Assessment

The Problem-Solving Voice: Is it too quiet?

by | Oct 26, 2012 | ,

Those of you who have read my stuff or know of the work that I’ve done with kids over the years,  know I can be a bit “decoding obsessed.”  This is primarily because I have witnessed the legions of struggling decoders (usually dyslexics) who find school to be extremely challenging as a result of their ongoing decoding and reading fluency issues. 

Other Side of Coin

There is another side of the coin, though, and these are kids who have trouble with problems solving, which is a whole other branch of the tree.   My observation is that when these kids have a novel problems to solve (classic example would be mathematic word problems), they lack an effective internal voice to guide them and say, “Hmm, let me think about it,” to weigh and consider how to approach a solution to the problem or way to answer a question.

Take young Angel,  age 9, who is a pretty good problem solver.  For example, when you put puzzle pieces down to make something he doesn’t rush in to the task or throw his hands up too quickly stating “I can’t do this.”  No, Angel, looks it over, considers, weighs options, and says to himself, “Hmm, let me think about it,” and then proceeds ahead, one small part or step at a time. 

 In contrast, is Anna, who is same age and grade as Angel.  Anna is fragile when it comes to problem-solving.  Anxiety kicks in almost immediately when asked to solve a novel problem.  The slightest difficulty and she wants to bolt from the task.  There is little to no internal voice (or at least one that she hears) guiding her to evaluate and problem solve.

Anna’s difficulty also affects her reading comprehension.  While she can answer fairly straight-forward factual type of questions,  when it comes to questions that involve reading between the lines (inferences) or forming conclusions, she shrugs quickly, stating “I don’t know.” 

ADHD style kids also have great difficulty with this problems solving component of school, as their overly impulsive nature does not easily lend itself to problems solving.

There is no immediate fix or simple solution to this issue. However, in the hands of a good teacher (tutor), that person can encourage the problem-solving voice with a lot of guided practice.  By asking good questions that help steer the child toward problem solving, the child improves over time.  They learn to work through challenges.

Takeaway Point

If your child is not oriented toward utilizing the “Hmm, let me see voice,” encourage it along.   When the child immediately says, “I don’t know,” nudge a little.   You might say, “Look. I know you are not sure, but how about if you think about it a bit and then take a guess.  There may not be an exact right or wrong answer.”

Got “The Diagnosis”

by | Jun 22, 2012 |

Frequently, parents will come in to tell me that they got "the diagnosis" with the emphasis on the word "the" as if there is only one diagnosis out there.  Of course, I look puzzled when I ask about "what diagnosis" and they tell me "ADHD."

When I ask how the ADHD was diagnosed, usually I hear that a medical practitioner (physician or nurse practitioner) looked at the Connors rating scale and spend about 20 minutes with the child and parents.

It's then that I usually start to wonder about “the diagnosis,” whether other variables were considered.

Take young Emma, age 7.  Emma recently got “the diagnosis.” Her Connors rating scales certainly highlighted areas of ADD concern. However, when I evaluated Emma it struck me was how there were certain tasks that caused her great difficulty. For example, when I asked her to repeat a simple span of digits in a reversed order (even two digits, such  as 5 -3), she looked at me blankly and had absolutely no idea what I was asking. Even after bending the rules of standardization to try and get her to understand what repeating backwards meant, Emma had no clue how to respond.

Another example of difficulty was when I asked Emma, how many pieces there were after cutting and orange in half? Emma answered " four,” seemingly not understanding what was being asked.

Was the fact that she had such difficulty with these tasks ADHD?  Did “the diagnosis” explain her confusion?

While Emma may have had a helping of ADHD (actually I'm not so sure of this), she certainly had a large spoonful of language processing issues and clear confusion when asked to understand aspects of language. This confusion, from my point of view, was not explained by the simple "diagnosis."

The take away point is to be careful when accepting “the diagnosis” on ADHD.  There are many factors at work that need to be understood. 

Getting Clear on “Average”

by | Feb 20, 2012 |

When a child is evaluated by the school’s special education team, frequently parents hear something like, “Your child’s reading skills are average, meaning he/she is not eligible for services.”
Upon closer inspection of the child’s report, I often see that the “average” is a standard score of 90, 91 or 92, meaning the score is in the lowest possible point of the “average range,” or about the 25th percentile. 
While it is technically true that the child may not be eligible for services, be clear on one thing. Even though your child is being called “average,” he/she will probably need help, but you will need to seek this help on your own.  
I’m not suggesting the team is doing anything wrong, but watch being lulled into thinking your child is fine, when he/she is in that point of the “average” range.

Your Special Education Binder

by | Sep 22, 2011 |

For those of you involved in any level of special education negotiations for your child, whether it be for a 504 Plan or an IEP, the likelihood is you are accumulating quite a paper trail. Accumulating (probably in a folder), are all the IEP’s, standardized test reports, medical evaluations, school email correspondences, etc., that have taken a dent out of the rain forest.

If you are falling on the disorganized side of the continuum, one of the most effective things you can do for yourself is to help bring a semblance of structure to the material that has accumulated. Do yourself a favor. Go to your local office supply store or even an online one like TabShop and purchase one of those very large three ringed binders, along with a packet of easy to design dividers.
Then do the following:
1. Relax. Take a deep breath as you start to go through all of the papers. Perhaps, pour yourself a glass of wine (ok, green tea if you prefer).
  1. Pull out all of the reports and papers that you have accumulated and sort them into categories, i.e., IEP’s, previous reports, standardized test results, report cards, email correspondence, or any other such category that seems to emerge.
  1. Put the papers in chronological order with the oldest material on the bottom to the newest on top.
  1. Put all of these into your new special education binder in the appropriate sections..
Much of dealing with special education is a process of negotiation. The more organized you are, the better you will advocate and negotiate. Additionally, outside professionals will be able to more easily see what’s been done with the child and what may be an appropriate next step. The binder becomes your child’s collected story in chronological order. Also, investing in a binder that can resolve all your binding solutions through automation and flexibility might prove to be a prudent option in the future times.
Now, that was easy!
If only I can organize my own life!

504 Plans: Keep Them Simple or They Will Be Ignored

by | May 3, 2011 |

“504” plans have been so much a part of the school landscape for  many years that we forget that the “504” did not originate with schools. 504 is part of the ADA legislation. The guiding principle of 504 is that reasonable accommodations would help to “level the playing field” for those with disabilities in the workplace or school. 

 The operative word is “reasonable.”
 
Many parents will come to me with reports from a variety of other professionals, containing 10, 20 or even 30 boilerplate recommendations to be incorporated in the child’s 504 plan. Usually my eyes start to glaze over after reading past canned recommendation number 5 or so. 
 
What do you think is happening to the teacher when she looks at these recommendations? Right – glazed over eyes. It’s a prescription for doing none of the accommodations.
 
Even though you feel very armed and ready with your doctor’s multiple recommendations, the fact is the school will not be able to do a vast majority of what is being suggested. 
 
My advice would be that you simplify things. Come up with two or three (at the most) really helpful things that you think your child’s teacher can do to help your child along. Come up with “reasonable” accommodations that help to make the road a little smoother for your child
 
Anything requested beyond three recommendations, the school will just be checking off boxes on a 504 template for you to sign and for the school to ignore, until the time that the 504 is to be “revisited” a year later for signing and ignoring.
 
 

 

Nonverbal Learning Disability – “NLD” in a Nutshell

by | Feb 8, 2011 |

Terminology in the field of psychology and education can be very off-putting. Too often jargon is tossed around that few people really understand.  My test for jargon would be if the average person on the street doesn’t know what a term means, then it is jargon. I can guarantee you if you asked 100 people what “NLD or Nonverbal Learning Disability” meant, most would be scratching their heads. Even for professionals in the field of education and psychology the term can be confusing. What follows is NLD in a jargon free nutshell. 

The nutshell view is that children who are NLD have considerable strengths clustering on their verbal abilities. These children are very facile verbally. They have a storehouse of information that is readily answered when asked verbal questions.  Their vocabulary knowledge is broad.

On the other side of the coin, the NLD kids struggle with a range of tasks that are nonverbal in nature, hence the term – “Nonverbal Learning Disability.” These kids tend not to do well with spatial tasks such as putting blocks together to match patterns or while analyzing different visual patterns. While this difficulty can affect their academic functioning, more importantly, the NLD kids struggle in the social arena. Why? When interacting socially, so much of  the interaction is visual (nonverbal) in nature involving the “reading” and interpreting of a variety of  cues and stimuli in the environment.

The pie chart to the right illustrates this well.

Pie chart

As the chart shows, at least 55% of communication skills involves non-verbal communication. Is it any wonder that if you are in the 5th – 10th percentile of nonverbal intelligence, you will struggle greatly in the social arena?

Take young Matthew, a boy I met when he was 5, who is now in middle school. From a young age Matthew was a storehouse of knowledge and verbal abilities, obtaining a 138 Verbal IQ (99th percentile). This was contrasted with a 1st percentile score in the nonverbal domain. All of the years that I have known Matthew, social interaction has been a struggle that few have understood. 

Here are his father’s words about how Matthew does in the social arena:

“Being Matthew is like living in a social purgatory, wanting to be social but lacking an understanding how to go about it. How do I protect my son? How do I ensure he gets social/emotional support?   Does anyone on Matthew’s team really understand the crippling social effects caused by the way he’s wired?”

Matthew will need a lot of support, particularly in situations that are less structured, such as the playground and lunch room. He will need to have an adult with whom he can “anchor” and feel a confident connection.

Whether he gets such support or not is another story.

MY HEAD IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE HEARING THESE THINGS!

by | Dec 14, 2010 |

Modern parents make you nostalgic for the good old days. You know, the days when children went outside to play and basically didn’t see their mother for a solid 8 hours (except when she made you a nutritious bologna on Wonderbread sandwich, before your ran back out the door after wolfing it down).

Now it’s, so much parental steering and interfering. Parents are so self-conscious in the way they interact with their children

Just spend a few minutes in the mall or a supermarket:

"That’s not your indoor voice." (Ugh.)

"Remember not to run ahead, ok?" (Oh, that’s effective.)

"It’s our special day. Mommy’s so happy to be with you." (As the kid is charging ahead.)

"Now you know you shouldn’t use your whining voice." (Your whining voice????)

"Where are your listening ears?" (Huh????)

 

Or as parents report to me about the way things are going in the house, their language reveals how things will go:

"Don’t you think it’s time we started our homework?" (No!!!!!!!)

"Isn’t it time that we go to bed?" (We????)

"It’s time for us to brush our teeth." (What????????)

We have a serious case of NBD running through modern parenting – No Backbone Disorder!!!!

I think my head will explode if I hear one more of these things.

I am getting cranky again.

MESSAGES FROM THE LIFE BOATS

by | Dec 8, 2010 | ,

Last week we talked about the "Curriculm Ship"  that leaves the dock in September, plowing forward until it reaches its destiny. That some have fallen off the ship appears to be immaterial. The ship must proceed.

The blog generated a fair amount of reaction from teachers and parents.

The first is from an elementary school teacher:

"Hence the creation of "differentiated instruction" which on paper sounds great but when dealing with 26 + in a classroom the likelihood of a teacher, even a veteran teacher doing this successfully is not good. We need to look at the curriculum and possibly go back to the A & B classes so that children are not hampered by slower learners and slower learners can feel as if they can succeed at their own pace.

Another came Amy, a fourth grade teacher;

"I just wanted to let you know that the Curriculum Ship blog was a great analogy for my students. It is so true – we are merely keeping them afloat, hoping that they will hang in there…It is sad, but true, that some of my students will let go of the preserver soon. While they may make it in 5th grade, they probably won’t much more after that!"

From Pat, a mother of 12 year old who has struggled over the years, she said:

"It’s too bad that parents aren’t tutored in knowing what size life preservers to keep on hand for their children! As the curriculum gets more difficult, it seems the theory of "one size fits all" for the curriculum could not be more in error! If this ship is sailing along steadily, ignoring who has gone overboard, you would think someone would notice and sound an alarm! Instead, we blame the child for not trying hard enough – and treading water in deep seas will only keep you alive for so long!"

All of these points are very valid, I believe. The "differentiated instruction" theory while still very popular, would seem to be extraordinarily difficult for a teacher. Staying with the water metaphor, how does one work with a group in the deep end of the pool, while others are floundering on the other side in the shallow end? I guess, as Amy says, you are just trying to keep them afloat, but that isn’t very satisfying, is it? The sanctity of the curriculum and its "one size fits all" nature is also frustrating to the strugglers. They just can’t keep up.

Well, in the coming weeks try and enjoy the holiday season – we will get back to teeth gnashing after the first of the year!.

THE BLIND MEN & THE ELEPHANT: (Dissecting Childhood)

by | Jun 14, 2010 | ,

"It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
Though all of them were blind,
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind."

The above comes from the parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant. A group of blind (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one touches a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. Of course, each describes the elephant quite differently from their perspective.

Sometimes I feel like we are doing the same with children.  Different professionals will identify a certain part of the “elephant” and recommend a treatment from that point of view. 

Recently a mom came in to discuss her very pleasant, but struggling 8 year old daughter, Samantha, who had seen many professionals over a two year period.

“So, what was recommended?” I ask.

“Since kindergarten we’ve been on this two year mission to help her,” the mom said.  “She just isn’t making progress in reading and the gap is widening.

We first saw an OT who felt there were “sensory issues.”  She felt Sam should get Interactive Metronome therapy.   Then we read about special colored lenses for reading and found a person in NY who specializes in tinted lens treatment, which she recommended for Samantha.  An audiologist then found a central auditory processing disorder and recommend that we go to her office for a year’s computer treatment to address the “auditory issues.”  The neurologist we saw wants her on medication.  Dietary supplements and spinal manipulation were recommended by the chiropractor.  Then there was the “train the brain” program offered at the nearby learning center.

I really have no idea what to do and am overwhelmed by all of this.  I just want her to learn how to read better. ”

If reading is the primary concern, then Sam’s mother should seek good reading instruction.  It’s common sense.

To hit a tennis ball better, you wouldn’t go for swimming lessons.  Why is reading any different? It’s a skill that can be taught and practiced. 

Maybe dissecting the elephant so much is not that helpful.

Tags:  Learning disabilities, Learning Therapies,  Parent Concerns

 

“DADDY’S TIED UP IN TRAFFIC”

by | Jan 5, 2010 |

Many shut-down learner kids, have great trouble with different facets of language that we often take for granted.

Take Emma, age 8.  The other night, Emma was told by her mother that her father was “tied up in traffic.”  Emma burst into tears.  “Why is daddy being tied up,” she sobbed.

It took her mother some time to explain to Emma that her father wasn’t literally being tied up and that it was an expression commonly used when people are stuck in traffic.

So many kids have difficulty with the subtle and not so subtle aspects of language.  They can be easily overloaded with too many words hitting them with no place to store such words and language in their mental closet. 

We use language very freely and quite often it is just washing over the kid’s head.

Is it any wonder that so many shut-down learner style kids appear distracted and zoned out in class?

So, if your child is not steering her boat or is wandering in the desert aimlessly or spinning her wheels in the mud, perhaps you need to back up and check out your language !!!!!

Perhaps you are using too many metaphors!

 

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