Gifted and active ?

Many gifted children are very active from the beginning. They are constantly asking questions, they want to touch and explore everything, they want to be doing something interesting all through the day. They never seem to stop and they don't want to sleep. For those observing, they seem to be constantly on the go and for parents it can be exhausting trying to keep up with their intensity of interest in a particular area or the world around them. It is not long before family or friends may suggest that there is a problem. When they start school their excitement to learn may lead them to blurt out answers rather than waiting their turn.  They may get distracted from the task a teacher has set when an interesting thought pops into their mind. They may miss the teacher's instructions as they are engrossed in the book they are reading. They may be constantly moving as they try to act on the ideas they have straight away. Again it is not long before the teacher suggests that your child has ADHD.

Gifted with ADHD or just gifted?  What difference does it make?

Quite a lot really, when we focus on the 'behaviours' rather than the reasons for the behaviours we can come to the wrong conclusions.  We always have to consider whole child before we make any judgements. The trouble with misdiagnosis is that the child receives the wrong 'treatment' and the real cause for their difficulties is not dealt with.

James Webb and his co-authors of 'Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults' estimate that as many of 50% of gifted students who are given a diagnosis of ADHD do not actually have ADHD but rather are displaying characteristics that are inherent to gifted students. While it is perfectly possible to be gifted and have ADHD the treatment for this is different to a gifted child who is having attention difficulties in a specific context.

There are many areas of overlap between a gifted child and a child with ADHD and so it easy for confusion to arise even with teachers, educational and medical professionals.  The Conners' rating scales lists 50 or so behaviours for teachers and parents to consider and rate on how often these behaviors are seen. Gifted children may display many of these behaviours but for a different reason than a child with AHDH. Considering the context of any behaviour is very important as is considering the child's strengths and weaknesses.

Inattentiveness can be caused by boredom and lack of challenge for many gifted students. This can then lead to daydreaming, disturbing class mates or finding creative ways to occupy themselves. It needs to be noted whether the problems occur at school or home or both. If at home a child can sustain their concentration to complete a task that they find interesting and mentally challenging then they probably do not have ADHD.  This does not include computer games or TV as these stimulate the brain in a different way.

Gifted children can appear not to be listening as they are deep in their own thoughts. They can also be distracted by sensory overexcitabilities. If you are absorbed by the annoying label in the back of your shirt or the buzzing of the lights it can be very hard to focus on what the teacher is saying. As an adult we can learn to filter out these annoyances but this often not possible for children.

Many gifted children are naturally active, have high energy and need less sleep. Psychomotor overexcitabilities can easily be mistaken for ADHD. As the child's mind is bombarded with thoughts so the body moves too. Sometimes a gifted child is so excited by what they are thinking or have discovered that they speak quickly, move excitedly and want to act on the idea straight away.

The things to look out for in a child who has ADHD are lack of attention to detail, difficulty sustaining focus even in play activities, failing to finish tasks, difficulty sustaining mental effort, being disorganised and being easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.

When seeking professional advice it is important that IQ testing is included and that environmental factors are considered.  For ADHD to be diagnosed it should occur in two or more contexts. It is also important to consider the child's developmental history or early childhood.  If the problems only occurred when the child started school or as the curriculum became more demanding then the difficulty is probably not ADHD.  Signs of ADHD should be evident before the age of 7 for a diagnosis to be made.

For those who are simply gifted we need to take a serious look at what is causing problems at school or in another context. A better understanding of gifted children by may be needed for those involved with the child.

Once we have the diagnosis right, how do we help a gifted child with ADHD?

Medication is one of the first things mentioned when we think of ADHD.  While it clearly does help many children it does not need to be our first or only strategy.

Occupational Therapy can be hugely helpful for many active children and those who find it hard to focus.  Occupational therapists are able to identify if there are sensory factors or other factors causing the movement and they can help children learn to regulate themselves.  Children can be over stimulated and they need strategies to calm down to focus on academic tasks or they may be under stimulated and need strategies to wake the brain up. Movement breaks with a specific programme of activities are key in helping a child to remain focused. Simply having a toilet break or a drink is often not enough, sometimes children need a much more active break with star jumps, running, press ups, bouncing on a yoga ball.

Adapting the environment and the expectations of the child is also important. This can be easier to do at home than at school which is why parents often do not see the problems in the way schools do. We may naturally incorporate active tasks and breaks into our day as we know what works best for our child.

In school, tasks do not need to be less challenging but rather they should be broken down into 10 minute blocks with breaks in between.  Some children need to be allowed to fiddle or move as it actually helps them focus. Trying to prevent movement is usually counterproductive. It is more a case of finding things that work in a school context and are not disruptive or distracting for others. Again there are many things that can be trialed: velcro under the desk, bendy rulers, theraband around the chair, blue tac, wobble cushions, standing desks. However we have to be careful that these things do not become a distraction in themselves.

ADHD can also affect the way the brain processes, plans and organises tasks. Very often children know 'what' to do and 'how' to do it but their brain does not tell them 'when' and 'where' to use the skills and knowledge they have.  For example the child many know that they have a homework project which requires time for research and making a presentation but they may not think about when to start it or which part to do first. So they may leave it all the the night before the project is due. Check lists and visual prompts can be helpful in helping a child to organise themselves to work through a task in sequence and to know which skills to draw upon. These will need practise and adult prompting initially before a child can use them independently. The child may also have a poor sense of time, so the use of timers can be useful in helping a child know how much time has passed or encouraging the child to stay focused for increasing amounts of time before taking a break.

This article is only a brief overview of some of the issues connected with giftedness and ADHD, for more reading and information have a look at www.additudemag.com and www.understood.org
 

Dyslexic or not that is the question?

As teachers and parents we probably spend far too much time time debating whether a child is dyslexic than we actually should. Of course we do not want to mislabel a child but equally we should not waste valuable time while we debate.

If a child is struggling to read or write we should just get on and provide support and interventions. In truth dyslexic interventions work for all children. The only difference is that most dyslexic children can not learn to read and write properly without them where as typical children can.

Sadly there are many children who are 'mildly' dyslexic or have dyslexic 'tendencies' who are never given access to these valuable resources and approaches. They struggle to read and write throughout school and often never really show their true potential. They puzzle their teachers because they may have excellent verbal skills and general knowledge or they are good at problem solving and are very observant but their writing is terrible.

For this reason I prefer to take a much more pragmatic approach and use dyslexia as an umbrella term. There are a whole range of learning difficulties that happily sit under this umbrella, typically these children have working memory difficulties (please see my previous articles for advice on identifying and supporting working memory difficulties). In addition they will have a combination of the following difficulties - visual perceptional difficulties, visual memory difficulties, auditory discrimination difficulties, auditory processing difficulties, motor skill and coordination difficulties, attention difficulties.  Any of these children may benefit from a different approach to learning to read and write.

It is important to me that every child experiences success at school and for this to happen we have to accept that children learn differently. Many children (and adults) learn by doing rather than listening or looking at something. We also have to remember that letters and numbers are in essence abstract and we have to train our brain to process them. This is where multi-sensory approaches which involve hands on activities and interacting with words are so effective.

Children who struggle to read and write typically lack the underlying skills necessary to read and write effectively.  This could be due to dyslexia or a related difficulty. However it is not always necessary understand why these skills are missing or under developed but rather focus on how we can help.

In education we tend to take the approach that these skills develop naturally with age and we set our goals and curriculum based on the age of the child rather than evaluating their underlying skills. Parents also take the schools lead in where their child should be in their literacy skills and then puzzle when their child struggles to do a seemingly 'simple' reading or writing task.

We would never try to bake a cake without all the ingredients and if one was missing we would substitute it with something similar honey instead of sugar for example.  But if we left out the eggs it would be a disaster! And yet in school we often try to teach reading and writing when not all the necessary skills are in place or fully developed. We should take more notice of where children are developmentally rather their age when teaching literacy skills. We give many children and parents an unnecessary sense of failure because they do not follow a conventional timetable.  In my 16 years of experience as a specialist teacher, I have not met a child who was not able to learn to read, it just took a different approach and more time. Unfortunately many schools are unwilling to allow the child the extra time they need to develop these skills properly. A bettter understanding of dyslexia and the reading and writing process may help to change this.

There are many excellent resources and approaches that both parents and teachers can use to help support those who are struggling.  It is important that we try to strengthen the weaker skills while using the stronger skills to compensate. Some of the best resources are featured on the Teacher page - Dyslexia where I list my top ten dyslexia resources.  Also see the Parent page - Dyslexia where I suggest some activities and approaches to use at home. I will discuss some of these resources and approaches further in future articles.

If you feel your child if having more difficulty with reading or writing than you expected don't hesitate to ask your child's school for advice or seek professional help. Don't wait for your child to feel like they are 'failing' or start avoiding difficult tasks before you take action. The earlier you intervene the sooner difficulties can be overcome and your child can begin to experience some success. It is likely to be a long road of hard work but there is light at the end of the tunnel for dyslexic learners.

How to speak to teachers about your gifted child.

The beginning of term is always full of tension for me as I debate how to approach my son's new class teacher.  Should I meet her straight away so she knows exactly what she is dealing with or should I wait and let her work it out for herself?

For me both are fraught with danger. Experience tells me that it is hard to predict how a teacher will react.  Tell them early and the teacher can be offended that you didn't trust them to work it out for themselves or you don't think they know how to deal with gifted children.  However if you leave it too long your child may become frustrated, bored and not want to go to school at all.

Each year is different as teachers have been trained differently and have very different views and experiences of gifted students. We have experienced a whole range, from teachers who seem very receptive but then do nothing to challenge or differentiate to teachers who focus only on my child's deficits and don't even mention something positive. From my son's point of view some teachers are fascinated by him and want to work out what makes him tick while others make it their mission to 'take him down a peg or two'. Of course my son is not perfect, he has his strengths and weaknesses but he should be supported to learn something new and progress in line with his abilities.

Gifted children perhaps more than other children can be very sensitive to their teachers perception of them and the way they interact.  Many instinctively know when teacher is not being genuine or if the teacher is frustrated with them.  First impressions do last and for my son at least, if the first week does not go well in his eyes then the whole year is doomed!  Of course this not completely true but a child's feelings and motivation for school can make huge difference to their performance in school and their behaviour at home. Many teachers have never had the experience seeing their children change from a motivated enthusiastic learner with one teacher to a demotivated school refuser with another. Even in terms of social relationships the teacher sets the tone, if the teacher clearly values your child's contributions other children will be positive and even aspire to be like your child.  However if the teacher shuts the child down and doesn't let them contribute because they think your child is a 'know it all', children in the class will follow suit and think it is ok to put the child down.

Despite all the concerns and pitfalls, our only cause of action is to try to communicate and work with the class teacher. Although nothing is guaranteed, here are a few things that I have learnt along the way:

1. Collect evidence or specific examples of what your child does at home - this could be photographs, notes or pictures of things that your child really enjoys doing or is motivated by.  Focus on things that are outside the school curriculum but really showcase your child's advanced ability.
For example, when my son was in nursery I brought in a 'ruler ' he had made himself with the numbers up to 20 on it and explained how he used it to measure furniture around the house. The teacher was both amused and interested and understood that this was not typical of most 3 year olds.

2. Avoid quantifying your child's ability or bringing in exercises or tests that prove they are at a particular grade level. Instead highlight your child's talents in terms of enthusiasm and anecdotes.  Instead of saying "my child just completed a Year 4 test in maths" try saying 'My child loves doing calculations on the way to school, yesterday he was trying to work out how many minutes in a month' or instead of "my daughter is reading books for 12 year olds" try saying 'my daughter loves reading the Young Elites series, she doesn't want to put it down even at dinner time'

In the past, wishing to be helpful I have brought in test papers my son did at home thinking it would help to the teacher to pitch at the right the level more easily. While the teacher may smile and say thank you, I have found the tests are usually put in a cupboard and returned untouched at the end of the year.  Teachers will always insist on finding your child's level themselves.

3. Never use the word 'bored'. Even if your child is bored this word will provoke a bad reaction from the teacher. They will stop listening to you and reel off all the activities that your child struggles with and any fact that your child did not seem know. This is a road to nowhere.  Try to think of an example of something your child has enjoyed in school and mention that your child is keen to do more of this. For example 'My son loved it when your asked him to share what he knows about space probes, maybe he could bring a book in to share with you'. If you make a positive comment you can then point out something that was not so good. ' He really wished he could have used hundreds when you were learning how to add 3 numbers'

4. Avoid the blame game. If your child had a 'bad' year last year try not to spend your valuable meeting criticising another teacher. Draw a line under the experience and try to put your trust in the new teacher. Even within the same school teachers have very different views and practices. Give the new teacher a chance without projecting the old teacher's actions or failings on them.

5. Acknowledge your child's shortcomings but do not let this be the main focus for the meeting. It is good for teachers to see that you have realistic view of your child.  However if the teacher just focuses on these things and doesn't challenge or allow opportunities for your child to use their areas of strength and learn new things, the child will not be motivated to work on their weaknesses. I still remember one of our first parent meetings when the teacher only spoke about my son's poor social skills and motor skills and explained at length how we should focus on this. It was not a successful year!

6. Avoid suggesting specific solutions, teachers like to feel they are in charge at school and are the one who understands education best (even if you are a teacher yourself).  A better strategy is to state your concern and ask the teacher how they think it is best to proceed.  You could refer them to another teacher or professional if these people have worked positively with your child in the past. Very often it is best to let the teacher have time to think about things and suggest follow up meeting in a couple of weeks.

7. Keep calm in the meeting, you can always vent later!  Getting angry or emotional is never going result in what you want for your child.  Teachers will get the wrong impression of you and will be less willing to listen to or consider what you are saying. When they feed back to their line manager, which they will, the focus will be all about your attitude rather than what you actually said or requested. This will also make the teacher (and possibly other teachers) less receptive in future meetings.

8. Keep a neutral tone. This is a tough one as giftness is very emotive if your family is affected by it.  It is not a set of theories but you and your child's life that are at stake. I have been on several training courses about gifted children when teachers discuss what may or may not be good for gifted students. They say things with little knowledge of what it really like to parent a gifted child. I feel myself getting emotional inside and wanting to shout 'Don't you care!' or 'Can't you see how important this is'. But for many teachers it is just another 'fad' or drain on their time or something interesting but not that important. Try to be patient and explain your view as clearly as you can.

9. Try to come some sort of agreement even if it is on one small issue or step. The teacher may not be able to take on board everything you would like at once. They may even feel a little overwhelmed or unsure. Your child may be the first gifted child they have been aware of. However if your child responds positively to something the teacher implements, this will lead to more opportunities for your child to be catered for. Keep notes about what was agreed and follow this up at your next meeting.

10. Do go higher if necessary. Teachers are very sensitive to criticism and sometimes misunderstand what we are trying to say. A headteacher or deputy head may be much more willing to listen to your concerns and may be more open minded.  It is their job to listen to parents concerns and investigate properly to find out what is actually happening. They may also have more knowledge about giftedness and understand why you are concerned.

Good luck, remember parent teacher meetings can be daunting for teachers too!

Book of the Week - Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults

"Our brightest, most creative children and adults are often being misdiagnosed with behavioral and emotional disorders such as ADHD, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Bipolar, OCD, or Aspergers. Many receive unneeded medication and inappropriate counseling as a result. Physicians, psychologists, and counselors are unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological diagnoses. Six nationally prominent health care professionals describe ways parents and professionals can distinguish between gifted behaviors and pathological behaviors. These authors have brought to light a widespread and serious problem, the wasting of lives from the misdiagnosis of gifted children and adults and the inappropriate treatment that often follows." Jack G. Wiggins, Ph. D., Former President, American Psychological Association

This excellent book really gives food for thought. Many people are unaware that gifted children can have learning difficulties or that many of the recognised characteristics of gifted children can be misinterpreted as learning difficulties. Even health professionals and teachers can end up focusing on the child's behaviour rather than the reason for the behaviour.  Misdiagnosis can be very damaging for a child as the 'treatment' they receive is not only ineffective but can distract from the real issues. A child's strengths and giftedness can be completely missed while everyone focuses on a child's weaknesses.  This can lead to frustration, isolation and depression.

Parents may find specific chapters useful in answering questions about their own children.  Often friends, family or teachers may suggest that a child has AHDH or is autistic without seeing the whole picture.

All teachers should read this book to fully understand the range of children in their classes and so they can support them and their families appropriately.

The Problems of Misdiagnosis

A lack of understanding of the full range of characteristics of gifted children (and adults) by parents, professionals and teachers can often lead to the misdiagnosis of learning difficulties. The problem with misdiagnosis is that the 'treatment' or strategies employed are not effective in helping the child and  the real reason for the difficulty is ignored. This can often make things worse and lead to frustration and depression.

Many characteristics that are inherent to gifted children can be misinterpreted as a learning difficulties.  It is important to realise that many of the 'problems' or behaviours that concern parents and teachers are not actually problems for the child themselves but are the result of unrealistic expectations or a mismatch between the child and the environment they are in.  This is probably one of the reasons parents and teachers can often view a child quite differently.  

At home the parents often adapt the environment to suit their child.  Although they may receive criticism from friends and extended family, in many cases it is simply a case of survival as a family or a parent. For me, my son was like a 'force of nature' from the moment he was born, he was impossible to ignore. He was interested in anything and everything and he never kept still.  He also didn't like to sleep. It is exhausting to clash with your child numerous times everyday. And why should we? Our children's demands are normally not 'bad' just 'unusual.' We have our child happiness and well being at heart.  So if this means reading two pages of the encyclopedia to your two year old every night, as I did, we will do it.  Many parents also recognise themselves in their child and so are more willing to make concessions to aid family harmony.

In school however there is a very different agenda, most schools want children to conform and look for what they consider to be 'good learning behaviours'.  Listening to the teacher, sitting still, completing tasks as the teacher asked in a timely fashion, cooperating with their peers are just a few.  However most of these simply do not match with a typical gifted profile.  Gifted students don't want to listen, they want to find out for themselves or ask the questions. They can struggle to sit still as their active mind demands action. They often have unique ways of viewing things and will often adapt a task to make it more complicated or interesting. They may get distracted by other ideas and not complete the task in time. They may find it hard to work with other children who have such different interests and views. 

One the main characteristics of gifted children is their intensity or 'overexcitabilities'.  Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabroswki developed the idea of overexcitabilities as he studied the characteristics of gifted children.  He suggested that there are 5 main areas: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, emotional and imaginational. Most gifted children and adults will have one main area but they may also have multiple intensities.  As I discuss these intensities it is easy to see how they can be confused with the characteristics of various learning difficulties.

Many gifted students are hyper aware of their surroundings and can be overly sensitive to sound, light, visuals, touch, smell, taste and textures. This can make the typical classroom environment very distracting.  The colours, visuals, sounds and bright lights can feel overwhelming to some children and make it impossible to focus on the task in hand.  Even as an adult I find my eye drawn to patterns or bright colours on a display and I get distracted from the conversation I am having.  Teachers should consider who the displays are actually for and whether they really enhance the learning experience for children.  School uniform can be another distraction, if the fabric or labels 'rub' or irritate. A child may avoid a particular room or area of school because of particular smells.  Lunches can also be difficult for some children who are very sensitive to taste and texture. Packed lunches and school dinners are not the same as the food a child has at home.  Picky eating can lead to low blood sugar which in turn can lead to distractability or emotional outbursts. Playgrounds can also feel uncomfortable with the noise and constant movement. These sensitivities are often associated with autism and again can lead to a misdiagnosis.

Those children with psychmotor intensities have an intense need to move. They love movement and have endless energy. They will often speak rapidly, fidget and want to take immediate action. The slowness of the classroom and the need to sit and listen to the teacher can be hard to bear. They are excited by learning and just want to get on and do it! This excessive movement and spontaneity can often be mistaken for ADHD as many of the characteristics overlap. Although the cause and solution for gifted students can be quite different. I will discuss this further in a future article.

Some children with intellectual  intensity have a mind like pin ball machine where they are being constantly bombarded with different thoughts and ideas. Sometimes this is referred to as a 'rainforest mind' and there are useful websites that discuss this further. It can be very hard for children to filter and prioritise these thoughts making it hard to focus in class. Particularly if work in class is very routine and unchallenging. Students may want to act on their own ideas or may be intellectually excited by a new idea, causing excessive movement. Again the student can seem distracted and too active, leading to suggestions of ADHD.  The child's area or areas of intellectual passion may not relate to the school curriculum at all and may not even be discussed or acknowledged within the school context.  This very hard for a child who is literally bursting to share their new found knowledge.  When my son was in Nursery school he avidly watched 'Time Team' and would pretend to find Roman artefacts in the garden. One morning he asked me if the Egyptians had hypocausts like the Romans. But at school he was supposed to colour pictures and pretend to be an aeroplane with the other boys. Even as a Primary school teacher I was not prepared for the stark mismatch between what he did at home and what he was allowed to do at school. Many schools and teachers are equally unprepared for children with intellectual intensities.

There are no easy solutions for the mismatch between home and school. An honest and open dialogue is the best place to start. Many teachers have not had adequate training in giftedness to realise a child who is not conforming may be gifted rather than 'difficult'.  In my next article I will talk about how to  approach a school and talk to teachers about your gifted child.

www.verywell.com and www.rainforestmind.com have a wealth of useful advice and articles

 

Twice Exceptional - what does it mean?

Is she gifted?

Is he gifted?

Many people are unaware that gifted students can have learning difficulties. 



They still have the narrow view that gifted students are 'straight A' students who breeze through school.  It is probably one of the reasons that many teachers are reluctant to give any extra attention to gifted students, after all school is so easy for them!  There is also resentment from other parents as they feel the gifted student has an unfair advantage over their child.

It is not uncommon for gifted students to be dyslexic or autistic or have ADHD or a whole range of learning difficulties. The difficulty is that giftedness can mask the learning difficulties as bright children can often find ways to compensate for their difficulties.  On the other hand sometimes the learning difficulties masks the giftedness as teachers and adults focus on the behaviours and deficits rather than he child's abilities.

To add to the confusion gifted children also have overexcitabilites which can be misinterpreted as a learning difficulty like ADHD. They can be perfectionists, be rigid in their thinking and have difficulty socialising within their own age group which can be mistaken for autism. Their asychronous development can also mean that their motor skills and writing skills do not match their intellectual ability and can seem like a dyslexic type difficulty.

The result of these uneven profiles is that many gifted students are never recognised as 'gifted' within the school context.  Their parents will see how rapidly they learn new things at home, their extreme curiosity and hunger understand the word around them, their advanced vocabulary and heightened sensitivity and awareness.

But at school, the teachers are unimpressed - they complain about the child being distracted, not listening to instructions, rushing to complete tasks, not completing written tasks carefully. They are frustrated that the child seems to want to follow their own agenda rather than dutifully completing the task as the teacher instructed.

And so the journey of disappointments, frustrations and misunderstanding begins for the child, the parents and the teacher.

As a parent and a teacher I can see both sides of the story. I understand why teachers behave in the way they do, as they rely on children's responses to a narrow range of activities in the classroom.  But I also know the frustration when teachers do not see your child as you see them and they do not value your insights from your experiences at home.

The best way to identify twice exceptional children is for there to be an open and honest dialogue between teachers and parents.

The missing part of the puzzle is very often information that only the parent will have. There needs to be an acceptance that if a parent says their child is gifted the chances are that they are gifted. I don't even like the word 'gifted', I don't use it to boast, I use it because it the most helpful way of understanding my child.  I find that very often my motives are questioned when I draw a teacher's attention to my child's abilities. Like all parents the well being of my child is my main concern, its not about 'status' or having unrealistic expectations. In fact I spend most of my time keeping quiet about my child's abilities with both friends and family.

Parents often see a different side of their child which may not be obvious in school.  Teachers should not forget that parents have been observing their child from the day they were born and are quick to notice when their child does not behave or react to things in the way other children do. Often parents will spend many years puzzling and piecing together observations and researching possible causes for their child's difference. Parents know things about their child that teachers would never know from the school context. And just as many adults have a work persona and a home persona, children can present very differently at home and at school. Teachers need to value a parent's insights more and think about how it relates to the child they see in school.

In my experience, teacher's can often misinterpret a child's behaviour or shortcomings and the reason for these difficulties. They often blame parents when actually those things are very intrinsic to the child. And no amount of correction or persuasion will change it.  My child is a perfectionist and no matter how many times I tell him it is ok to make a mistake, he still cries or gets angry when he does.

From a teacher's point of view, many have not had training about how giftedness may present itself in the classroom or the full range of gifted children they may come across.  They are trained to value and judge a child's ability by how successfully they complete routine classroom tasks. There continues to be a big emphasis on what a child can record in writing.  This can lead some gifted children to be grouped with 'lower' ability children because they are easily distracted or their writing is weak. Of course gifted students do need to learn to focus and improve their writing skills if this is an issue.  But if we put all the focus on  child's weaknesses and do not acknowledge or give time for them to be challenged or excel in their area of strength, this leads to frustration and demotivation. Which in turn can lead to behaviours which further distracts the teacher from the giftedness and a downward spiral begins.

Well informed teachers and parents are the key to the success of gifted students and particularly those who are twice exceptional.

Over the next few weeks I will be discussing the full range of twice exceptional students and the dangers of misdiagnosis.

Book of the week - Helping children with dyslexia by Liz Dunoon

Realising that your child may be dyslexic can be daunting as a parent, this book will help you make sense of this difficulty and know how to move forward.

"This book will show you how to ensure your child's success at school and in life. It provides a complete guide for parents and teachers to help children with learning difficulties in particular, dyslexia. ‘Helping Children With Dyslexia’ has helped thousands of families to navigate and overcome the barriers preventing their child from doing well at school. It provides the latest research and strategies from some of the worlds leading dyslexia experts as well as advice from parents who have children with learning difficulties. You will learn how to tell if your child is dyslexic, find the right school for your child, choose the right remedial programs, identify their strengths, build their confidence and work with the education system to help them achieve learning success." Amazon UK

Liz Dunoon has an excellent website Dyslexia Daily with advice and resources for parents and teachers.

Supporting working memory difficulties

Working memory difficulties affect many students and is the common challenge for many common learning differences like Dyslexia, ADHD and ASC.

Overcoming working memory difficulties can seem daunting at first and it certainly takes time and persistence to make any in roads.

For the open minded teacher there is a lot that can be done within their lesson delivery to help and support children who have working memory difficulties

1. One key thing is to make it acceptable to ask for instructions to be repeated.  As I explained in my last article working memory is limited and when it is overloaded the information is lost and can not be retrieved. If we get cross with a child for not listening we do not help the problem, we only force then to develop unhelpful strategies like copying or work avoidance.

2. Making information available as an individual paper copy using visuals, notes or bullet points is extremely helpful. This will give the child something to help them to focus and keep track of what is being said. Many teachers think it is enough to have the information on the white board but this can be just as inaccessible to a dyslexic child as the verbal information.

3. The teacher can prompt the child prior to the lesson about what to listen out for or ask them a specific question.  For example 'Today I am going to be talking about mammals, listen out for one of their characteristics" This encourages both active listening and encourages the child to listen out and filter what it said for key words rather trying listen to everything and becoming overloaded.

4. Preteaching of some concepts with concrete materials, using discovery learning or visuals may then give a child a chance to tune in and participate rather than swimming in a sea of words. We  know from our own experiences it is much easier to follow a conversation when we already know the subject matter.  If we join a conversation where people are talking about something unfamiliar it can take some time to tune in and we may even misunderstand initially.

Most teachers love to talk but often don't appreciate how much they say with out using visuals or resources to illustrate what they are saying.


5. Repeating instructions with a reduction of words increases the chance children with poor working memory retaining the whole instruction. The teacher can encourage the whole class to count and repeat the key words on their fingers and ask some children to repeat back what has been said.

6. Setting up class routines reduces the number of instructions that a child has to listen to and process. This leaves more energy for actual learning. 

For the child there are ways of training themselves to remember more of any information given verbally.

1. One of the most effective methods is encouraging children to verbalise what has been said out loud, it can be under their breath or in a quiet voice.  As the child says it they have an addition chance to process the words and pick out the key words.  Research has also found that we remember things said with our own voice more readily.

2. Children can be taught to visualise what is being said, again this needs training outside the classroom. If the child actively listens and creates a mental picture of what is being said it becomes more memorable.  Exaggerating the picture or making it funny can also help. 

Mnemonics for spellings and number facts can make use of both verbalising and visualising.

Some children need a structured programme, a speech therapist may be key in this delivering this. There is a well established programme called 'Visualizing and Verbalizing'
see http://lindamoodbell.com/program/visualizing-and-verbalizing-program for more information.

Older children can be trained to make notes and pick out key words, but this does need adult modeling first and practice outside the classroom.  Contrary to common belief, note taking is not an easy skill to master and it does need teaching. It also needs to taught a step at a time, first children need to work on listening to a sentence and picking out the key word or idea. They may need to discuss with an adult what makes a key word. It will take practice to filter out the extra words and focus in on the key word. Then they need to practice saying the key word to themselves and only writing this down. Dyslexic children can find it very hard to listen and write at the same time, drawings and diagrams can be a way round this. It may take several months to learn effective note taking.

At home, encouraging eye contact when speaking can help. Children often find it hard to divide their attention, if they are involved in other activities they may not actually be listening at all. This is often the cause of parental frustration and the need to repeat instructions again and again.  Asking your child to immediately repeat back what you have said can also be helpful in ensuring what you said has been heard and understood.

Again establishing routines and checklists can help.  Sometimes parents can be reluctant to use checklists at home as they want to be more relaxed and different from school. But as adults most of us rely to diaries, lists and written instructions so that we do not forget steps in a task or a series of jobs that need to be done.  Children need to be introduced strategies which will encourage them to be independent rather than needing adult prompting to remember.

All in all plenty of PATIENCE is needed as it takes time, encouragement and training to overcome working memory difficulties.

Book of the week - Understanding Working Memory

These are 2 excellent books for understanding working memory.
Working memory difficulties have a huge impact on dyslexic children, yet many parents and teachers do not really understand what it really is. These books offer some interesting insights and practical advice for supporting children with working memory difficulties.

Tracy Packiam Alloway has been involved extensive research into the area of Working memory, for further reading go to www.tracyalloway.com

Recognising working memory difficulties

 

One of the main difficulties that dyslexic people have is with their working memory. This difficulty is also common to many learning difficulties.

Memory is very complex and has many facets.  A person can have a very good memory for facts but may struggle to learn and recall  their times tables. Someone can have an excellent memory for events that happen on holiday but may not be able to remember the names 2-D shapes.

Working memory is a very specific part of our memory but it has a huge impact on how well a child can function in the classroom as well as in everyday life. Research suggests that working memory is the main predictor of 'learning success' in school and later life.

Working memory is sometimes referred to as our brain's note pad. It is where we keep someone's phone number just long enough to write it down or we store one number while adding another number on. We may not realise it, but we actually use our working memory a lot all through the day.

Here are just a few of the tasks that rely on working memory:

• listening to instructions
• remembering what you want to write while you write it down
• remembering the whole of a sentence that you have read
• remembering the sequence needed for a task or calculation
• learning number bonds and times tables
• learning the spelling high frequency words
• storing facts and information in long term memory

Our working memory is limited and varies from child to child.
Many teachers do not realise that within their classes they may have children with a working memory span of 3 seconds and at the top end a memory span of 12 seconds or more. These children can not and will not respond to classroom tasks in the same way.

Working memory difficulties can be an 'invisible' problem in many classrooms.  

For those with a limited working memory, it can have huge impact on how they process verbal information, work through multi-step tasks and remember what was taught on one day for another day.
It can make routine tasks both difficult and laborious. 

Many people are also unaware of the impact it can have on storing ideas and facts into the long term memory.  In order to put information in our long term memory we need to be able to keep it in our working memory long enough to encode it and store it with other related information.  We have to be able to give the information 'meaning' to be able to store it. Otherwise the information is lost or stored in the 'wrong' place so that it can not be retrieved. This is one of the reasons that an interesting fact which can quickly be linked to prior knowledge will be remembered, where as the 3 times table, which can seem to be meaningless string of numbers, can not be recalled. 

As an observer of many classes and lessons I find it interesting that many teachers never really change their delivery of lessons.  Despite the fact that some children never know what to do after the teacher's introduction or can not remember their number bonds despite practicing them. The teacher continues to explain and teach things in the same way day after day.

The child is blamed for not listening or not remembering when they are actually not able to. 

These children can be very puzzling and frustrating for teachers as they can verbally seem to be intelligent, they may have good general knowledge or vocabulary. They may be good at making links between concepts or have good visual spatial skills. But it often seems to be the 'basics' that they struggle with.

The trouble with working memory is that when it is overloaded there is no way of retrieving the lost information. Teachers and parents need to identify when this happens and look for ways to support the child effectively.

The signs to look out for are:

• Missing words when writing a sentence
• Not punctuating correctly
• Losing place when reading
• Poor reading comprehension 
• Not being able to do mental calculations
• Appearing distracted when someone is talking
• Not following a conversation involving several people
• Losing track of a task and missing or repeating steps
• Forgetting messages or instructions
• Not being able to 'rote' learn

While there are number of well known programmes which address working memory skills like Cogmed and Jungle Memory, in my experience it is more effective to teach compensatory strategies. I will discuss these further in a future article.