ADD/ADHD and NeuroFeedback ...

We had a good friend visit this afternoon and the topic of ADD/ADHD came up in reference to one of her kids.

She told us that a NeuroFeedback clinic in the state where she lives was able to clinically test her son and could measure her son’s brain development as related to his ADD diagnosis.

More importantly, she said her son after treatments is now testing almost to the normal levels using NeuroFeedback instead of medication. She said she has received comments from his teachers about the improvement in class and class work.

So maybe there is something here. Since I hadn’t heard of this form of treatment before and I now have a real first hand account of its effectiveness, I thought I’d pass it on for others (teachers and parents) to investigate.

Here are some online links to start with:

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/13/1668_50191.htm

http://add.about.com/library/blaskthecoach4.htm

http://www.biofeedback1.com/add1.html

Kindergarten Lesson Plans...

Lesson plans for Kindergarten are a kick unless you’re the one that is supposed to execute them. There are just SOME things I WON’T do!

I’m just fine with upper grade plans dealing with Math, Reading, English (except for maybe transitive/intransitive verbs), but Kindergarten AM class is a whole different animal. Especially for Mr. Perry the substitute!

Going over the morning lesson plan:

1. Put on the “Good Morning” song CD and take roll – check!
2. Have them do the calendar and days of the week – check!
3. Read the story from the book on my desk – check!
4. Recess – check
5. Have them do the “Earth Day” mobile craft- (…Uh well, maybe!)
6. Another recess – check
7. Clean up – check
8. Read another book – check
9. Sing a song – che….Uh, What THE ???
10. Dismiss –

Singing is not something I do well. In fact, it’s something I do really, really bad. I lip sync when required. Usually in church. William Hung of American Idle fame has a better chance, and the guts to do it in front of 19 five year olds than I do.

Fortunately, this school has AM and PM Kindergarten where both teachers overlap and act as aids for each other. At craft time, the PM Kinder teacher jumped in to rescue me from figuring out on the fly what I was suppose to do directing the kids with the mobile project. I’m hoping she’s around for lesson item #9 later in the afternoon.

She wasn’t.

The thing about kids this age is that they know the routine. They need the routine. They will protest LOUDLY if you deviate from the routine.

The routine for them, at the end of the day, was clean up, story, song and go home. They expected clean up, story, song and go home.

So when we completed the clean up followed by the lesson plan indicated story, I destroyed their perception of reality by announcing…

Instead of a song, we’re going to ……………………..READ ANOTHER STORY!

You should have seen the looks on their angelic little faces. Wonder! Amazement! Horror?

“You can’t do that, Mrs Perry!” one little guy blurted! “It’s supposed to be story, then the song and then go home!”

My response: “It’s MR. Perry little guy, and today we’re doing it a little different”.

With a few more protests, grumblings and a few resentful looks they did finally settle down for the story about a kid that made play dough cookies and tricked his parents into eating them.

I guarantee it was much better than any song sung by me…

Back to Work?...

The consulting project is complete so I guess it’s back to school starting tomorrow if I get a call.

What I’m going to miss:

1) Taking a bathroom break whenever I need one
2) Driving off site for 1-2 hours for lunch.
3) Working hours that start anywhere from 08:00am to 10:00am

What I’m not going to miss:

1) Seventeen mile one way commute traffic at $2.80/gallon.
2) Getting home after dark.
3) No recess.

The Injection...

I’m a nervous dental patient. I’m sure I’m not in a minority in this respect.

I don’t like the dentist. Well actually, I LIKE the dentist herself but I hate the dental experience.

I don’t like the drilling, the sharp instruments, the smells, the drilling sounds and I especially don’t like the needles. Curiously enough the pain doesn’t bother me so much because most of the time there isn’t any.

I have been known to pass out getting any kind of injections so getting it in the mouth is the worst torture for me. I would make a really chicken terrorist because if I got caught, the sight of a needle during interrogation would trigger voluntary information overload.

My dentist knows all this and tries her best to get done quick and efficiently with a minimum of discomfort. My worst fear is that a first injection won’t work and I’ll have to get a second or even a third before she can work on me.

So today, as she finished the injection and before it started to take effect, a construction crew arrived outside the door of the Dr’s office started jack hammering the walkway!

My dentist is pissed! They told her they’d wait till after 02:00pm after her last appt before they started work. She instructs the office secretary to go out and have them stop and come back later. They ignore her.

She told me if the noise bothered me I could come back for another appt.

I already got the injection! I WASN’T going to volunteer to go away and come back for another one. I told her to keep going.

She’s just about ready to drill when the jackhammer triggers the burglar alarm siren in the office next door!

The dentist is now trying to call the physician’s office, his cell phone, his house to get him to come down and turn the alarm off. There is no answer at any of the numbers.

The dentist is double pissed now. She wants action. She wants names. She’s gonna write letters. She again offers me a reschedule.

I don’t want another shot in the mouth so tell her: “No, Do It!”

So for the rest of my dental appointment I endure the brain piercing whine of the dentist drill, the shrieking sonic sounds of the burglar alarm mixed with the pounding beat of jack hammers on concrete.

I don’t want another injection.