July 29, 2006
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Attention Deficits- We need more understanding
Excepts taken from A Mind at a Time, by Mel
Levine, M.D.**“We know he can do the work when he wants
to. In fact, when he can overcome his laziness and his attitude problems, he
will succeed. Until then, it’s up to him. We can’t help him unless and until he
helps himself.” This was a terse report from the algebra teacher of a patient
of mine. It is so typical of the kind of misunderstanding that causes children
with attention deficits to shoulder all the guilt and blame for the way they
are. When I explained to this boy that he was not to blame for the problems he
was having, that he was an innocent victim of his wiring, he became radiant.
There was hope. I gave him some articles to read about the attention controls,
and he came back to see me with a lengthy list of questions. He was determined
to get in control of himself. And by the way, his mom at a PTA meeting urged
the school to get some training in neurodevelopmental function for the
teachers. A lack of attention control may masquerade as laziness, a negative
attitude, or just plain bad behaviour. Yet these are struggling and confused
students who want very much to succeed, to please themselves, and win the
respect of the adults in their lives. They need our sympathy and support at the
same time that they need us to hold them accountable for working on their
attention controls. When they sense that we’re on their side and not accusing
them of being bad or lazy, they often rise to the occasion and show steady
improvement. Teachers, therefore, need to form strong alliances with these
children rather than adversarial relationships. The same can be said for
parents. **(pg. 89)
** Children at not all alike. Those with
attention control problems are a heterogeneous group. Some are overactive and
some are not. Some have behaviour problems; others just have trouble
concentrating or getting work completed. Some of them can’t seem to sleep well,
while others have no sleep difficulty. So let’s avoid the current practice of
lumping kids with attention control problems as “if you’ve seen one, you’ve
seen them all.” Actually, any combination of weak attention controls can be
found in a kid; I’ve encountered endless variations on these themes. So parents
and teachers need to think about each of these children and identify the
specific controls that seem out of control as well as those that function well.
Also, a child’s attention controls may function nicely in some settings but not
in others. **(pg. 87)
As a person who grew up with attention control
problems- and was never diagnosed with them, even when I went to a
‘professional’ to be diagnosed, I think these are valuable words for us all to
know. I was never diagnosed because the way my issue made itself known was not
generic- it was unique, it did not fit in a clump or a box. I was not
hyperactive- I did not run around with tons of energy. Yet still, I suffered
from attention control issues just as seriously as anyone else with attention
problems. The person diagnosing me spoke to a previous principal and decided I
had a “defiant” disorder. When I was in first grade, a counsellor was
supporting me in changing my behaviour problems (much in the way that the
author of this book recommends) and my first grade teacher grabbed me by my arm
and dangled me off the floor. She grunted at me, “You’re an evil little boy,
and if Mr. Seal [the counsellor] knew how you really were he’d think so too!”If you know any teachers out there, please
encourage them to read this book- so other little boys like me don’t have to
grow up without knowing why they are the way they are. Parents will benefit
from this very book as well. It helps us to understand the way we as people
think, and how each area of our brains are broken down- so when things go
wrong, we understand exactly what the problem is. ADD is a “lumping” phrase-
but attention controls are SO much more intricate than that.I hope as we raise our child and these
inevitable issues come up- since both Katrina and I have attention control
issues- we can be sensitive to his needs and identify them as they arise.-Patrick