Transcript Attention Deficit Disorder

Do any of these apply to you?
When reading textbooks, I find that within the first page,
without meaning to, my mind has drifted off the material and I
must re-read the material?
 When creating something that I consider a challenge or reading
something of intense interest to me, I go into a state of “hyperfocus” which is characterized by at least three of the following:
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Remaining at the task for lengthy periods of time
Feeling very intense and irritable if disturbed by others
Feeling extremely irritable if asked to do something else
Desiring complete quiet or just quiet music while working
Procrastination is a problem (something gets boring and pushed
to the side). Also may be due to having to many important
things on-the-go
 Always feel like should be doing (or accomplishing) more
 Drift off in social situations unintentionally and miss parts of
a conversation
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Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD)
“There are no negatives just challenges”
Sarah Frostad, Kristin Singbeil
and Kuldeep Basi
What is ADD?
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Attention Deficit Disorder (also known as ADD) used
to describe patterns of behaviour that appear most often
in school-aged children such as:
› Inattentive
› Overly impulsive
› Hyperactive (sometimes)
› Have difficulty sitting still, attending to one thing for
a long period of time, and may seem overactive
Commonality…
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ADD is the most frequently diagnosed behaviour
disorder in North America (3% to 5% of school-aged
children) but is not used as often in other countries
Emotional effects
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Aggressive or violent behaviour
› Due to feelings of failure
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Withdrawal, anxiety and depression
Low self-esteem
› Due to lack of positive experiences
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Physical symptoms
› Burying feelings may result in the form of:
 Headaches
 Stomach or back aches
 Pain in the hands or legs
Social Effects
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Becoming the class clown or class bully
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Avoiding or refusing to become involved in activities
where he/she is unsure of success
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Those with ADD have difficulty with social skills
› Recognizing interpersonal boundaries
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Some indications of inattentiveness and
distractibility can include not paying attention to
details, making careless mistakes, not following
instructions carefully or completely, and losing or
forgetting school work or toys
Types of Attention Deficit Disorder:
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
Undifferentiated Attention Deficit Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
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Fidgets, squirms or seems restless
Has difficulty remaining seated
Is easily distracted
Has difficulty awaiting turn
Blurts out answers
Has difficulty following instructions
Has difficulty sustaining attention
Shifts from one uncompleted task to another
Has difficulty playing quietly
Talks excessively
Interrupts or intrudes on others
Does not seem to listen
Often loses things necessary for tasks
Frequently engages in dangerous actions
Executive dysfunction
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The frontal and pre-frontal lobes act largely as
our “chief executive officer”
› Orchestrating language and memory functions
from other parts of the brain
 These frontal centres consider where we came from,
where we want to go, and how to flexibly control
ourselves in order to actually execute the plan
 These skills are called EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS
Examples of what frontal lobes are responsible
for
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Inhibition
Initiation
Self-Talk
Working memory
Foresight
Hindsight
Sense of time
Organization
Flexibility
Shifting from Agenda A to Agenda B
Separating emotion from fact
Adding emotion to fact
Undifferentiated Attention Deficit
Disorder
Lacks the hyperactivity impulsive symptoms
 The most significant characteristic is inattentiveness
 Cause: may reside primarily in parietal lobe; the front lobe
processes seem intact
 Primary Indicators:
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› Low brain energy leads difficulty with attention, seems not to
listen, unorganized, forgetful (short-term), careless mistakes,
instructional problems
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Attention Seeking:
› Modest, shy, socially withdrawn, impatience, conversation issues
Positive Attributes:
willing to pursue areas others are afraid to try, does well if selfemployed
What does this mean for our
learners?
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Attention deficit disorders interfere with the learning
process because they reduce the child`s ability to pay
attention
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It is important to understand that ADD is not a
disability in the learning process
› A Learning Disability is a neurological condition that
affects the child`s ability to learn
Creating the proper learning
environment
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Provide the student with a structured
predictable & welcoming environment
› Display rules (check for understanding)
› Post daily schedules/assignments
› Seat near positive role models
› Academic subjects in morning
› Provide regular/frequent breaks
› Contact parents to report good news
Enhancing Self-Esteem
Vary the way you call on students
 Reward more than you punish
 Teach the child to reward themselves
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› Encourage positive self-talk
 Encourages the child to think positively about
themselves I.e. reflections!! 
Establishing the proper learning
environment
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Seat students near the teacher’s desk
› So students will not focus on other students in
front of them
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Surround students with good role models
› Encourage peer tutoring and
cooperative/collaborative learning
Avoid transitions
 Provide a stimuli-reduced study area
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› Encourage parents to create this type of
environment at home also
Ways of giving instructions:
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Use a variety of methods (oral, visual, written)
› Use illustrations
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Make instructions clear and concise
› Present work at a light pace
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Make sure students understand instructions before
beginning the task
› Have student repeat back what you have said
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Have a daily assignment notebook:
Make sure each student correctly writes down all assignments each
day
2. Sign the notebook daily to signify completion of homework
assignments
3. Use the notebook for communication with parents
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Giving Assignments
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Use cooperative learning groups:
› Need to have clear defined structures and expectations
that cooperative learning techniques provide
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Monitor frequently (maintain a supportive attitude)
Modify assignments as needed
› Consult with special education to determine specific
strengths and weaknesses of the student
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Make sure you test knowledge and not attention span
Make sure to include movement within the class
› Break up instruction at least every 20 minutes to
provide stimulation to the learner (brain-based learning
technique)
Diagnosed according to behavioural features
in 4 core areas:
Physicians base their diagnosis on the individual’s
behavioural features in four core areas:
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Inattentiveness
Distractibility
Impulsivity
Hyperactivity
Treatment of ADD
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Therapy for the management of ADD consists of:
› Training and education, for the parents and teachers of
the child, that optimize expectations and environment to
the child’s condition
› Psychological therapy for the child to teach him/her selfcontrol and self-monitoring skills
› Medications to reduce the problematic behaviours
 Medication is frequently the only treatment pursued
Training and Education of Parents and
Teachers
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Private tutoring which has fewer distractions
› Giving the child a better chance of learning how to focus
Parents and teachers can also be taught
reward/discipline approaches that provide
incentives
 Marriage/parental counselling and family
therapy
 Some claim that these therapy methods help to
create a more constructive and nurturing
environment that can help to reduce the behaviour
problems of children diagnosed with ADD
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Physiological Therapy
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This approach is helpful first to allow the patient to
accept the diagnosis and then to accept themselves
despite their disorder
In this type of therapy, the ADD sufferers discover their
destructive or self-defeating patterns of behaviour and
are able to learn alternative ways to handle their
emotions and cope better in day-to-day activities
Social skills therapy – another frequently used
approach – helps children to learn appropriate
behaviours such as sharing a toy, waiting in line,
asking for help, and acting or speaking appropriately
Medications
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The most common medication prescribed is methylphenidate
(Ritalin)
› Between 80% and 90% of those children diagnosed with ADD have
been prescribed
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Stimulant drugs act in the brain by increasing levels of
catecholamines, one of which is dopamine, the substance
currently believed by some to be deficient in sufferers of ADD
› Stimulants are known to be addictive and frequently abused
› Stimulants – drugs that excite or speed up the central nervous
system – are generally used for their ability to:
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Increase alertness and endurance;
Keep users awake for a long period of time
Decrease appetite
Produce feelings of well-being and euphoria
Use of medication in treating ADD
Invisible Adaptations
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Auditory Signals
› Use a timer or play a bar of music in class
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Visual Signals
› Raising your hand
› Have students cover their paper when reading or
working on problems.
References
Canadian Mental Health Association
http://www.cmba.ca/BINS/content_page.asp?cid=399
2. FASLink Fetal Alcohol Disorders Society: Research,
Information, Support & Communications
http://www.faslink.org/ADHDLIKE.htm
3. Government of Canada: Attention Deficit Disorder
http://dsp-psd.tpsgc.gc.ca/CollectionR/LoPBdP/BP/prb0017e.htm#A.%20The%20Evolutiontxt
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