Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) And Learning "Disabilities"

Experts estimate that between 4-10% of our youthability to use the wipers to get rid of unnecessary
are now diagnosed as having Attention Deficitcloudiness. She is trying as hard as she can to
Disorder. It can be frustrating and discouraging to dealprocess all of the information coming into her
with symptoms of ADD. Here's the great news: thereexperience. Of course, what often happens is that the
is nothing "wrong" with your child or with you as theconscious mind becomes overwhelmed and she may
parent; there is nothing that needs to be "fixed". Yousimply shut down, stop paying attention, and give up or
and your child have ALL of the resources within youit might be played out physically in the body which
to experience success in school, at home and in themight be seen as anxious, aggressive or hyperactive
world. If your child is not succeeding in school or atbehavior.
home, it simply means that she doesn't have effectiveThe first step in helping your child to learn effectively is
tools for doing so. Once we teach her world-classto help her determine what her particular strategy is
skills for succeeding at home and in school, she will nofor learning and then to teach her very precise,
doubt be successful.effective strategies for learning information most
A diagnosis can be helpful in giving us a framework foreffectively. A visual learning strategy is the most
understanding what the reason is behind theeffective strategy for learning academic tasks like
challenging behaviors or the poor school performance.spelling words, math facts and vocabulary words;
You can understand the behavior better when youlearning visually makes learning fun, interesting and
understand where it is coming from. When youmuch less time-consuming.
understand that it's not a matter of whether or notIn order to teach a young person a visual learning
your child is trying hard enough, rather that it is simply astrategy, she must first believe that she CAN learn by
matter of her not having the tools to be successful inmaking pictures in her mind. Often, young people who
learning, then you can respond differently to it. ADD,are diagnosed as having ADD or some other "learning
Dyslexia and other learning "differences" are a way ofdifference" feel that they can't control their own mind,
describing how a person's brain is wired or the way inbut rather that their mind controls them. In order to
which they process information. It doesn't mean thatbegin to teach effective learning strategies, we need
they don't process or learn information; it simply meansto begin with helping the child to see that indeed she
that they do it better using certain strategies orCAN control her own mind and the pictures that she
processes than with others, as we all do.makes in her mind.
In order to help you understand your child's experienceThe first step is to assist the child in slowing down the
of the world, you need to understand exactly whatpictures in her own mind and slowing her body down
goes on in the mind of a young person with ADD.so that she can learn and implement simple, effective
Here's a way in which you can begin to understandlearning strategies and begin to experience more
the experience of a child with ADD. I want you tosuccess at school as well as at home. In addition, we
imagine that you're driving in a rainstorm without thewant to provide her with the kind of environment that
windshield wipers on. Pretty frustrating, isn't it? Imaginewill best support her and her particular needs; for most
the effort it would require to keep your mind focusedkids, and especially for kids with ADD, the environment
on the road ahead just in order to keep yourself andthat is most supportive of their needs is one that is
others feeling safe and protected. Yet, that is preciselyunconditional, structured and consistent while providing
what goes on in the mind of a young person withthem enough freedom to learn to negotiate the world
ADD. The screen simply becomes blurred without theon their own.