A Confusing Conundrum: Gifted Students with ADHD Susan Baum, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus College of New Rochelle Director of Professional Development Bridges Academy com

ADHD

Robin Williams 1952-actor, comedian, ADHD Early on, Williams applied his inexhaustible hyperactivity to many films

Students with ADD/ADHD Classic manifestations: Creative thinkers Difficulty sustaining attention especially in listening activities Difficulty completing written work, Physical restlessness or feelings of restlessness Impulsivity Difficulty following through on instructions from others (not due to oppositional behavior or failure of comprehension) Need to move to learn

ITS COMPLICATED

COMORBIDITY: THERE IS AN INTERACTION BETWEEN GIFTEDNESS AND ADHD 1, OVEREXCITABILITIES 2. ROLE OF DRUGS, STIMULATION, AND THE CURRICULUM 3. HIGH ABILITIES IN SPATIAL AND KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCES

Sensitivities of the High-Creative Dabrowskis Overexcitabilities Psychomotor Intellectual Emotional Sensual Imaginational

Psychomotor A heightened physical energy that may be expressed as a love of movement, rapid speech, impulsiveness, and/or restlessness.

Sensual Heightened sensory awareness (e.g. touch, taste, smell). May be expressed as desire for comfort or a sharp sense of aesthetics.

Imaginational Vivid imagery, use of metaphor, visualizations, and inventiveness. M ay also include vivid dreams, fear of the unknown, poetic creativity, or love of fantasy.

Intellectual Persistence in asking probing questions, love of knowledge, discovery, theoretical analysis and synthesis, independence of thought, and the love of solving the problem.

The role of attention and curriculum

A simple model of how information is processed Novelty Intensity Personal Relevancy A Attention S E N S OR Y I NP U T A-V-K Short-term Memory Expression UNDERSTA NDING assageway Application Critical & Creative thinking Generalization Long-term Memory Engagement Enthusiasm Enjoyment P

How Many Squares Do You See?

HOW CAN WE HELP STUDENTS SIT STILL AND FOCUS? The wrong question:

HOW LONG ARE YOUR STUDENTS SITTING? VERBAL FLUENCY ACTIVITY: ARE YOU READY? CIRCLE TIME? LISTENING? DOING SEATWORK?

Research says that sitting and listening and paying attention is developmental. The amount of minutes is related to age up to minutes and attention starts to drift if information is boring monotonous Digital kids listen faster 2E students especially those with ADHD think better when moving

Essential needs Novelty and appropriate challenge Unlimited use of technology for productivity and learning Active engagement through spatial, kinesthetic and emotional activity Use of movement in the curriculum Infusion of problem based inquiry learning as an outlet for curiosity and creativity Skills to organize and control emotions

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Unlimited use of technology Word processing Calculators Focus tool: back channeling, accelerated lecture Note-taking Web quests Voice thread Animoto Imovies Digital pen (records and writes) Xtranormal Inspiration

Incorporate movement into activities

Lets Use Drama Wonderful World of Words

Provide opportunities for movement within curriculum Distance = rate x time Opposite Board

Movement to support learning The walking lane Travel pair share Transition dancer-size

WHEEL OF CHOICE

Practical Manager vs. Creative: Who is right?

Lets get organized: Down with disorder movement Sales of home- organizing products, like accordion files and label makers and plastic tubs, keep going up and up, from $5.9 billion last year to a projected $7.6 billion by 2009, as do the revenues of companies that make closet organizing systems, an industry that is pulling in $3 billion a year, according to Closets magazine.

This is why January is now Get Organized Month, thanks also to the efforts of the National Association of Professional Organizers, whose 4,000 clutter-busting members will be poisedwith clipboards and trash bags-- ready to to minister to the 10,000 clutter victims

We need an organized space to think and work.

Or do you embrace the anti anti-clutter movement? (NY Times, 2009) This says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder Its a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands..

Writers haven Einsteins oft-quoted remark, If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?

Creatives claim: It takes time to organize We need to have everything's in front of us. Searching through the piles helps make connections Organization is a form of procrastination Creative thinkers are messy. Creative thinkers tend to have messy desks. In January 2006, a study of hundreds of CEO's indicated that the highest scorers in innovation and risk-taking scored lowest on organizational and neatness skills. Creative people organize their desks intuitively to correspond with the way their minds organize information, and studies suggest that people with messy desks have great career potential.

Creative space

Teach time management and organization contextually

Teach stress management, conflict resolution and anger management skills.

Learned experts STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATION

Work space Provide a quiet place for these students to do their homework. A desk in their room away from noise and activity is best.

Schedule for organization of homework, chores, and more… Estimate time needed to allow for but limit intellectual excursions Encourage talking out ideas before beginning assignment or project

Scaffolding Outline/ folders with sub folders Monthly calendar listing due dates. Blank pages for sketching out concepts and post-it notes for jotting down ideas. Pocket pages also help these students to organize extra information that they find on their own about a topic.

Scaffolding Allow music while working. This strategy often helps them to keep their minds from wandering into realms more interesting especially if the assignment is not challenging enough. This can be used for chores as well. Listening to a book on tape while cleaning their room, for instance.

Randoms and organization Tend to misplace things Skip or forget directions, Post- it monthly calendar, Backwards planning and deadlines assignments back and forth Time management: Come home between 5:45-6:00 Piles, stacks, and storage bins

Creative problem solvers Strategies for organization

Work space Allow space to spread out and move about Thinking may happene when lying on the floor while tossing a ball in the air. Laptops were made for these studentsas they are always on the move.

Schedule for organization of homework, chores, and more… Provide ownership and choice for the when and order of task completion. Ask when they plan to start their work and if they need you to remind them. Have few rules with which you adhere to consistently. Provided few but detailed directions. Do not say clean your room, but rather hang up your clothes and put your games away.

Scaffolding Accept skipping around among their assignments as long as they have a way get everything do. Post-it daily to-do lists can provide this structure. They can move them around. When they complete a task, crumpling up the post-it and tossing it in a waste basket is rewarding in and of itself. They can even make a target game out of the process and keep points for accuracy. Allowing these students to listen to music or have the television on can help them sustain focus as mentioned previously.

Scaffolding Providing a different binder for each subject might make organization easier for them. Piles not files work best. Traveling offices But dont be surprised if everything is just thrown in together. The good news is that what they need is in one place.

Parents as Opportunity Makers Adventure experiences Drama and performing arts Lego and robotics competitions Gaming and technologycreative productive activities

Competitions Celebrating the Achievements of Children TM Check out the winning stories fromthe Amazing Kids! "Story Starter" Short Story writing contest! Read the winning essays from our "Appreciation" 2002 essay contest in Amazing Kids! eZine #5! Check out the winners of the "My Amazing Future" 2002 contest! Winners of the first- ever AK POETRY CONTEST. See who won! (Follow the link at the bottom of the AK eZine #4 page.) Check out the Amazing Kids! Poster Design contest 2001 winners! "My Amazing Future" 2001 essay contest winners Check out the winners of our Animation Contest 2000! These 6 lucky winners worked with Frank Gladstone, a professional animator from DreamWorks as their mentor! Check out the winners of our Amazing Babies essay contest! Check out the winners of our 1st comics drawing contest! The grand prize winner, 17 year old Laura Tisdel worked for a year with her mentor, professional cartoonist Guy Gilchrist. Check out her Amazing Kids! Comic Adventures! Check out the winners of our 1st writing contest!"Story Starter" Short Story writing contestAmazing Kids! eZine #5"My Amazing Future" 2002 contest!See who wonAmazing Kids! Poster Design contest 2001 winners"My Amazing Future" 2001 essay contest winners Guy GilchristAmazing Kids! Comic Adventureswinners

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Oddysey of the Mind

Summer Opportunities Camps

The pond problem:

Edward Hallowell (2005) I have learned first and foremost to look for interests, talents, strengths, shades of strengths or the mere suggestion of a talent. Knowing that a person builds a happy and successful life not on remediated weaknesses but on developed strengths, I have learned to place those strengths at the top of what matters Susan M. Baum, Ph.D.