Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in children. Children with ADHD have great difficulty with tasks that involve sitting still and paying attention. The symptoms of ADHD are divided into two behavioral categories, inattention and hyperactivity or impulsiveness. Some children have symptoms of both types. And other children have mostly one type and not the other. Individuals with symptoms of inattention have trouble concentrating and finishing school assignments. They are easily distracted, and often forgetful. Children with symptoms of hyperactivity fidget and talk excessively. They have trouble waiting their turn. ADHD symptoms are distinct from normal childhood energy. The behaviors of children with ADHD are extreme compared with those of other children of the same age. The behaviors also cause significant problems at home and at school. About 3 to 5 percent of school-age children in the United States are thought to have ADHD. This means for a classroom of 20 to 30 students, on average there is one child with ADHD. Boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with ADHD
Last semester for a few weeks I was observing a third and fourth grade special education class. It had been a very rewarding experience. I saw and worked with all different types of children and got to talk to the paras and the teacher about what it’s like to work everyday with these special needs children. All the kids leave at different times because of the buses and things like that so one day, at the end of the day the teacher asked me if I wanted to sit with a kid named James and try to help him out with his math. He often seemed very distracted always squirming in his seat and sometimes acted out. These were clearly signs of ADHD. So everyday for two weeks I was sitting with James and helping him out. He is really a very bright child he knows all of the answers. Sometimes he will blurt them out before im even done asking the question. You have to have a lot of patience working with kids like this but they can really understand and learn new things. I think that maybe one day I might want to become a special education teacher. Working with James and the other children has really been a great experience

Reaching Out to Students When They Talk and Text

The city is planning an intensive campaign that would use cell phones to help motivate students, most of them minorities and from poor families, in two dozen schools. The pilot program will include mentoring and incentives for high performance, like free concerts and sporting events and free minutes and ring tones for their phones. Every student in each of the schools will be given a cell phone. It will use text messages, drawn up by an advertising agency and sent over the phones, that promote achievement.
The plan, designed by Roland G. Fryer, a Harvard University economist who is overseeing the school system’s program of paying students who do well on tests, was approved by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Details about how much will be spent and where the money will come from are still to be worked out, Education Department officials said. Although it is not clear which of the plans education officials will choose, they are enthusiastic about one that tries to make poor teenagers aware that academic success can lead to jobs that pay enough to support a middle- or upper-middle-class way of life.
The focus group research showed that cell phones were the primary means of communication for many teenagers, and that reaching them through a concerted campaign of text messages or through the Internet was far more likely to be effective than a traditional billboard and television campaign. Some City Hall officials were initially skeptical of the program because it had the potential to create more uproar about the mayor’s strict policy of banning cell phones in schools. But Mr. Bloomberg, according to several city officials, decided that the project was worth the risk The program will begin in January and involve 10,000 to 15,000 students at four city charter schools run by the Knowledge Is Power Program and 20 schools run by New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit group.
If the program is successful in improving student attendance and grades, it would most likely be expanded, Mr. Klein said. “If it doesn’t work, we won’t continue it,” he said. “Let’s be candid in some places, if you’re doing well, you’re like a dork. We’re saying, ‘No, no, it’s not dorky.’”
I think that this is a pretty good idea. This will really get the attention of students. Although people are going to think mayor Bloomberg is an idiot because he was just banning cell phones and now he is encouraging them. I wish that they thought of these programs when I was in school.

The Superbowl

So the other day was the superbowl and of course I was at work. I hate my job. I work at a bakery. I’ve been working there for at least three years and I have to work every single holiday for long hours and little pay. Anyway, it was the superbowl and I never realized until the other day how much people like to pig out during the superbowl. The line was seriously out the door and around the corner. People were coming in and buying like three or four dozen pastry, Italian breads, cakes, all kinds of junk. I don’t think I rung up anything under forty bucks. What is the need for all this junk food? I honestly don’t even really understand football at all and I am pretty sure not everyone who walks around in giants jerseys and writes “go giants!” on there myspace understands either. Its just a bunch of guys, one minute there standing up and the next there falling down. Whats the big deal? People I knew that had not followed football all season long, suddenly is a big die hard, canoli eating, giants fan?

Lazy Dog!!

I have a chocolate lab and her name is Cocoa. She is the laziest dog I ever seen in my whole life. All she does is sleep all day and when she’s not sleeping she’s eating or begging for food near the kitchen table. I have to say she doesn’t really have to beg because she gets everything she wants. She’s a little brat! I am a little bit jealous. I would love to be doing nothing all day except sleeping and eating. When we first saw her and asked to pet her when she was a little puppy we thought she would be happy and jumping on us and wagging her tail but no. The lady put her down and she rolled right on her back with her paws in the air and my dad was like “yup, this is the dog!”. I think Cocoa is a very weird dog, but I still love her =)