ADHD: Gift or Curse?

As an expert in ADHD and someone who reads everything she can get her hands on about ADHD, I often run into the hardline approach. Either we need to "fix" ADHD kids, if not punish them, or we need to celebrate their genius. Give me a break. Isn't it a bit of both? Can't we reach a middle ground here?


As a person afflicted with ADHD--way better now than years ago but , as you can see, still suffering from "ADHD Desk"--I can tell you first hand, I didn't need to be punished. But I certainly appreciated every tool I could get my hands on the would "fix" it. A+ to Brain Gym for helping me. (Although the Brain Gym philosophy certain isn't about "fixing" anything.)

The self-esteem stuff never made me feel better. "Oh, MaryJo, you have such potential. You're
so wonderful."

Really? So how come I was just an hour late to a presentation? Got nothing done today because I couldn't focus? Couldn't find a speech outline because of the piles and piles on my desk? These things sure didn't feel wonderful, much less demonstrate potential.

And I'm certainly not a genius, an Indigo child elder, Crystal child elder, hunter-farmer, or any of these other feel good, raise self-esteem interpretations we've put out there for ADHD. Maybe ADHD kids are Indigo children or Crystal children, or have IQs of 170. And I'm not against raising self-esteem--my own and those of the children around us.

High self-esteem's essential, but without real tools, effective strategies, and "how-to's," those of us with ADHD, Indigo or not, would still be floundering around. Adults who can't hold down a job. Talk about low self-esteem.

Hold down a job? Good grief, some days in my past ADHD life, I couldn't go to the grocery store and come home with what was on my list, much less do it in less than a couple hours. Now tell me that wandering around the grocery store for hours, unable to focus, was fun, a sign of genius, something to celebrate? It was a real pain that wasted tons of time. Drove me and those around me crazy.

And how about kids who can't settle down long enough in school to learn to read? Can't control the impulse to hit another kid . . . every day, several times a day?

Admit it--these kids drive all of us crazy. Are they wonderful and loveable and deserve the very best? You bet. But deserving the best means stopping the "feel good" chatter long enough to give them real tools to change their brain patterns . . . without drugs. Now that raises self esteem.

O.K. enough of my soap box. Funny how passionate we can be when the subject's our own "stuff." (Yes, I was one of those ADHDers who did well in school. But by graduate school, what a struggle! I just kept at it. Lots of us ADHDers have ridiculous amounts of persistence! And that's a real gift.)

So if you, or a teacher or parent you know, are looking for dozens of non-drug ADHD tools and strategies (from an expert and somebody who's been there), it's not too late to sign up for the four 90-minute sessions ADHD TeleChat.

It's called "They're Driving Me Crazy: How to Manage ADHD at Home and in School," and comes with listen-at-your-convenience web audio recordings or every call. (Yes, teachers can get university credit for salary upgrade and recertification credit.)

MaryJo

P.S. And you can get free email ADHD NewsTips too.

One Laptop per Child: A Brain Booster for Poor Kids

Some days seems it feels like I could just do blog posts all day long. Top of my list are several blogs about the importance of music for brain boosting including Rock Band, and Guitar Heroes

And I’ve got great info on grading neighborhood schools. And a new game for geography. And how MySpace is moving forward to protect your kids from sexual predators.

Of course, we have to see why kids in Finland are the smartest in the world. The Wall Street Journal just published the latest test scores. The U.S. rank? Not good news! What do the Finns know about brain-based-learning that we don’t? The picture of these Finnish teens sure doesn't tell us much?

Have a couple of posts planned on best sites for information about the brain that are learning oriented, fun, and not too technical or theoretical.

And there’s always more on reading. And, of course, Brain Gym Whoa. Slow down. One post a day is enough!

After all I need to finish my Brain Boosters ebook, do the next Brain Gym Basics TeleChat on March 11, and get the new ADHD TeleChat that’s coming up in April ready to roll. (I’m so far behind on that project, I can’t even give you a link.)

But today it’s all about One Laptop per Child founded by Nicholas Negroponte, an MIT professor. His plan was—and despite enormous hurdles—and still is to provide his open source XO laptop to 2 billion children in poor and remote parts of the world.

Because most of Negroponte’s kids don’t have electricity at home or school, the XO is hand cranked or recharged through a solar panel and uses less than two watts of power. In comparison, your laptop uses 35-40 watts of power. The sturdy XO costs $187 right now. Negroponte’s goal is getting it down to $100 and then even lower.

And it’s not just about passing out laptops. This MIT prof has a terrific view of education. You can Listen to him For starters, because his laptop is open source, means the kids can suggest changes, can add to the software, can be involved. It’s all about sharing and collaboration.

One child suggested getting rid of the all caps key. Negroponte complied. How many times have you accidentally hit the caps lock key? The child was right. It’s a nuisance.

The XO is even being used in some New York City schools where kids are too poor to have a computer at home.

Some precocious kids in countries all over the world (including Rwanda, Mongolia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Brazil, Afghanistan, to name just a few) are writing html code and improving on the hardware.

They’re sharing their creations on the One Laptop per Child wiki The wiki, translated in more than 17 languages, has 5, 377 pages and 2,000 contributor files.

Negroponte argues fiercely that it’s not a laptop project, it’s an education project. He emphasizes learning by doing, peer-to-peer teaching, exploring, and expressing themselves.

“In one school, 100 percent more kids showed up for 1st grade the next year. They were not coming from the neighboring village. No. What happened is that the six-year-olds in school told those who were not that school is cool.”

And the teachers support Negroponte’s view:

“Pupils go even beyond what I can teach in the class. It's a very interesting thing to use. I personally have a better idea about teaching... We discovered that giving them time to discover something and to do it in their own way, they feel more happy and they are so excited in using it that, ‘Yes, I discovered it! Yes, I can get it!! Yes, I can do this on my own!!!’ Teaching is getting more interesting and less stressful.” — Mr. O., Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

What do the kids think?

“I use my computer very carefully so that it will not spoil. I use it to type, I use it to write, I use it to draw, I use it to play games... I'm using my computer at home to type assignments.”

Negroponte’s predicting 2-3 million computers distributed in 2008. Read more of the distribution specifics and challenges.

Meanwhile, let’s all contribute to this fabulous project $200 will pay for the laptop and delivery. Keep watching. It won’t be long before $200 will pay for two laptops.

I just emailed to find out if a class or school can sponsor XO laptops, get pictures of the kids who receive them, email back and forth, and so forth. I’ll let you know when I hear back. I hope so. What a wonderful classroom project.

Of course there’s been lots of criticism. So if you’re a “both sides of the argument” person, you can read what some people don’t like. Scroll down to criticism. Kermit Pattison’s article “No Child Left Offline” talks about the corporate backlash and has a great interview with Negroponte.

MaryJo