Every now and then I come across an article I wish I had written.  This one is The Business of ADHD by Child Psychiatrist Winston Chung, MD.  If I had written it, I would have titled it ADHD Greed.

Three highlights are:

• The American Psychiatric Association is considering lowering the number of symptoms needed for an ADHD diagnosis from 6 to 4.  This is alarming because we already medicate 57% of children who don't meet the current criterion.  Lowering the number of symptoms needed will surely increase the number of children wrongfully receiving unneeded medication.  Woops, I forgot.  It's about profits.

• Researchers promise pharmaceutical companies results that would benefit the drug company -- before they conduct the study!

• Allen Frances, MD, Chair of the Task Force that created the current diagnostic criteria for ADHD (and other disorders) laments that his group "inadvertently contributed to three false 'epidemics' - attention deficit disorder, autism and childhood bipolar disorder. Clearly, our net was cast too wide and captured many 'patients' who might have been far better off never entering the mental health system."

For years I have been critical of these three "epidemics" which I call "diagnosis du jour".

I recently proposed that children (of every age) use a Four Word Phrase when confronted with difficulties.  The phrase(s) indicate something about their attitudes, self concept, and how they perceive their environment.  I had suggested that children learn these phrases from The Child & Adolescent Guide for Manipulating Adults but really they learn them from us -- their parents and teachers.  Here are what some people submitted as "magic phrases" and my quick analysis of what it tells us about the child and his/her environment.

Now this is just a quick classification - I'd be open to hearing clarifications and improvements to the above.

Whether the above is accurate or not, the point I want to make is that the phrases people use "to get out of trouble" tell us something about them.  It also tells us something about ourselves  - because they learn them from us.

For example. how many times have you heard a student say "I forgot my meds"?  And how many times have you heard a teacher say under his/her breath or to a co-worker "He needs his meds"?  I bet there is a high correlation between the two.

We don't think we are teaching kids all the  time, but we teach as much by the content of our character as we do by the content of our curriculum.  We teach as much by our interactions WITH students as we do by our presentations TO them.

I'll discuss this more in the next article.

According to “The Child & Adolescent Guide for Manipulating Adults” it's supposed to be a free pass. The magic four words that get a student out of every difficulty.

Forgot your homework? Just mention this four word phrase and all is supposed to be forgiven. Disrupting the classroom or in trouble with your teacher? Yes, the magic phrase should work. At least it is worth a try.

In trouble on the playground? Give the phrase a try.

Mom or dad upset with you for disrespectful behavior? Right again. The phrase should get you out of most difficulties you encounter with adults.

Readers, what's your guess as to the magic phrase? And since there really is no published “Guide for Manipulating Adults” how do kids learn the phrase? And why does it work?

“What?” you might be thinking, “I don't teach attention. I teach _______.” (Fill in the blank with whatever you teach.) That's a common first response, but once we think about it, I hope you'll agree that we do teach attention. Here's the logic.

1. Learning is synonymous with memory. If we can't remember what we did in class last week, at least well enough to answer some questions on a test, did we really learn it? I think most would say, “No.” At least that is evidenced by the amount and frequency with which we test kids these days. (I'd say the amount we over-test kids these days, but that might start a different argument.)

    

2. Memory (or information processing) has three stages. Long-term Memory (LTM), Short-term memory (STM), and Sensory Register (SR). Sensory Register is the first stage of information processing which involves taking in information from the environment through our senses.

    

3. We all know that the way to get information from Short-term Memory to Long-term Memory is by rehearsal (practicing over and over). The way to get information from Sensory Register to Short-term Memory is by paying attention.

    

4. Learning (getting information through the stages to Long-term Memory) starts with attention. Most school activities and assignments are designed to help students move information from STM to LTM. But we also help students move information from Sensory Register to STM (whether we plan it or not.)

    

5. Conclusion: Students will learn better if we better plan the attention aspect of the memory/learning process.

Two things that teachers can do to improve the attention aspect of learning are to reduce clutter in the classroom and reduce pressure for students. Both clutter and pressure cause stress, and stress can completely destroy one's ability to pay attention.

A Story: At Cedarbrook Center, we use brain wave technology to teach focus and attention. Sensors read brain activity and students learn to control computer activities by their focus and attention alone. We get minute-by-minute measures of focus. Anything over 80% is considered very good.

My spouse and I conducted a short “experiment”. We measured our focus normally and alternately when we tensed all our muscles. Our scores normally were in the 80's. Doing the same activities moments later with our muscles tensed gave us scores in the 30's. This certainly doesn't constitute a rigorous experiment, yet a 50% difference -- that's dramatic. (Note to Math teachers: I know it is really 63% or 166% but I didn't know which so I left it simple.) 50%, 66%, or 166% is dramatic and it based solely on eliminating the muscle tension aspect of stress.

Eliminating clutter and reducing pressure will reduce stress for students and thereby improve learning. Just two things we can do to “teach attention”.