Assessment

While reviewing her concerns to me regarding her 9-year-old daughter, a mom said to me, “They keep telling me I should go see a neurologist?  What for?  She doesn’t need a spinal?”

I have to admit, when the mom said that I “LOL’d.”

She was 100% correct.

Troubled  by the fact that her daughter was not making any progress with reading (and spelling and writing), the mom could not contain her irritation.  She had heard the neurologist recommendation a number of times and it pushed her over the edge.

“What’s that going to do?” the mom continued.    “Neurologists don’t test for reading problems,” the mom rightly stated.

“I have seen my daughter struggle since kindergarten. I keep hearing the same things over and over. Here are some of the best hits….”

-“She’s so sweet.”  (We know that, but she can’ read spell or write.)-“Spelling doesn’t matter – she can use spell check. “ (Really?  So if I spell “gress” for “dress” that’s ok?)

 -“The only thing that matters is comprehension.”  (What about the fact that she reads “sinal” for “signal?”)

 -“Writing is a creative process.  It doesn’t matter that her sentences are not complete or  are fragments.”  (So, after she wrote, “Wen I was a babe win I frst wet to the puk,” is ok for “When I was a baby we first went to the park,” is acceptable?)

The mom continued.

“I knew my daughter was having trouble in kindergarten, but I kept getting pushed off?  That was when I repeatedly heard how sweet she was.”

“So I kept my mouth shut and tried to not get in the way, but first grade and second grade were horrible.  Where was everyone each night when my daughter was melting down being asked to read worksheets and math word problems (in second grade) that she couldn’t read?”

“By the middle of third grade, they decided to test her for special education.  In April of third grade she was given an IEP.  April of third grade!!!!  So, that means it’s really not until fourth grade that they begin to do something!”

“In the IEP meeting I was told that she would get in-class support.  In-class support???   What does that mean?  So, if my kid is drowning while the other kids are swimming, they put a lifeguard in the pool.  How about teaching her how to swim?”

“So, beside in-class support, I should see a neurologist.  You know what that means?  That’s code language for, ‘We really don’t know what to do with her, but maybe the doctor will put her on medication and call her ADHD.’”

“So what if we put her on medication? What then?  Will stimulants instantly have her reading better?  I don’t think so.”

I basically sat back and went for the ride.

There was very little in what the mom was saying that I thought was out of line or exaggerated.

Her frustration was understandable.

Takeaway Point

Maybe I can book this mom to go on a national speaking tour with me.

I’m ready for the ride!

Copyright, 2019 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

Dyslexia was barely spoken of some years ago and now it seems to be front and center on everyone’s mind.

I honestly don’t know how it happened, but parents are streaming in worrying and preoccupied with dyslexia.

Dyslexia has become mainstream.

At its core when a child has “dyslexia” it means that they have trouble with reading, spelling and writing- beyond what would be expected, given that the child shows at least average cognitive ability. (I understand that there is more to it, but this is the core.)

If I had my way, I would call it just that, a “reading, spelling and writing problem.” Or perhaps calling it a “big word problem.“ (How’s that for scientific.)”   I wouldn’t call it a disability.  I wouldn’t suggest that the child had a neurological dysfunction or disability.

But, I don’t have my way.

So, parents ask about dyslexia, when they used to come in asking about “ADD” or “ADHD.” (Which has been beyond mainstream for over two decades.)

Dyslexia has become the syndrome “du jour.”

Research and clinical experience informs us that approximately 20% of the population going in to first grade are predisposed not to learn how to read, spell or write very well.

That’s not a small number of kids.

These kids then carry their predisposition into the later grades, effectively limping along unless they have gotten significant intervention/remediation, which is rarely the case.

Are all of these kids “dyslexic?”   It’s not likely.

What matters more than the dyslexia question is what type of learning problem the child has.

Most of the kids have what I call Type I problems. That is, their basic decoding, reading fluency, spelling and writing skills are deficient.

With the second type, the Type II children, these kids read the words pretty well and they have adequate oral reading fluency, but show problems with their understanding.

These are very different types of kids requiring different types of treatments/intervention.

Answering what type of learning problem your child has is far more important than the “Is he/she dyslexic question.”

One last point. Schools are not easy to deal with around any of these issues.  In later blogs we will talk again about best strategies for approaching them so the odds are shifted better in your favor, but I can tell you with almost 100% certainty, that when you start talking to schools about the “D Word”  their eyes collectively start rolling inside their collective head.  They (the schools) then shut down and stop listening as shown by their standard response of…

“We’re not medical doctors – we don’t assess dyslexia.  You need to get a neurologist.”

Nothing, and I mean nothing gets my blood pressure rising more than that statement which I hear on a regular basis about the need to get a neurologist.

That is not putting the odds more in your favor.

It’s a tough chess game to play with the school, but there are ways of playing it better which we will be talking about in later blogs.

(***  Please note: Dr. Richard Selznick is a psychologist, clinician and author of four books.  His blog posts represent his opinions and perspective based on his years of interacting with struggling children, parents and schools.  The goal of the blogs and the website is to provide you with straight-forward, down-to-earth, no-nonsense advice to help cut through all of the confusion that exists in the field. He reminds readers that he is neither a scientist, nor a researcher.  His advice in the blogs and in practice is governed by one overriding principle that he asks himself – “If this were my child, what would I do?)

Copyright, 2019 www.shutdownlearner.com
Questions or topics email Dr. Selznick.  Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com

To purchase a signed copy of  “What To Do About Dyslexia: 25 Essential Concepts” & Dr. Selznick’s other books and to receive blog updates go to https://shutdownlearner.com.

It seems we seek neurological explanations for almost all the struggling that children encounter.  That is, we seem to be comforted that there is a neurological dysfunction at the core of a child’s struggling.

Given that the brain is the central engine driving all behavior this is understandable, but I think it takes us away from a more practical mindset.

Remember, most skills, traits or abilities shake out along a continuum over the bell-shaped curve.

So, if I have 100 young 8 year-olds in front of me who have never played formal basketball before and I ask them to shoot a few foul shots, as well as demonstrate their layup skills, my guess is that there will be about 25% who will be viewed as “naturals,” you know those who look quite skilled without having had any formal training.  Then, there will be the next group down the curve, the 25% who will be seen as “pretty good.”

On the other side of the curve are those who are the mirror opposite side of the “naturals” or the “pretty goods.”  These are the children whose basketball skills are not natural –  that is when you watch them shoot a foul shot or take a layup, they aren’t looking so good.

What do kids in this group need if they are going to continue to play basketball?

They need someone to demonstrate the basic skills involved (“Here’s how you do it”), such as foul shooting or taking a layup.  Once the skills have been identified, they need to be practiced over and over to greater levels of mastery.

If the child needs extra practice than expected, I don’t think the coach would be seeking neurological explanations – “Gee, I wonder if he’s got “Basketball Deficit Disorder” or I wonder if he is “Basketball Disabled.”

I don’t think he’d be counseling the parents to go seek a neurologist.

It’s not that different within the school realm for virtually all of the skills we can identify, from reading, spelling and writing, to executive functioning and even learning to cope with frustration (which is a skill).

For example, take James, a disorganized, swirling 12 year old who is making his parents crazy by his inability to get his work organized.  The skill of organizing does not come naturally to James and she teaches it to him explicitly.  Working with a tutor, she explicitly talks to him about the “skill of getting organized.”  She shows him how to set up folders and teaches him to put specific papers in marked folders.    They practice this skill repetitively over a number of months until James does it more independently.

Contrast this approach to a more neurological explanation.

Effectively, the explanation would be something like the following:

“Your child has a disorder…a disability. It’s rooted in a portion of his brain that likely does not work so well.” (Perhaps said, more delicately than that.)

There really would be only one direction one could go (that, is the CVS pharmacy).

The discussion of practicing the skill of organizing to mastery would likely not be a part of this analysis.

Takeaway Point

Identify the skill deficit.  Find someone who is adept at teaching the skill to your child.

Be patient.

Last week we talked about some of the essential questions to ask of an assessment:  Questions of An Assessment: Part I.

We emphasized asking fundamental questions first such as:

• Does my child have a problem? (yes or no)
• If there is a problem(s), where does it lie?
• How mild, moderate or severe is the problem?
• With a reading problem, what type is it?
• Do other professionals need to be brought in?

It was emphasized that the first questions need not be, “does my child have dyslexia or ADHD” (or some other syndrome casually tossed around these days) – that there were other essential questions to consider.

Starting with those questions (hopefully being answered by the person who did the evaluation), what are the next set of essential questions?

What do we do next?  I believe that this is a fundamental question that is not easily answered.  What may be easy for one family or situation may not be for another.  Factors such as availability of resources (i.e., both time and money) need to be considered.   For example, tutoring usually involves twice weekly sessions that can be pricey. With “next step thinking” don’t go too far down the road.  What are the best next steps in the realm of reality that can be done over the next four to six months or so?

What is the school’s responsibility?  Again, this is a very complex question and issue.  Just because an outside evaluator identifies issues or areas of concern, does not mean that the school is going to say, “Oh, Dr. Selznick, thank you so much.  We will start program of remediation tomorrow.”  It rarely works that way.  It’s important to emphasize that the school will have specific guidelines as to who is or is not deemed as eligible for services.  That doesn’t mean you should be purely passive and take whatever the school gives you, but you need to understand the realities and the challenges.

What can be done at home?  Parents shouldn’t have to feel that they need to become reading specialists or behavioral interventionists in the home, but there are often very doable activities that can be easily managed by parents in the home and that can have a big impact on a child’s progress.  There are so many basic activities (to be discussed in a later post) that are fun for parents and kids that don’t take a lot of time or experience to implement.   One hint, if you can, get a white board set up in a basement (if you have one).

Beside direct intervention like tutoring, what are ways around the problem?  Sure specialized tutoring is essential but you need to consider how to get around the problem.  These are often referred to as “accommodations.”  They represent simple adjustments that don’t take a lot of time and effort in order to help the child in a particular situation.  There are classic ones that may or may not apply to your child’s needs such as providing the child with extra time, but there may be ones that are not commonly considered that may be more helpful to your child and his/her needs.  An example would be having the teacher come over to the child and preview the “low frequency” (big words) on a worksheet before the child has to do an activity.  That may be more impactful than giving extra time to a child who can’t read the words anyway.

Takeaway Point

 Ask the right questions of the person evaluating your kid and you will come away with a more satisfying experience than if you just focus on the question of label.

In this day and age of ready information at your fingertips, what I find is that parents are frequently armed with confused notions or misinformation that they’ve gotten from all kinds of sources.

For example, there frequently is a great deal of confusion or misguided notions about evaluations or assessments.

To address this, over the next two weeks we are going to cover some of the essential questions you should be asking of an assessment.  These are the questions that should be “knocking around in your head,” when you are having your child evaluated.

As we go through these questions, please keep in mind that I am talking below about testing done outside of the schools with a private clinician (e.g., psychologist) or a learning specialist.

Essential Questions:

Does my kid have a problem or not?  An evaluator should be able to answer in broad terms, “Yes, I concur your child has an issue(s),” or “No, I don’t see any areas of concern.”  It’s a “yes” or “no” proposition.  Notice, the first question is not, does my child have dyslexia? Or is my child ADD?  Those are not the most important first questions to have answered, even though they seem to be front and center most of the time.

Where do the problems lie?  A comprehensive psychological/psychoeducational assessment covers a lot of different areas.  Some of these include:

• Verbal abilities
• Nonverbal thinking skills (like spatial thinking)
• Reasoning/Problem Solving
• Working memory
• Word recognition
• Reading fluency
• Word reading efficiency
• Spelling/Writing.
• A tendency toward distractibility
• Ability to sustain mental effort
• Frustration tolerance
• Anxiety
• Social skills
• Self-esteem

There are many more that can be added to the list, but these are some of the top ones.  The point is that difficulty in any one of these can be causing a child to struggle depending upon the task at hand and what’s being asked of him.

How mild, moderate, severe is the problem(s)?  An evaluator (clinician) will be using a combination of the quantitative and qualitative (observable) results to answer this question. It’s not all the numbers and having a good clinical “eye” in answering this question is essential.  The better clinicians will not solely rely on scores, as it is possible that a child scores adequately (i.e., average) while still showing signs of struggling depending upon how they managed the task or activity.

If it’s a reading problem, what type is it?    I know that there are more scientific people out there who have all kinds of ways of delineating or subdividing the reading process, but that’s not what I have found helpful.  For those who have read my stuff, you know that I have two essential categories of reading difficulty – Type I or Type II.  Type I readers are the ones struggling with decoding, reading fluency, reading efficiency.  The Type II readers have no problems with decoding or reading fluency, but they comprehend poorly.  It is essential to know which type of reading problem your child has, as the interventions are very different for each. (Keep in mind that if you Google “Type I” or “Type II Reading problems” you probably won’t find anything, as it doesn’t exist in the real world – I made it up.)

Do other professionals need to be brought in?  Depending upon where the problem(s) lie, you may need to bring in other disciplines for their input.  For example, if the rating scales and the history are pointing in directions that suggest ADHD/ADD, a consultation with a developmental pediatrician would be a good next step to get additional information. Similarly, there are a number of different specialty areas that might need to be brought in depending upon what the findings indicate.

Takeaway Point:

There’s a lot going on with a good evaluation.  Be ready to ask the right questions.

Next week we will build on these questions to give you a little more understanding of the things that should be knocking around in your head when it comes to an evaluation.

Try this as an experiment.  Maybe you haven’t done them in some time, but try doing a few push-ups.  See how many you can do?  None? A couple?  10? 20?

Regardless of the number that you can successfully complete,  there will be a point where you will hit a wall that is the point where effort doesn’t matter.  Perhaps with a little extra effort you can crank out one or two more, but essentially you’ve hit a point of frustration.  You can’t go past that point.

With most academic tasks (e.g., reading, spelling and writing) the same applies. That is, these tasks fall on a continuum, a range from the most basic and easy to the more difficult and complex.

Just like the push-ups,  children can be plotted on a continuum for the skills from the easy to the frustrating.

It may seem sacrilegious to some of you, but when I assess kids I am more concerned with figuring out where a child is on the continuum than determining whether he has a given label or diagnostic category.

Knowing where a child is on the spectrum or the continuum helps us with taking an appropriate next-step action, where the label is just that – a label.

For example, if I give the child a representative first grade level passage and he reads it comfortably and confidently and can answer some comprehension questions, I know something.  He has mastered basic sight words and at the point he can read smoothly at this level he has the cognitive ability to process the information.

If the same child starts to show signs of struggling with larger words at perhaps the third grade level, that also tells me something.  Probably his reading is based primarily on memorization and less based on an internalized system of decoding more challenging words.

Ah, now I can roll up my sleeves and start targeting those skills that are shaky.  We can get down to business.

Or, take the example of a child who reads smoothly with all of the passages read, but whose comprehension, particularly for questions that are not directly in the text (i.e., inferences) he looks at me confused when the questions are asked.

Aha.  Maybe I should start explaining inferences to this child and give lots of examples for  practice.

We turn ourselves into knots trying to find the reasons behind the difficulty.  I get comments all the time like, “What region of the brain is producing these challenges?”  “Was it due to ear infections from 10 years ago?”  “You know, I think my grandmother may have had dyslexia and that must be the explanation.  They always talked about her reading backwards.”  “I know Uncle Joe can’t focus on anything.  That explains the ADD.”

On and on it goes. None of those speculations move things forward guiding “next-step thinking.”

Takeaway Point

Know at what point the skills start to break down.  Identify the skill deficiencies.  Target them.  Practice them.

Then your child will start to feel better about himself or herself.

Copyright, 2018 www.shutdownlearner.com
Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com
To receive free newsletter and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.

Questions or topics that you want covered in future blogs, send email to: rselznick615@gmail.com

Let’s say I’m a really bad tennis player, but I want to get better.

I decide to go to a tennis pro and after sizing me up the pro gives me the following suggestions:

• Get a tennis racket with a bigger head size so you will miss the ball less
• Make sure to wear a headband to keep vision clear and unobstructed.
• Get a good pair of tennis sneakers so you are sturdy on your feet.
• Get a really good grip so the racket doesn’t turn in your hand.
• Make sure you have a strap for your glasses.
• Do a lot of push-ups and start running each day.

Now go play tennis and let me know how it turns out.

Wait, I’m confused.  I’m a really bad tennis player.  I don’t know how to play tennis. Shouldn’t someone teach me the skill before I start playing?

Drawing a parallel, here are some of the primary items on an IEP I saw recently for a kid who was severely struggling with reading, spelling and writing:

• Access to electronic text (e.g., downloadable books).
• Limit number of items student is expected to know.
• Read test aloud.
• Provide books on tape, CD or read aloud.
• Go for OT & Speech and Language.

There were about 10 more of these type of suggestions, but you get the idea.

Like the tennis teacher’s ideas, these are modifications, or work-arounds.  They may be nice, just like getting good sneakers will be nice, but my tennis game is not going to be improving much with a new grip, sneakers and headband.

Neither will my reading, spelling and writing with the modifications proposed.

Copyright, 2018 www.shutdownlearner.com
Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com
To receive free newsletter and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.

Questions or topics that you want covered in future blogs, send email to: rselznick615@gmail.com

I have never been comfortable labeling children.

Labeling a child (or anyone for that matter) always seems so reductionist to me, as if the label could tell the whole story.

As a society, though, we have become increasingly comfortable and casual with their use.  Not a week goes by where I don’t hear, “He’s ADD”  or, “My kid is dyslexic,” or “Well, she’s Asperger’s.”  (Those are just some of the common ones; there are many more.)

I understand that getting “the diagnosis” or the label can be comforting on some level, but there are many factors beyond the label that need to be considered when trying to understand a child.

Let’s look at Maria, an 8 year old I saw recently.  Recently seen by a neurologist who pronounced she had ADHD after about a 20 minute assessment, the mom took that diagnosis seriously (as she should) and thought to herself, “Well, that’s that.  We finally understand what’s going on with Maria.”  She presumed that starting her on the medication prescribed would fix the problem.

Well, not too long after that, Maria started to feel overwhelmed in class describing symptoms of nervousness during tests and whenever the teacher asked the kids to write.  When it came to homework, she was quite avoidant, arguing a lot with her parents about getting it done.  Math word problems resulted in particular resistance from Maria.

When I tested Maria, she came across as a sweet style child who appeared pretty anxious, particularly with tasks that involved evaluating, considering and problem solving – in other words, tasks in which straightforward answers were not readily apparent.  With reading, she showed almost no ability to answer comprehension questions that involved inferences,  that is, “reading between the lines,” or answering questions that were not explicitly stated in the text.

About 70% of the kids are pretty self-managing. They read pretty well. They hand in their homework and are reasonably flexible in terms of their personality style.  That is, they are on a nice smooth road.

With 30% or so it’s a different story.  For them, school is an ongoing struggle (starting in first grade).  Frustration tolerance is not a top quality of theirs.  It almost goes without saying that their attention skills are variable (at best) and they don’t read, spell or write very well.  Homework is a continual battlefront.  They sometimes  annoy other people in ways they are not aware.

This latter category of kids are on the rough road.

“Rough road” is not a special education category or a psychiatric disorder, but almost all of the kids classified in special education or given diagnostic labels by medical doctors are kids who are on a rough road.

Takeaway Point

Maria is one of the 30%.  Just calling her “ADHD” doesn’t do justice to the totality of what she is experiencing.  Next week we will talk about how to approach her.

Copyright, 2018 www.shutdownlearner.com
Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – rselznick615@gmail.com
To receive free newsletter and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.

Questions or topics that you want covered in future blogs, send email to: rselznick615@gmail.com

Admittedly, I have trouble letting go of things.  If a magazine had an article about the Rolling Stones, for example, it could never be thrown out.  Boxes of such magazines in my attic, along with an assortment of other memorabilia speak to the streak of sentimental hoarding running through me.

I also have dated textbooks and yellowing professional articles hiding in various places.

With all of the changes in technology, psychology and education, you might wonder why I would hold on to this stuff?

Recently, I was rummaging through an old box. One of the articles I stumbled on was one I had the good fortune to be asked to co-author as a graduate student with my mentor, the late Dr. Stanley Rosner, one of the finest psychologists and people I have ever known..

The article was written in 1982 (egad, you can do the math). (Frankly, I think we hand wrote the draft on yellow legal paper and then had it typed on a typewriter, using white-out to take care of the errors.)

What’s astounding to me is how relevant things still are today.  Here’s a point that was made in the article about remedial instruction.

“A major commonality  of good remedial programs is the intensification of sensory input in the presentation of material.  Approaches in the past have suggested that certain youngsters are more efficient in learning when a single avenue of sensory input is utilized (Frostig & Horne, 1964; Delacato, 1966; Kephart, 1960) However, the most valued and lasting approaches appear to be those in which there is a general increase and involvement of as many sensory avenue as possible in a specific learning area ( Fernald 1943; Gillingham & Stillman, 1966;)

Good remedial instruction is teacher-directed as opposed to teacher-assigned. The use of kits, programmed instruction, and work-sheets is a distortion of the concept of individualization….

The utilization of sound psychological and educational practices with the child who has only known failure goes far to renew his or her damaged sense of self and faith in the educational process.  We have frequently observed youngsters who have previously been described as hardened and embittered make seemingly astounding personality changes as a result of finally being taught by a method that matches their unique learning abilities.” (Rosner & Selznick, 1982)

Mutlisensory programs (e.g., Orton-Gillingham) are all the rage now, yet they were being advocated in the 1940s!!

So many of the kids that come in to see me are struggling because they are continually asked to manage “teacher assigned” material.  Worksheet upon worksheet or teacher-assigned work on Chromebook, may be ok for those fortunate to be on the smooth road.

For those who are on the rougher side of the road, the ones with ongoing reading, spelling and writing problems, the teacher assigned material is much of the problem.

These kids detest school and they become increasingly, disconnected and shut-down from the mountain of assigned busy-work they have to get through.

Takeaway Point

I’m quietly glad I am a bit of a hoarder and don’t throw stuff out (much to my wife’s chagrin).  Maybe next week I’ll comment on the Proceedings of the Reading Institute of 1964 from Temple University.  (No, I did not attend that!)

——————————————————————-

Copyright, 2018 www.shutdownlearner.com

Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – contact@shutdownlearner.com.

To receive free newsletter and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.

There is a type of child I see quite often that is often confounding for schools and parents alike.  This is the child I think of as “just-off.”

Quantitatively, the “Just-Off Child” mostly resides in the portion of the bell-shaped curve, within the dreaded “average range,” with scores that are left of the strict mid-point (e.g., standard scores of 90 – 95 or the 25^th to the 37^th %ile).

If I said to you that your child’s overall reading was in the 37^th %ile you’re not jumping for joy, but such a score is considered “average” and is not going to result in the child getting classified for special services.

Rightfully so, this child is probably not “disabled,” he is “just-off,” as in just-off the mid-point.

Qualitatively, these children can also show a number of indicators of concern.  Many of the common ones include:

• They are often not “zippy.” (How’s that for a scientific term?)
• They typically need a fair amount of prodding to get started on tasks.
• Their homework and work output doesn’t look that great. (There’s something off about the homework – it’s just-off.)
• They aren’t great at “self-monitoring” (a psych term for not checking one’s work).
• Of course, they are viewed as on the distractible side of the continuum.

There are many more of these qualitative variables, but you get the idea.

Frequently, these kids get diagnosed as “ADHD,” (I’m not so sure they are) which yields a prescription and the likelihood of a 504 Plan with the school giving extra time (not that the kid wants to spend more time on school work).

What to do with this type of child?

Above all, everyone interacting with the “Just-Off Child” needs to be patient.

Understand that these kids can pull for irritation (“What’s the matter with you – I told you to pay attention.”) while they complete work semi-sloppily and make careless errors.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that you go totally easy on this type of child, but the kid is feeling it and he knows he’s not doing great.  He is not thrilled with all of the red marks and mediocre grades on the page.

Takeaway Point

There is a common type of child who is neither “fish nor fowl” – the “Just-Off Child.” This child resides in the lower portion of the average range and shows many common indicators that usually yield a diagnosis of “ADHD.”  They require a great deal of deep breathing from the adults who interact with them.  Besides practicing parental patience, in future blog posts we will elaborate on other things to do this child.

Copyright, 2018 www.shutdownlearner.com

Not in the South Jersey area? For a free 15 Minute Consultation, contact Dr. Selznick: email – contact@shutdownlearner.com.

To receive free newsletter and updates, go to: www.shutdownlearner.com.