ADHD is a continuum disorder with some being at the extreme end of typical functioning, while others are quantitatively different from their peers. ADHD causes significant functional impairment in daily life activities, reduces school success and strains personal relationships (Faraone & Larsson, 2019). Many have difficulties into adulthood negatively affecting aspects of function, including employability.
Read MoreRecently my home state of Arizona, along with approximately 39 other states, passed legislation designed to help identify students with dyslexia by mandating K-3 screening for all students.
Read MoreWe continue to connect the dots and fill in the blanks when it comes to diagnosis and management of neurodevelopmental and mental health disorders. Research to identify underlying mechanisms, as well as diagnostic and biological biomarkers is ongoing; these disorders have a vast landscape of common genetic mutations (Jensen et al, 2022).
Read MoreWe can do better…I can do better. 75% of mental illness begins in childhood and adolescence, with 30% of the world population between the ages of 15 and 44 years old contributing to the global burden of disease secondary to diagnosed mental disorders.
Read MoreIf you are a parent, teacher or caregiver of someone with an ADHD diagnosis, or in the absence of formal diagnosis has poor attention interfering with their occupational performance, and in some cases, safety, watch or listen to Andrew Huberman, PhD provide the most up to date research on medications, supplements and behavioral tools for improving attention and focus along with comprehensive discussion on the neural circuitry and neurochemistry involved.
Read MoreA few years back when my youngest daughter entered 3rd grade, we dropped off classroom supplies and met the teacher. The teacher was very enthusiastic about having planned out and equipped her classroom with a flexible seating arrangement. Love seats, bean bag chairs, exercise balls, large cushions, big stuffed animals, as well as an array of traditional chairs and desks in novel patterns placed around the perimeter of the room.
Read MoreVisual attention is key to my work with students, so I am writing about it again. It is one of the first things I work on with students. It is foundational to our working together in a way that will stick…not just going through the motions.
Read MoreI close out the school year thinking about how hard my students worked. Whether it was transitioning between on-line and in-person learning with little faces covered or changes in how we were able to work together. ALL did their best to adjust, worked their hearts out…most looked in need of a long summer’s nap.
Read MoreImprove hand skills and develop body maps of the hands in the central nervous system with this short, easy routine. Differentiate digits, encourage prehensile grasp, synchronize the hands at the vertical midline of the body, cross midlines, increase awareness of thumb positions, refine movement and stimulate mental flexibility.
Read MoreWhen children are learning to print letters and numbers it is not uncommon for them to reverse “b” and “d”, “p” and “q”, “m” and “w”, “s” and “5”, and “q” and “9” – after all they do look similar to the inexperienced eye.
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