from the disorder. These are not ADD children. They are good and valuable children who happen to have ADD.
- Don’t Be Reactive. Damaging responses such as blame and anger diminish when you stop, look, listen, and think,… then respond.
- Catch The Child Being Good. Give the child lots of praise, encouragement, recognition, and positive attention. Reward the child for the expectations they do meet. Never shame, embarrass, mock, or ridicule a child.
- Nourish The Child’s Sense Of Competence, Self-Confidence and Responsibility.
- Identify their strengths and capacities
- Based on the above, determine realistic expectations
- Play to the child’s strengths, create and structure activities-opportunities with high chances for success
- Assign special jobs
- Nurture special interests (hobbies, collections)
- Establish activities and goals, which are well within their reach
- Reward them for success in the above immediately and frequently
- Play with your child. Let the child choose and direct the game. Quite frequently (not too obviously) let them win.
While all of these methods are effective in helping children with ADD, the greatest way of helping them would be to correct the condition, thereby removing the problem entirely, and letting them achieve their true maximum potential.
Many parents resist identifying and treating attention deficit disorder because they, understandably, are not in favor of subjecting their children to the side effects and rigors of medication. There is, however, a successful alternative to this scenario. Neurofeedback is a non-drug, painless, side effect free, procedure in which the person learns to retrain the attention mechanisms of the brain, alleviating the condition. Once treatment is complete, no further training is necessary.
To request information on the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD), Mild to Moderate Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sleep Disorders, Chronic Depression, Chronic Anxiety, and Peak Performance Training contact:
Dr. Stephen A. Ferrari Alta Neuro-Imaging Neurofeedback 1075 Yorba Place Suite 105 Placentia, CA 92870 714.990.6536 Website: www.ocbiofeedback.comAdd comment January 19, 2008
