ASD Children and Free Play

Many ASD, SPD and ADHD children can have a tough time during free play. Aside from the difficulty reading social cues, everyone's energy level naturally goes up during play time. Since many of us are hyper-sensitive to this energy, we will often feed on and respond to our perception of their energy. Subsequently, our own energy and excitement can go up a hundred fold. Long term, daily sensory integration exercises morning and afternoon is what I advocate. It is critical for long term development. That said, one strategy I use is to reorient their perception by having them IMAGINE themselves playing in various real-world situations. (NOTE: the situations MUST be specific in people, location, time of day, sights, sounds, smells, etc.) Now, what I typically teach parents to so is pick a time when the child is relatively calm, take him through some relaxation and focusing exercises and then run the visualization technique. Run only one specific scene a day. run it 3 to4 times (about 5 to 10 minutes each) It is important that in the visualization, he first runs through the visualization AS AN OBSERVER, dissociated, watching himself play APPROPRIATELY. Only Then run through the visualization LOOKING THROUGH HIS OWN EYES, associated into the experience--the experience of playing and feeling the energy and excitement of others without being overwhelmed by it. As an aside, this is the technique that got ME (not my child, me) though Disneyland. Hope that helps. www.atutoringplace.com

It's all about language and perception.

As ADHD folks it's OUR responsibility to realize that we don't perceive the world the way 'normal' people do. If we want to be 'heard'. if we want to communication effectively, we have to make the effort to speak in a way that others can hear us. Here's a tip: If you're ADHD and you want to say something, STOP. And first make sure you've heard and understood what the other person said. Many times people feel misunderstood, when the real problem is they're not taking the time and attention to understand everyone else. Instead of listening to that chatter inside your head. Stop, focus on what the other person is saying and visualize/imagine/make a picture of what the other person is saying. Now, Based on that picture, respond to the other person. or... If you have something you'd like to say (to a 'normal' person), STOP, make a picture (one picture) of what you want to say, pick a direction (right to left, left to right, top to bottom), and calmly, step-by-step describe your picture to the other person. REMEMBER: Most normal folks are linear thinkers. Auditory, verbal, NOT outside the box. They need a straight line connecting each of the dots (points) in your story. Hope that helps....

Dyselxia and Da Vinci

I have NO PROBLEM comparing myself to Einstein, Edison, Disney or even DaVinci. WE are the creators, inventors, and visionaries. In the last 6 years, since I got a handle on my Dyslexia and ADHD, I've made significant contributions in the fields of Education, Addiction, and Parenting. I've invented soon-to-hit-the-market products in housewares, personal care, and solar/renewable energy. I have an additional 6 online courses in development and 4 iphone applications (speed reading made easy is already available). I have an amazing rapport with animals. I have talents in mathematics, science, engineering, music and language. For fun, I memorized the first 2,026 digits of PI, and I even a knack for trading commodities and derivatives. What's my point? I'M REALLY NOT SPECIAL OR UNIQUE. Most of the Dyslexic, ADHD and ASD children with whom I work have most, if not all, of the talents that I have become aware of in these last 6 years. Don't let anyone tell you your kids don't have talent and ability. They're not broken--they're just different.

Teaching to Teach vs. Learning to Learn

To be brutally honest, I have a radical perspective on education. Conventional wisdom says that if we give teachers enough training and we have this super multi-modal education, then all the children will benefit. My experience is that there are a significant number of children with specific difficulties perceiving and processing information. Unless these difficulties are address (in the child), it will probably not matter what modality the teacher uses. Worse still, if the child goes through school dependent upon a specific teaching method, what happens when he enters the "real world" and does not have someone spoon-feeding him information in the correct format. NO! My position is that if the problem is in/with the CHILD, it is the CHILD that needs the attention and training--not the teacher. The child deserves to be taught how to use his natural abilities to his advantage. Many of my students have gone from D's to B's and A's. Several have gone from Special Ed track to Honor Roll in little more than a year with the right training. I see Dyselxics learning to read at over 1,000 words per minute. I see children with short-term memory issues memorizing all 50 states and their capitals, the amendents to the constitution. I, myself, memorized the first 2,026 digits of PI just for fun. There's not a teacher or teaching method on the planet that can reproduce those results. Increases of that magnitude can only happen when it is the STUDENT that is provided with new strategies for perceiving and processing information.

Reading is not about phonics

Great reference on reading: http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-school/reading-fluency re: "A fluent reader does not need to give their attention on decoding the words. Instead, he can concentrate on what the text means and develop his comprehension skills (e.g., making connections, asking questions, etc.)." I have been making this case for years, that fluency and comprehension are NOT a function of decoding. Decoding is NOT essential to the final reading product. It is, however a bridge to reading that works well for MOST (not all) children. re: "Strategies to improve reading fluency may include: - determining syllable boundaries in words, - improving reading rate by working on automaticity, - increasing sight word vocabulary, and - self-monitoring while reading." Again, the strategies to improve reading fluency do not (necessarily) include decoding or phonics. This information is so important if we're going to get past tired old ideas about what reading is and what it isn't.

ADHD and Therapy

In my experience, therapists are good with temporary behavior issues resulting from a bad experience or communication issues. But I've rarely seen therapy work with disorders such as ADHD, Bipolar or ODD. The problem for therapists is that they rely on some form of cognitive therapy. This means a) they need to achieve rapport with the client (with an ADHD reactive client, probably NOT GOING TO HAPPEN); and b) overcoming unconscious reactive behaviors with with cognitive therapy is almost impossible. When it is possible, it takes YEARS! Just ask any therapist how long they see their average client. It's typically measured in YEARS. My kids were on a fast track to oblivion even after a year of therapy and tutoring. I couldn't wait years hoping for something to happen. However, if the therapist can build unconscious rapport and get your child out of his fight-or-flight stress response and into a relaxed, parasympathetic response, if she can build rapport and reprogram his reactions to unexpected changes to the environment at the unconscious level, and if she can teach you how communicate with him in such a way as to avoid many of those breakdowns, that would be awesome. Those are the things that I had to learn, myself. Now I make those skills available to clients.

fquestion: Do your programs hone Auditory skills?

The short answer is, Yes, our long-term program DOES address the auditory skills, however, those skills may take months, or years or maybe never to fully develop. My philosophy is, Why hold up a child's entire education because they're lacking in one particular skill. We keep the child moving forward and learning with our "Visual Reading", "Visual" or "Active Listening", "visual Note-taking", and even "Visual Test-taking". Maybe that's why some educational professionals seem to have a hard time believing our results. They may think we're "fixing" the problem, be it dyslexia, ADHD, Autism or whatever. The truth is, we/I don't fix anything. It's like a cheat in a computer game. We just find a way around the problem. Many of my graduating students learn to process information so quickly, they are known for taking tests in 1/5th to 1/8th the amount of time allowed. Most finish their SAT's with time to spare. It's not magic--just the right technique for the right person. AND, (as an aside) every bit of research I have shows that ANYONE who has ever achieved an advanced degree relied primarily on their visual-spatial memory and visual-spatial cognitive abilities to succeed. Let's face it, if you were in medical school or law school and you were required to read 300-plus pages a week (about 150,000 words), would you rather read those pages auditorally at 180 words per minute, or visually at 600 words per minute. Auditorally, that's 14-15 hours of study per week. Visually, that's 4-5 hours of study. The truth is, for most students, processing information auditorally is a step backwards. It comes in handy for processing limited amounts of information, linearly, (and it comes in handy for poetry), but that's about it.