33 replies to this topic

[uwfan]

Wow! This thread says a lot about my frustrations teaching within the confines of the public school system. We figure out what works for a kid...then take 90% of it away when we give them the state standardized test. Sure, I had a room full of students who were allowed extra time for the test, but did they test to their ability level? I can already tell you absolutely not. They were in the hardest seats in the school (another rant I will not bore you with...) told they had an hour plus another 30 minutes if needed, and only allowed out of their seats one at a time if they asked to use the restroom. These kids are used to getting up and moving throughout their day and typically not expected to sit still for more than 20 minutes at a time, it's how they learn best.

One size definitely does not fit all when it comes to learning. I'd dive any day with a diver who has ADD or ADHD who has their c-card and shows me they are a safe diver like those who I've met here through SD.com. I'm more concerned with your attitude than I am what you have to work around, I'm sure we all work around something.

[Scuba_Dad]

Great topic!

Several years ago, the school wanted us to have my oldest son tested for ADD. One teacher commented that if he wasn't so intelligent, he'd be failing. So, my wife and I took him to a shrink to see if he was ADD.

The shrink had us take a test to identify some of his characteristics. As we were taking it, both my wife and I would look at a question and say... yup, he does this... and both of us would say... yeah! We do that too. So, my oldest son was jynxed for the git go...

Some of his interesting characteristics was how he could twiddle with his belt. The shrink said that was a way of releasing his energy. We also commented on how he could sit there and watch tv... the shrink said his energy was focused on the TV.

One thing about ADD, it makes us like a phased array radar. We can track multiple objects at the same time. What does that mean? We're masters at multi-tasking.

After discussing ADD with my son's shrink... I know I'm ADD.... and that's what makes me extremely AR.... and a good Project Manager...

Al

[1Scubadiver]

Had to add my comments.. as a former special ed teacher, Padi instructor and have ADD (which stands for Attention Deficit Disorder) myself.
ADD presents different types of problems for each person. For instance. I cannot keep my house in order to save my soul, its clean but a little cluttered (dive-girls description hits the nail on the head!), I cannot handle paperwork of any type nor keep track of money, following a simple formula requires hours of focus, and keeping my mouth shut when attending a business meeting takes a huge effort on my part. The paperwork and money part has created huge problems in my life

HOWEVER what ADD has given me is a creative curious mind, a big picture thinker, a problem solver mentality and I'm great in an emergency. I notice more than most people when it comes to nature and seem to have a talent for teaching things to people. I can focus for huge lengths of time on anything that is of interest to me unless it falls into one of my problem areas. Then I have to rely on strategies to get it done. It took till age 40 to be diagnosed, and another 10 years to accept meds.
Wish I hadn't fought the meds so long, they've helped enormously.

Many,many of us are probably ADD or ADHD. Diving is such a peaceful thrilling sport, no wonder wonder we're drawn to it!!

As far as learning the tables, use whatever sense works best for you, listening to the explanation , watching it on video, drawing pictures or graphs, with/without color, build a model you can manipulate with blocks, use your computer to make it come alive, anything that works for you !!!

By the way here here are just a few of famous gifted people with Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD**
Ansel Adams - Salvador Dali-Leonardo da Vinci - John Denver - Walt Disney - Thomas Edison - Albert Einstein
Dwight D. Eisenhower - George Frideric Handel - Alexander Graham Bell- Hans Christian Anderson - Beethoven
for more go to :
http://www.adhdrelief.com/famous.html

Barb

[Victoria]

Had to add my comments.. as a former special ed teacher, Padi instructor and have ADD (which stands for Attention Deficit Disorder) myself.
ADD presents different types of problems for each person. For instance. I cannot keep my house in order to save my soul, its clean but a little cluttered (dive-girls description hits the nail on the head!), I cannot handle paperwork of any type nor keep track of money, following a simple formula requires hours of focus, and keeping my mouth shut when attending a business meeting takes a huge effort on my part. The paperwork and money part has created huge problems in my life

HOWEVER what ADD has given me is a creative curious mind, a big picture thinker, a problem solver mentality and I'm great in an emergency. I notice more than most people when it comes to nature and seem to have a talent for teaching things to people. I can focus for huge lengths of time on anything that is of interest to me unless it falls into one of my problem areas. Then I have to rely on strategies to get it done. It took till age 40 to be diagnosed, and another 10 years to accept meds.
Wish I hadn't fought the meds so long, they've helped enormously.

Many,many of us are probably ADD or ADHD. Diving is such a peaceful thrilling sport, no wonder wonder we're drawn to it!!

As far as learning the tables, use whatever sense works best for you, listening to the explanation , watching it on video, drawing pictures or graphs, with/without color, build a model you can manipulate with blocks, use your computer to make it come alive, anything that works for you !!!

By the way here here are just a few of famous gifted people with Attention Deficit Disorder and ADHD**
Ansel Adams - Salvador Dali-Leonardo da Vinci - John Denver - Walt Disney - Thomas Edison - Albert Einstein
Dwight D. Eisenhower - George Frideric Handel - Alexander Graham Bell- Hans Christian Anderson - Beethoven
for more go to :
http://www.adhdrelief.com/famous.html

Barb

Spot on, Barb.

I recognise a parent's concern about the Ritalin stigma, and that many children have been needlessly put on it and other meds. However, I have been profoundly grateful for it. For me, Ritalin (methylphenidate) is not the universal panacea. My biggest struggle when studying or working is distractions. When studying, I would need the silence of a tomb, or classical music (no words), and no movement....so I couldn't study in the library, or any other place there were people! But the detrimental part wasn't the distraction itself. It was that it would take me 20-30 minutes to get my focus back on the task. Ritalin does not prevent me from being distracted. What it does for me is shorten that refocussing effort to a minute. Wow. For me that was an absolute godsend.

The only negative aspect of Ritalin for me is that it makes it very difficult to get to sleep at a reasonable time IF I take it after about 9am. All those times you've seen me post at 3am? Yeah.