Summary: CHADD Educators Manual

Date: Tue, 6 Sep 94 13:58:05 EDT
From: Carson Graves <carson@ileaf.com>

Last week I posted (in response to another lister's question about talking to a pre-schooler's teacher regarding ADD) that I would summarize the relevant sections in the CHADD Educator's Manual.

After looking the manual over for the first time in many months this weekend, I was struck by how many questions asked in this group could be answered in a quick concise manner by this book.

In addition, this morning I came across the following which also (to me at least) reinforced the need/usefulness of this book not only for parents but for our children's teachers, who for the most part do care, but who may not have the information or training to do their best.

Why don't teachers suggest to more parents that they have their children evaluated for ADD?

Teachers don't go out on the limb to "educate" parents because:

1. Many of them do not understand ADD. I still hear the people in my building say that it's just an excuse for kids who don't want to do the work.

2. Some teachers have never learned about ADD at all.

3. ADD is a medical diagnosis, not an educational one.

4. Some teachers could care less.

5. Some of us have suggested it, and have been wrong. But usually there is definitely some underlying problem.

So, I will include the summary here, but I'd also like to turn this into a general endorsement of the book. Not only is it a good place to start if you are in the process of learning about how to deal with your school system, but it is an excellent book to "loan" your children's teachers as it is well organized, clearly written, and has all the pertinent information available in a manner so that a busy teacher can easily find helpful information.

Ordering info:

CH.A.D.D. Educators Manual by Mary Fowler
from Caset Associates
3927 Old Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030
1-800-545-5583
(don't know if this # is good outside the US - many 800 numbers aren't)

The cost is $10 plus $2 shipping per copy

I know it is also available through the ADD Warehouse at probably the same price, but I don't have their # handy. Naturally, I don't have any interest in (or know anything else about) Caset Associates.

In the case of teachers who are dealing with ADD children in the classroom the manual states that teachers should:

• Not attempt to reduce the activity level, but instead channel it into acceptable avenues, even to the point of allowing standing at the desk.

• Use activity as a reward. i.e. allow a child to do something physical (like run an errand for the teacher) as a reward for an individual achievement.

• Rewarding short periods of waiting and impulse control, gradually increasing the length of the waiting period.

• Decreasing the length of tasks and finding ways of making tasks more interesting. (But not making on-task behavior a goal)

• Making sure that an interesting variety of choices for activities are always available. (We got a lot of mileage out of the "choice time" that our son's preschool started with him last year. We extended the concept to home in a way that allowed us to start teaching him some responsibility and yet made him feel still in control.)

• Gradually increasing the structure of tasks and how they relate to social settings

• Establish object placement routines to retrieve routinely used objects. (Something that we parents need to do more too :-)

• Use color and physical/spatial organizers

• Practice planning, sorting, ordering and reordering

• Give a lot of recognition for a child's strengths and efforts

• Increase a child's feelings of success by increasing a child's skills

Especially for older kids, I noticed this, which is very relevant to the current discussion on hand writing and laptop computers:

• reduce the need for handwriting

This is just a quick summary which I hope will be useful. However, please look at a copy of the Manual for the details.

Another section of the book which is relevant to the thread on school assessments and IEPs is the section on the law as it applies in the US. The book clearly describes section 504 as it applies to ADD and quotes the law where it states that a school must provide a "free and appropriate education to each qualified handicapped child." And that schools "must ensure that evaluations of children who are suspected of needing special education and related services are conducted without undue delay." (This part would be of interest to the person who wrote that psychological evaluations are behind by three years in her district.)

I'll stop now. If you haven't gotten and read the CHADD Educators Manual, I highly recommend you get a copy for both you and your child's teachers.

Carson Graves
carson@ileaf.com

Last Modified: Thursday, October 02, 1997 9:34:45 PM