Parenting Children with ADHD, Autism & Learning Disabilities

How many times have you watched a person park in a handicapped spot and watched them get out of the car and walk away with no apparent difficulty? And didn’t you wonder why on earth they needed to park in a spot that might be needed for someone in a wheelchair? Well, many people have heart and respiratory and other conditions that limit their ability to walk distances. We just can’t see the problem.

The same situation exists in children with any type of learning disability. The problem is not obvious. It is very real however, and can interfere with performance at school. That sometimes makes it hard to accept and understand. One of the biggest issues is that of executive functioning.

Executive Function

Essentially it is a set of mental processes which help children connect past experience with present action. These brain functions allow us to make plans, keep track of time, finish work, ask for help, wait our turn, engage in meaningful discussions and research information as needed. Without these capabilities, children are likely to be unable to interact appropriately in school and complete required schoolwork. Child development skills such as executive functioning can emerge over time and in varying degrees with some children.

Children with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder typically present with executive functioning issues. Until recently, it was assumed that inattention was the key problem in children with ADHD. It is now believed that ADHD is actually an executive function disorder. While it is true that all children will struggle with these skills at some point or another, children with ADHD and ASD have chronic problems with executive functioning.

In order to help a child improve their executive functioning skills, it is important to understand the specific components and why they are necessary for good school performance. These components have overlapping characteristics because of multifunctional componets. When all the skills are present, they work together to produce a desired outcome.

Here is a basic list of executive skills and their definitions:

Impulse Control – the ability to stop and think before acting
Flexibility – the ability to alter or revise strategies when circumstances change
Working Memory – the ability to retain information and use it to complete a task
Planning & Setting Priorities – the ability to determine what goal to focus on and what steps it will take to attain
Self-monitoring – the ability to assess your performance
Emotional Control – the ability to control feelings by focusing on goal
Task Initiation – the ability to start a task when necessary and not procrastinate
Organization – the ability to create and maintain methods of tracking materials and information

This group of skills works collectively to help your child interact appropriately, process information, and learn.  When one or more is deficient, learning problems arise. If you read descriptions of children with ADHD and other learning disorders, they are often cited as lazy, forgetful, disorganized, unable to complete assignments, prone to outbursts and prone to impulsivity. They may not start homework or complete it, may be disruptive in class or may be combative with peers. They can be sensitive to criticism, unyielding and defensive. All these traits are associated with poor executive functioning.

Now that you have an idea of how this problem manifests itself in your child, you can try some strategies to help your child improve. It all boils down to management. Good management yields productivity in the business world. The same is true when applied to your child. Understanding and patience is also necessary. It is easy to get exasperated when you don’t understand why your child doesn’t “get it”.

 

1. One of the best things you can do is break tasks into manageable steps. It is easy for a child to give up when they believe the goal is beyond their ability to achieve. Make each step an easy success by keeping short and attainable.
2. Use visual and audio aids to reinforce the task. If a child has difficulty with tasks such as getting dressed, post a visual schedule of dressing steps. Written instruction should accompany all oral instruction.
3. Give your child breaks between activities and ample time to adjust to a new activity prior to starting.
4. Keep a consistent schedule as much as possible. Maintain the same bedtime. Schedule homework to be done at a specific time and keep to it. You can split homework assignments so there is a substantial break in between if they have trouble staying on task.
5. Keep activity charts and post them where they can be easily viewed.
6. Reduce all distractions. Give one thing at a time and keep all other tasks out of line of vision.
7. Label everything your child needs for their schoolwork and for home workspace. Have a specific spot for each item.
8. Review homework assignments and maintain a checklist. Have your child check each assignment as it is completed.
9. Keep open communication with your child’s teacher and get regular feedback.

 

Keep in mind, many brilliant people have experienced these problems, such as, Albert Einstein, and that executive skill problems is not an indication of level of intelligence.

Did You Know?...

Powerful memory requires a healthy brain and the right nutrition. The brain uses tremendous amounts of energy and is the most metabolically active organ in the body-- it never completely rests. As a result, it has one of the highest rates of free radical production. These free radicals begin to destroy the structure of the brain, its connections and the cells. Unless you replace those damaged parts with nutrients, brain function starts to fall off more and more over time. For example, Omega-3 fatty acids are replaced extremely rapidly. If you are deficient in this nutrient, your brain begins to change its structure very quickly and soon (only 2 weeks) loses its ability to properly function because one of its vital components is missing. Americans consume an average of 129 pounds of sugar a year; 57% of it comes from processed foods.

For example, teenagers drink an equivalent of 54 teaspoons of sugar a day just from soda. Sugar consumption dramatically increases free radical generation in the brain. It produces cross-linking of the proteins in all cells which dramatically increases the damaging effect of these free radicals, making every cell in your body age much, much faster -- particularly brain cells. In some extreme cases, it can even result in permanent brain damage. Lack of Vitamin B-1 in the diet causes memory failure and depression. Consumption of a lot of carbohydrates depletes Vitamin B-1. Vitamins C, D, E, K, A, B and carotenoids are all associated with brain function. Animal fat impairs the ability to learn and remember, but healthy fats, such as Omega-3, improve depression, memory retention and thinking. This is because the brain uses an enormous amount of fatty acids for its membranes. Aspartame, MSG, pesticides, and herbicides in food; aluminum in deodorants; fluoride in the water; and mercury in vaccines may play a major role in brain toxicity and brain function decline. Excessive toxicity destroys brain cells.

The Evolution of Gummy Candy

I would have to consider myself a connoisseur of candy especially those with Latin based names. Having the cavities to prove it, I think there were a lot of different variations within the same species of candy that I’ve consumed.  The majority of the candy shared the same characteristics and looked to be “evolved” from each previous species.  I find it much easier to classify things in this way because of these shared traits.  If you were to sub classify the candy species you could go on forever.

In the beginning, there were two species of candy.  These were the Twizzlerius gummus and the Cocolai roundus.  Both of these species lived harmoniously in the Garden of Eaten for many, many years.  One day a great wind blew the Cocolai roundus off the garden.  In their new habitat, the only thing for them to eat was shrinking leaves.  In time, the Cocolai roundus became much smaller.  So small, in fact, that eventually they disappeared.

The Twizzlerius were devastated by the loss of the Cocolai roundus and became torn in two.  Thus began the Great War of Twizzlerius.  After the war, only half of the population remained.  These survivors left the garden and traveled to the ocean.  Once at the ocean, some of the Twizzlerius gummus went to live in the water and some went to live in the caves.  In time, the ocean Twizzlerius became adapted to being in the water all day and turned into Gelatinus fishious.  The cave dwelling Twizzlerius developed a hard outer shell and became smoother to travel through the rough habitat.  They became Jellybellius obolai. 

The Gelatinus fishious suddenly split into two populations when one group decided they wanted to see the world and the other wanted to stay in one part of the water.  The first group traveled all over the ocean and in order to outrun their predators became skinnier and faster.  They became known as Wormius squiggilus.  The Wormius traveled the whole world over and opened underwater tiki huts.  However, when they all migrated to a new area in Brazil, they were wiped out by gigantic eels.  The second group thrived for a very long time but then a great flood washed them into a small lake.  The only way for them to get food was to develop legs and leap in and out of water.  Over time, they became a species called Gelatinus frogus. 

Meanwhile, the Jellybellius obolai were squished by a cave collapse and the survivors were much flatter.  They moved out of caves and into condos.  The condos had frigid air conditioning so over time the Jellybellius developed a rough sugar coating to withhold body heat.  This species of Jellybellius became the Sucra wedgy. The Sucra’s liked to travel to the lake in the summer.  They liked it so much that they all decided to move there.  Eventually, the Gelatinous frogus and the Sucra wedgy’s began mating and out came the Gummus bearus.

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Roman Index presents Beatrice Marinescu

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