A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Are stress and anxiety really important? Yes: often, far more important than parents, schools, and politicians think. Here are some reasons.

Many children with reading disabilities and other learning disabilities feel excessively anxious about learning. Many believe that no matter what they do, no matter their effort, they will fail. And so they resist reading or put little effort into it:

If a child thinks he’ll fail, no matter his effort, he’s unlikely to try, he’s likely to resist. He’ll think: Why fail? Why prove to everyone I’m dumb? Why embarrass myself? (http://www.reading2008.com/blog/reading-disabilities-how-to-calm-a-struggling-reader.htm)

Their anxiety shows itself in many ways:

High anxiety in children can lead to school refusal, which includes staying at home or constantly missing classes by going to the nurse’s office. … They often appear distracted and unable to concentrate and may be mistakenly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). … [Because they] cannot regulate that first moment of anxiety … [it becomes] overwhelming which results in poor performance. The same dynamic can be set in motion with homework where the child cannot do the first problem and cries for help without continuing to do other problems or assignments. (Sciarra, 2011, pp. 6-7)

Such anxiety is more common among children with reading and other learning disabilities than among typical readers. In discussing their recent research, Elizabeth Mayfield Arnold and her colleagues reported:

Differences in anxiety symptoms … have been found among samples of … youth [with learning disabilities] relative to comparison youth…. Children and adolescents specifically with reading difficulties also have been noted to score higher on measures of anxiety symptoms than youth without reading problems. (Arnold et al., 2005, p. 207)

The findings regarding internalizing symptoms were consistent with our hypotheses that youth with poor reading would report higher rates of both depression and anxiety than those with typical reading…. Our findings are consistent with those of cross-sectional studies that have documented higher self-reported rates of anxiety and depression among youth [with reading disabilities] as compared to those without such disabilities. (Arnold et al., 2005, p. 213)

Continued stress and the anxiety it produces can devastate children’s health as well as their learning. As problems of learning, stress, anxiety, and health accumulate, they intensify. Their devastating effects are incalculable. As Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biological Sciences, Neurology, and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University’s School of Medicine and a leading researcher on stress notes:

Stress can make us sick…. Many of the damaging diseases of slow accumulation can be either caused or made worse by stress. (1998, p. 3)

Aren’t stress and anxiety the same thing? No. Though poorly defined, they’re related. Again, Robert Sapolsky:

Anxiety disorders are associated with chronically overactive stress-responses. (1998, p. 274)

Similarly, in his summary of the research, David H. Barlow, Professor of Psychology at Boston University and Director of its Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, concluded:

The circumstantial evidence supporting the crucial role of stress … in the etiology [cause] of all anxiety and mood disorders is strong. (2002, p. 233, emphasis added)

Note the emphasis we put on the word all. We did this because schools often ignore the fact that creating many frustrating, embarrassing, stressful situations for struggling learners can easily provoke intense feelings of helplessness and anxiety, feelings that often continue and even intensify when struggling learners are overwhelmed by homework.

In future posts we’ll discuss how to help children with reading or other learning disabilities lessen stress and anxiety. If your child is highly stressed and extremely anxious, lessening these may improve his behavior, reading, and health.

References

Arnold, E. M., Goldston, D. B., Walsh, A. K., Reboussin, B. A., Daniel, S. S., Hickman, E., &  Wood, F. B. (2005). Severity of emotional and behavioral problems among poor and typical readers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 2, April 2005, pp. 205–217, DOI: 10.1007/s10802-005-1828-9.

Barlow, D. H. (2003). Anxiety and Its Disorders: The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic (2^nd ed.). NY: The Guilford Press.

Sapolsky, R, M, (1998). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers : An Updated Guide To Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping. NY: W. H. Freeman.

Sciarra, D. T. (2011) Emotional/behavioral disorders: Impact upon learning and strategies for helping. Insights on Learning Disabilities 8(1), 5-20.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com

howard@reading2008.com

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Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

Psychology Today.com recently wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher and author wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.”  A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.” The Kansas City Examiner.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010. We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words.

And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away. – HM & GB

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

More than a 100 years ago, Frederick Douglas crystallized the importance of quality schools, schools that excel at teaching academics, cultivating curiosity, and building character: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

ASK: Does your child’s program give him a good chance of becoming “a strong child”?

In 2004, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) clarified one of the major purposes of special education: “To ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment, further education, and independent living” (H.R. 1350, emphasis added).

If your child receives special education services, ASK: Is his IEP “reasonably calculated” to ensure that he’ll be ready for successful employment, further education, and independent living?

Although these questions may sound philosophical, they’re profoundly pragmatic.

HM © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com

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A Note on Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

Psychology Today.com recently wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.” A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.” The Kansas City Examiner.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010. We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words.

And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away. – HM & GB

From Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Ever wonder why your child behaves “that way?” Wonder why he dawdles, why he won’t read, why he fights with David and Brian? We can’t tell you about his genes, his DNA, the chemicals in his body, each of his neurons, or David and Brian. We don’t know all the causes of troubling behaviors, especially for individual children. But we can tell you about PEAT. Using PEAT might help you learn what’s currently causing his troubling behavior, an important step in figuring out a solution.

PEAT

PEAT stands for Physiology, Experience, Action, and Thought. First we’ll define the words and ask some questions that help explain them. Then we’ll show you how you might use PEAT to help your mythical 10-year old son, Charlie.

Physiology refers to your child’s physical needs. Does he get enough sleep? Does he have a nutritious diet? Is he having an allergic reaction? Do his ears and throat hurt? Is he forced to sit in class far more than his body can tolerate?

Experience refers to what your child has seen, is seeing, what has happened to him, or is happening to him. Was he humiliated when reading aloud because he read terribly in front of his class? During recess, did his classmates tease him about his “crappy” reading? Did they ridicule him? Did his dog’s sudden death make him highly anxious about death? Is he again being reinforced (rewarded) for skipping his homework?

Action refers to what your child did or does; it involves physical movement and relates to experience. When he played ball instead of doing his homework, an action, did he experience the reward of doing what he loved and avoiding what he hated? When he worked diligently to complete his homework, an action, did he experience failure because the homework was too hard?

Thought refers to what your child says to himself. When he was teased for his reading difficulties, did he say to himself, “I’m stupid. I’ll always be stupid”? When he worked diligently to complete his homework, but earned a failing grade, did he say to himself, “I’ll never try again. No matter how hard I try, I’ll fail. Face it—I’m dumber than cement”?

Using PEAT to Help Charlie

If Charlie is tired and anxious in school and averages only five hours of sleep a night, physiologically caused sleep problems or anxiety about the death of his dog or both may be fully or partially responsible for his difficulties. Consider following Dr. Stephen M. Lange’s recommendations about sleep destroyers and heroes (http://www.reading2008.com/blog/sleep-adhd-and-learning-disabilities-how-do-we-get-to-sleep.htm). If his recommendations don’t work, see a physician or psychologist who specializes in and is trained in sleep disorders.

If Charlie refuses to read, despite having a kind, knowledgeable, and skilled teacher who gives him reading materials at what appears to be his proper independent and instructional levels, check if he’s having headaches, visual problems, frustration or anxiety when reading, difficulties with other students teasing him.

If he continues to mutter, “I’m stupid,” if he throws his book on the floor, screaming, “I’ll never understand this stuff,” and he ignores your words of comfort and encouragement, read about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) or Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) for children. These therapies help reverse the destructive things children automatically say to themselves. See a qualified clinical or child psychologist, trained and skilled in using CBT or RET.

Limits of PEAT

PEAT is not magical. Sometimes, it will not immediately help you solve the problem. But like a good detective, you need to find and follow the clues and test their validity. PEAT is a good place to start. Rather than chaotically and haphazardly looking at everything, PEAT quickly points you toward likely clues that may prove highly informative. Once the clues have given you plausible ideas about the one, two, or more current causes of the problem, you can test their validity; if they’re valid, you can probably figure out how to minimize or eliminate the troublesome behavior. But finding the current causes is often hard detective work, with some false leads. Thus, testing your leads is necessary. It’s just part of solving the problem and helping—not blaming—your child. So good luck using PEAT in your detective work!

HM © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com

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A Note on Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

Psychology Today.com recently wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.”  A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.” The Kansas City Examiner.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010. We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words.

And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away. – HM & GB

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FREE CONFERENCE CALL ON

GETTING AND KEEPING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES: PART II

MICHAEL INZELBUCH, ESQ., SPECIAL EDUCATION AND BOARD OF EDUCATION ATTORNEY

When: Thursday May 26, 2011 @ 9 pm EST

Phone number: Call (661) 673-8600

Use Access Code: 899615# (remember the #)

Length: Approximately 40 minutes

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Anxiety overwhelms many children. On Monday Wilson has a school test; on Tuesday he needs to watch his young sister, Estella; on Wednesday he sees his mother crying about the cost the food; on Thursday another test; on Friday he hears the school will fire more teachers. And on Saturday, when he wants to go to the library, he’s told he can’t—it closed, forever. Joe has similar problems. So do Kelly, Ryan, and Emma. Tremendous uncertainty, tremendous responsibility, tremendous loss, tremendous anguish, tremendous anxiety.

Although these problems are complex, parents and professionals can do a great deal to help children reduce the stress and anxiety these problems provoke.  To help knowledgeable adults help children better handle stress and anxiety, Stress Free Kids offers a series of CD’s for children in elementary and high school. I reviewed one of these, called Indigo Ocean Dreams.

Indigo Ocean Dreams presents five interesting, well-told, well-produced stories and exercises for helping six-to-twelve year old children use affirmations (self-complements), diaphragmatic (belly) breathing, imagery, and progressive muscle relaxation to relax and minimize stress. A companion book is available for each story.

By itself, is Indigo Ocean Dreams sufficient to help children with chronic, intense anxiety overcome their anxiety? I doubt it. But used regularly, under the guidance of an expert in anxiety reduction, I suspect that it can make a wonderful contribution. For children with occasional anxiety—anxiety that’s uncomfortable and unwanted, but not dangerous—Indigo Ocean Dreams can be a wonderful CD for parents to routinely play for their children and join them in Indigo’s exercises. It can be an excellent first step in teaching children how to handle the challenge we all face: anxiety.

So, what am I going to do in about an hour, when one of my grandchildren visits my house? Start playing and discussing Indigo Ocean Dreams’ third track: Sea Otter Cove. Then we’ll have some fun practicing something he sees me practice daily: diaphragmatic (belly) breathing.

Indigo Ocean Dreams and the companion books are available at www.amazon.com and www.stressfreekids.com. I (Howard Margolis) have not met the author, Lori Lite, and I have no financial connections with www.stressfreekids.com.

A Note on Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com)

Psychology Today.com recently wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.”  A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.” The Kansas City Examiner.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010.

We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words. And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away.

Howard Margolis (c) Reading2008 & Beyond          www.reading2008.com

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FREE CONFERENCE CALL ON

GETTING AND KEEPING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES

STACI GREENWALD, ESQ., SPECIAL EDUCATION ATTORNEY

When: March 24, 2011 @ 9 pm EST
Phone number: Call (661) 673-8600
Use Access Code: 899615# (remember the #)
Length: Approximately 50 minutes

To submit questions in advance, please e-mail them to howard@reading2008.com.

Frequently giving feedback to children with reading and other learning disabilities can be a quick, portable, powerful way of motivating them to succeed in school. But not all feedback will achieve this. Feedback that motivates should not tell children they’re smart, they’re intelligent—this is not an error. Don’t tell them they successful because they’re intelligent; over time, this may well backfire. Instead, make sure your feedback teaches them to credit their successes on instructional-level tasks to effort, persistence, modifiable abilities, and correct strategy use.

Below is part of a peer-reviewed article on the topic. If your child has a tutor, you may want to share and discuss it with the tutor. You might also think about how you can apply the lessons from the research on feedback and motivation.

The article below uses two words that may need examples. An attribution is the child’s explanation for his success or failure: “I succeed because I used the right strategy” vs. “I failed because I’m stupid.” Self-efficacy is the child’s belief about his ability to succeed on a task. You might think of it as self-confidence: “If I make a reasonable effort, I will succeed on this task” versus “I’ll never succeed on this. How hard I work doesn’t matter.”

Howard Margolis, Ed.D. © Reading2008 & Beyond          www.reading2008.com

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After analyzing the literature on attribution feedback and training, Robertson concluded that both could improve struggling learners’ attributions. Similarly, many researchers have found that attribution training influenced academics. Shelton et al. found that stressing effort attributions increased the reading persistence of students with learning disabilities. Chan found that the reading comprehension and attributions of poor readers improved when they received both reading strategy instruction and attribution training that attributed success to correct strategy use.

By teaching struggling learners that success on instructional-level tasks is a product of effort, persistence, modifiable abilities (e.g. attention), and correct strategy use, tutors can help counter learners’ common lament, ‘I’m dumb,’ while teaching them that success is repeatable. For example, after Ryan correctly answered seven out of eight questions correctly, Mrs. Asher might explicitly attribute Ryan’s success on this instructional level task to controllable factors:

Ryan, you worked hard, you stuck to it for 22 minutes, you didn’t give up, you weren’t distracted, you concentrated on your work, and you re-read some sentences to make sure everything made sense. That was smart. And because you did all this, you answered seven out of eight questions correctly. That’s a ‘B+’. That’s your third ‘B+’ this week. You’re getting better. That’s great.

If struggling learners do poorly on instructional-level tasks that accurately match their abilities, tutors should stress controllable factors—inadequate effort and persistence or incorrect strategy use:

Ryan, you’ll do better if you make the effort, stick to it, and use the rereading strategy we’ve been working on. Let’s try it.

If a learner worked hard, but had difficulty, effort should not be mentioned. Generally, tutors should not refer to abilities that struggling learners believe are permanent, immutable entities that cannot be improved (e.g. intelligence: ‘You got this right because you’re smart’). Learners who hold such beliefs will unlikely make sustained efforts to improve their performance as they believe inadequate ability makes improvement impossible Muller and Dweck, for example, found that 5^th graders who had been praised for their abilities (i.e. intelligence) when they succeeded had more difficulties after setbacks than 5^th graders praised for effort. They warned that “ability feedback can undermine children’s motivation when they are later confronted with challenge.”

Some pre-adolescents and adolescents believe that effort is tantamount to intelligence—people who achieve the same result with less effort are more intelligent than those who make considerable effort. Some think effort indicates incompetence. In these cases, tutors should carefully, without exaggeration, attribute success to modifiable abilities linked to correct strategy use (e.g. ‘You were smart to reread those paragraphs. It’s an excellent strategy’). At another time, they might show how even high-achieving students often must make considerable effort to succeed. To do this, tutors might show the many drafts high-achievers produce before finishing a composition. Effort attributions, however, must be tied to instructional- or independent-level tasks, or they can backfire:

Attribution training must ensure that the student has the ability to succeed …. If the child tried hard but is then unsuccessful, all the educator has accomplished is to reinforce low ability attribution. Frequently provide academic feedback, review and graph progress. Miller concluded that corrective feedback was critical to successful tutoring. In reviewing the motivation for reading research, Guthrie and Humenick concluded that feedback indicating progress toward students’ goals could be highly motivating: it ‘satisfies the fundamental need for perceiving oneself as competent in an important task.’

By frequently and quickly providing struggling learners with qualitative academic feedback that tells them what was satisfactory, why it was, what was unsatisfactory, and what steps they can take to improve their performance, tutors tell learners if they are on the right track and prevent them from practicing errors. They provide information needed by learners to discard erroneous concepts, reduce uncertainty, correctly apply and value strategies, and accurately self-monitor their work. Such feedback, if presented in positive, supportive, nonjudgmental ways, is critical to learning—it can improve performance, self-efficacy, and motivation. When emphasizing progress, such feedback can effectively strengthen self-efficacy [confidence] and motivation:

Students will make future judgments not just on their actual skills, but also on their perception of their competence in using the skill. These perceptions of self-efficacy are more likely to increase with specific teacher feedback.

Yet, teachers often fail to give struggling learners needed feedback.

Tutoring is an excellent forum for frequently providing feedback. First, tutors can quickly and easily learn how to provide feedback. Second, tutors can easily emphasize learners’ self-improvement and avoid invidious comparisons by comparing learners’ current performance to their previous performance rather than to other students’. Third, tutors have the time to devote to each struggling learner’s needs and to provide visual feedback by graphing their progress and teaching them to do the same.

Like verbal feedback, graphing and self-monitoring improve learning and are easy to learn if procedures are explicit. For example, Shimabukuro et al. taught students with learning disabilities and attention problems how to self-monitor and self-graph their progress. Not only did students’ academic productivity and on-task behavior improve, but “the self-monitoring procedures were easy to learn and implement … and did not require … a lot of time closely monitoring the students.” This finding supports Schunk and Zimmerman’s conclusion that “self-evaluations of progress enhance self-efficacy and maintain motivation to improve.”

This column is part of a peer-reviewed article by Howard Margolis: Margolis, H. (2005). Increasing struggling learners’ motivation: What tutors can do and say. Mentoring and Tutoring, 13(2), 223-240. To make reading smoother, references were removed from this column; readers can find them in the original article.

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

A guest blog by

Lori Lite, creator of Stress Free Kids

http://www.stressfreekids.com

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) want to know how to help their children, how to make home life calmer, and if possible, more satisfying and happier. Although no one solution will prevent or solve all problems and what works for one family will not work for all, parents of children with ADHD can usually help their children, and by extension, improve home life. To help parents help their children with ADHD, the National Institute of Mental Health offers these suggestions:

Children with ADHD need guidance and understanding from their parents and teachers to reach their full potential and to succeed in school. Before a child is diagnosed, frustration, blame, and anger may have built up within a family. Parents and children may need special help to overcome bad feelings. Mental health professionals can educate parents about ADHD and how it impacts a family. They also will help the child and his or her parents develop new skills, attitudes, and ways of relating to each other.

Parenting skills training helps parents learn how to use a system of rewards and consequences to change a child’s behavior. Parents are taught to give immediate and positive feedback for behaviors they want to encourage, and ignore or redirect behaviors they want to discourage. In some cases, the use of “time-outs” may be used when the child’s behavior gets out of control. In a time-out, the child is removed from the upsetting situation and sits alone for a short time to calm down.

Parents are also encouraged to share a pleasant or relaxing activity with the child, to notice and point out what the child does well, and to praise the child’s strengths and abilities. They may also learn to structure situations in more positive ways. For example, they may restrict the number of playmates to one or two, so that their child does not become overstimulated. Or, if the child has trouble completing tasks, parents can help their child divide large tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. Also, parents may benefit from learning stress-management techniques to increase their own ability to deal with frustration, so that they can respond calmly to their child’s behavior.

Sometimes, the whole family may need therapy. Therapists can help family members find better ways to handle disruptive behaviors and to encourage behavior changes. Finally, support groups help parents and families connect with others who have similar problems and concerns. Groups often meet regularly to share frustrations and successes, to exchange information about recommended specialists and strategies, and to talk with experts.

Tips to Help Kids Stay Organized and Follow Directions

Schedule. Keep the same routine every day, from wake-up time to bedtime. Include time for homework, outdoor play, and indoor activities. Keep the schedule on the refrigerator or on a bulletin board in the kitchen. Write changes on the schedule as far in advance as possible.

Organize everyday items. Have a place for everything, and keep everything in its place. This includes clothing, backpacks, and toys. Use homework and notebook organizers. Use organizers for school material and supplies. Stress to your child the importance of writing down assignments and bringing home the necessary books.

Be clear and consistent. Children with ADHD need consistent rules they can understand and follow.

Give praise or rewards when rules are followed. Children with ADHD often receive and expect criticism. Look for good behavior, and praise it.

Reference

This column originally appeared in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008, pp. 11-12).

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Sleep, ADHD, and Learning Disabilities are Strange Bedfellows

So…

How Do My Child and I Get to Sleep?

Stephen M. Lange, Ph.D., Psychologist, Pine Ridge, SD

Sleep, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Learning Disabilities (LD) have complicated interrelationships. First, children and adults who do not have sleep that is long enough in duration and restful can demonstrate many of the symptoms of ADHD and LD. Fortunately, when their sleep improves, so do their symptoms. Second, individuals with ADHD, or LD, or both, can have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and feeling rested in the morning. In fact, some of the brain chemistry that accounts for the cognitive symptoms of ADHD and LD also affect the onset of sleep and dreaming. Sleeplessness and fatigue exacerbate ADHD and LD symptoms for those who have these disorders, and learning to have better, longer, and more restful sleep can improve their achievement, behavior, and sense of well being.

When it comes to improving sleep, there are medical and behavioral approaches. People who have obstructed breathing when they sleep, called sleep apnea, need a medical approach that might include surgery, advice on weight loss (which can exacerbate sleep apnea), and/or the use of a device that delivers pressurized air through a face-mask, such as a C-PAP machine.

Medication approaches for insomnia are more suspect, and are seldom the first treatment choice. The class of medications called hypnotics, which includes Ambien, is addictive, and can disrupt how patients progress through the five stages of sleep, leaving them more tired than before. Finally, some hypnotics cause amnesia and when essentially blacked out, patients can behave in ways that are unhealthy or even dangerous. Even if hypnotics were unequivocally helpful, giving any teenager any addictive product is problematic in an era of rampant misuse and abuse of pharmaceuticals. Given these cautions, no medication should be started or stopped unless you first obtain medical advice.

Behavioral approaches are effective. If used correctly, they’re generally safe and healthy. Their primary drawbacks are that they take time to learn and sustained effort to apply. It is easy to become discouraged or impatient for results, which is what we who have ADHD or LD experience too often.

One way to conceptualize the most basic behavioral approaches to sleep—Sleep Hygiene—is to think about Sleep Destroyers and Sleep Heroes.

Sleep Destroyers

Sleep Destroyers include:

• Napping during the day: People who sleep like bats in the day, flit like bats in the night.
• Ingesting caffeine and sugar after dinner (like sodas and juice)
• Using alcohol and/or nicotine
• Arguing after dinner
• Using the bed for texting, phoning, chatting, computing—anything other than what beds are made for
• Exercising after dinner
• Eating salty or sweet snacks after dinner
• Sleeping late on weekends
• Making the bedroom too warm, too loud, too well lit, “too anything”

Sleep Heroes

Sleep Heroes include:

• Exercising moderately between breakfast and lunch. (Three cheers for recess!)
• Letting the sun’s rays touch your face (with sunscreen and other precautions as necessary) between breakfast and lunch (did I mention recess?)
• Eating three balanced meals and two healthy snacks
• Winding down and engaging in a quiet, relaxed activity as the sun sets
• Leaving bed and relaxing in a chair when falling asleep takes 20 or more minutes
• Showering or bathing before bed
• Sleeping in a slightly cool room
• Following a predictable nighttime sleep routine
• Journaling, praying, stretching, meditating, practicing yoga right before bedtime
• Telling yourself what you’re grateful for before bedtime
• Forgiving others and settling arguments early in the day
• Waking up the same time seven days a week
• Having a quiet house after sundown
• Avoiding video games or other stimulating activates right before bedtime
• Completing assignments, homework, checkbooks, and other worrisome tasks well before bedtime
• Avoiding the belief that you will never sleep
• Playing quiet or calming music after dark
• Creating a bedroom that is comfortable and relaxing

If these basic habits don’t work for you after a season of trying, I recommend that you consult a psychologist or other therapist who practices Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Often, psychologists or therapists with expertise in Behavioral Sleep Medicine can help solve more difficult problems. You can find a listing of such clinicians, including physicians, at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s website, http://www.aasmnet.org/PatientsPublic.aspx.

Goodnight!

Caution/Warning

This column does not offer medical advice. Further, every individual has different needs based on their individual physiology and psychology. Before considering using or stopping any medication or any medically-related intervention, readers need to consult a physician.

The Author

Stephen M. Lange, Ph.D., is a child and adolescent psychologist and parent of two. He is a very grateful adult with ADHD. He can be contacted at smlangephd@gmail.com.

Edited by Howard Margolis, Ed.D.   www.reading2008.com

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

A Guest Post

By  Dr. Amy Reschly, University of Georgia, &

Dr. Sandra Christenson, University of Minnesota

High school completion with competence is more important than ever before in our nation’s history. Students today must have skills to compete in an increasingly global and technological economy.  Data continue indicate, however, that too many students – particularly those of Native American, African American, and Hispanic descent; students with high incidence disabilities; and students from lower-SES backgrounds – are at increased risk for dropping out and experiencing a host of negative consequences, from unemployment and health problems to incarceration.

For many students, a pathway to dropout is initiated in early elementary school with difficulty learning to read. Difficulty with reading appears to be linked to grade retention and special education placement, both robust predictors of later dropout. Reading is widely thought of as one of the signature accomplishments of childhood and a primary purpose of the first years of schooling.  Encountering difficulty in such an important area not only leads to falling further and further behind other students academically but is also related to a decline in student motivation and engagement at school, constructs critical to persistence and school completion.

Studies of the effectiveness of intensive interventions in early childhood and primary grades underscore the connection between early reading skills and the increased likelihood of completing high school. Given the link between poor reading skills and grade retention, special education placement, engagement, and motivation, we, along with a number of colleagues, have frequently argued for intensive early reading interventions as an integral part of school completion efforts.

To date, it appears that we know a lot more about who drops out than we do about effective prevention and intervention. Although dropout prevention efforts are widespread, only recently has significant attention been paid to evaluating and identifying those programs that are empirically supported. One program, Check & Connect, recently met the standards for inclusion in the Institute for Education Science What Works Clearinghouse. Check & Connect is currently the only intervention program reviewed in the What Works Clearinghouse that earned a rating of Positive in any of the three core areas related to school completion (Staying in School). The primary components of Check & Connect are described below, followed by an example of how reading interventions may be included as part of the Check & Connect model.

Check & Connect

Check & Connect is a structured model of intervention focused on promoting students’ engagement at school and with learning. The person primarily responsible for program implementation is a monitor or mentor who:

• Systematically monitors student engagement with school (e.g., attendance, homework completion, participation, behavior, connection to teachers and peers) (CHECK)
• Initiates timely and individualized interventions at the first signs of disengagement (CONNECT)
• Facilitates collaboration across home and school and works with families to enhance home support for learning.

Tbe table below lists the core elements:

Source: Christenson et al. (2008)

Check & Connect has been implemented with elementary, middle, and high school students; with students who have disabilities and those who do not; and in suburban and urban school settings. Check & Connect has also been used in conjunction with interventions to address aggressive behavior and improve reading performance.

One area that appears particularly promising is combining interventions to promote student engagement with those to address early literacy and reading skill acquisition.  This combination may address the earliest signs of disengagement and declining motivation from school and helps to ensure the acceleration of student reading progress through more intensive intervention. Mentors apply the elements of Check & Connect to enhance student engagement; provide additional reading skill practice; assist in the monitoring and reporting of student reading progress and goal-setting with students; and enhance home support for learning specifically to literacy development and frequently communicate with families regarding student progress.

Concluding Remarks

Being a successful reader is necessary and integral to completing high school with academic and social competence. Without this skill, students become alienated or isolated from peers and classroom learning activities. Adopting an engagement orientation, one wherein data from systematic monitoring of students’ reading performance is used to design a home-school coordinated intervention enhances the probability of student engagement, success, and connection with school. Most importantly, partnering with families to enhance out of school reading time and continuity in the messages about putting forth effort, persisting to learn to improve in reading, and recognizing progress and improvement offers much promise to meet the desired benchmark of reading by third grade as well as preventing school dropout.

References

This column was adapted from

Christenson, S.L., Thurlow, M.L., Sinclair, M.F., Lehr, C., Kaibel, C., Reschly, A.L., Mavis, A., & Pohl, A. (2008). The intervention manual and guide for Check & Connect: A comprehensive student engagement intervention. Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN.

Reschly, A. (2010). Reading and school completion: Critical connections and Matthew effects. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 26, 1-23.

More information about Check & Connect may be found at: http://www.ici.umn.edu/checkandconnect/

© By  Dr. Amy Reschly and Dr. Sandra Christenson

Howard Margolis, Ed.D., Column Editor

www.reading2008.com