Tuesday, January 22, 2013

AD/HD

One of the reasons I love my job so much is that it is so broad.  Did you know that a speech-language pathologist works not only with speech sounds, but also with following directions, grammar, story-telling, voice disorders, hearing rehabilitation, stuttering, and cognitive skills, such as self-talk, initiation of goals, and attention?  To name a few.  With regards to the latter, my current caseload includes a lot of children with attention deficit disorders, and I have been trying to figure out how to serve them better.  Looking at the Linguisystems website, I found a course called "Attention Disorders" (Clare B Jones, Jill Fahey).  It was free and just what I needed to increase my knowledge with AD/HD and how it affects communication.  I particularly liked it because I could print out the notes, study it on my own time, and take the test whenever I was finished.  PERFECT! It was worth 2 CMH's, which is 1/15th of what I need to do every 3 years - not so bad! Haha!

Here are some highlights from the course:


  1. AD/HD affects approximately 6-8% of school-age children.
  2. 25% of children with AD/HD also have anxiety.  36-38% also have depression.
  3. Individuals with AD/HD have about 5% smaller brain size.
  4. AD/HD is not solely an attention disorder, but an executive functioning disorder.  This means it not only involves attention, but also other areas such as goal selection, planning, organization, persistence, self-regulation, inhibitory control, self-talk, and flexibility.
  5. There are 3 core symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.  
  6. Many children with AD/HD are poor at following directions.  As an SLP, it is critical to distinguish whether the child does not understand the directional concepts (such as left, right, before, next to, between, etc.) OR whether the child has poor language/auditory/working memory.  This will entirely affect how to write a goal and how to address it. If they do not understand the concepts, you need to spend time discussing them separately.  More than likely, if the child has AD/HD, the main problem lies in their ability to hold the information in their memory while they proceed to obey the command.  Thus, an appropriate goal would be to work on auditory memory - not necessarily understanding directional concepts. 
  7. When working with a child with AD/HD, assess and treat the language of thinking, planning, and doing.  
  8. Remember that inattention most frequently undermines spoken language comprehension, working memory, and organization of thoughts for oral expression
  9. Common goal areas that could be appropriate include: repeating sentences, requesting confirmation, restating, using self-talk recognizing social cues, auditory scanning tasks, and visual scanning tasks.
  10. Here's a great article published by the Huffington Post on AD/HD and its effects on communication.  

8 comments:

  1. Daily Tactics Guru is one of the fast-growing blogging platforms, where you will get opinions and information regarding various significant aspects of the progressive world. Daily Tactics Guru accepts all niche content like Business, Current affairs, Economy, Lifestyle Food, technology as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. QuickBooks is an excellent money management software with lots of features. It has attracted many small and mid-sized business people to track the inflow/outflow of funds. However, at times the QuickBooks not opening or shows tantrums to launch due to an outdated version or because you might have clicked over the icon multiple times. To fix the issue, you need to download the QuickBooks Tool Hub and install it using the on-screen instructions. After installation, you will see the QB Tool Hub icon on the desktop, double-click over it to open the application. Now choose Program Problems and select Quick fix my program. Now you can launch the application and start working on it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We are a team of highly experienced and well trained, those who provide a solution related to McAfee.com/Activate,www.McAfee.com/Activate Product Key,www.McAfee.com/Activate ,windstream login and windstream email For more info contact our support team.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The quickbooks database server manager will have to be updated at periods, especially if a new year of QuickBooks is installed or an important update for the current year has been released.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice post. The problem with QuicksBooks error 12002 may not always be described clearly to you or other users. Before trying to troubleshoot this issue, it is necessary to determine what the issue actually is. A quick ways of doing this is by downloading a transaction backup file on a regular basis and examining it for any errors.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As someone who has struggled with ad/hd, I can relate to the challenges and obstacles that come with it. However, it's important to remember that seeking help and support is essential. Instead of looking to pay someone to do my assignment it's beneficial to focus on developing effective strategies and seeking guidance from professionals who understand ad/hd. Embracing self-advocacy and finding healthy coping mechanisms can lead to personal growth and success in academics. Let's empower ourselves to overcome ad/hd-related difficulties rather than relying on external solutions.

    ReplyDelete