Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Has anybody used/ have opinions on these books?

10 Days to a Less Distracted Child: The Breakthrough Program that Gets Your Kids to Listen, Learn, Focus, and Behave
http://www.amazon.com/Days-Less-Distracted-Child-Breakthrough/dp/1600940196/ref=pd_sim_b_55

Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your Add Child
http://www.amazon.com/Right-Brained...mp;s=books&qid=1276423331&sr=1-1

Thanks

Raddy,

I have the second book but haven't read it yet .

Coincidentally, I finally read this book on the Edison Trait.
http://www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Disc...mp;s=books&qid=1276480947&sr=8-2

It's terrific and describes big chunks of my son - the strong independence and will, the runaway imagination, the need to do in order to learn. The manifestation of these traits has a strong resemblance to ADD. If my son is not interested, he just not ... interested, and it's a fight to the death, especially for school work. There are a lot of ideas in the book about dealing with the trait, although not precisely with distraction.

[It'd be nice if my son turned out so well btw, but for now, I'll settle for learning how to deal with him in a positive way . ]

Thanks blob
Please let me know what you think of the book.

We have called upon 'The Mislabel;ed Child' quite a few times, as it covers most of the issues we have had with our boy. He too has a runaway imagination, and his creativity is channeled into art, sculpture in particular. He can get 90+% in maths one day - give him the same questions tomorrow and he'll scrape 40%.

Oh hum!

I read Right Brain Learners in a Left Brain World, it is wonderful. The books the Gift of Dylexia, The Gift of ADHD, Smart Kids With Difficulty Learning,Enriching the Brain and Art with the Brain in Mind are all worth every cent. I have heard about the Edison Trait and am excited about reading it. Blob I have addressed same issues on behaviour. The book 123 Magic was what was pretty suscessful. Schools recomend the book Love and Logic for parents to be on the same page as school. I took professional development class on how to do a Behavioral Intervention Plan And write a Behavioral intervention Plan,whic Since behavior was a issue,same as your son. Why does he do it one day and not even try the next day, we know he can do the work, he just doesn't want to. So there is punishment at school for the child unless the parent is knowledgeable enough. There is a book, Behavioral Interventions for Teachers is college level book that gives parent the knowledge to work with school. It also gives parent alot of ideas. I'm dealing with same , creative, right brain,artistic, spontanious, energetic,amazing child with ADHD. Thanks for ideas on new books. Linda Silverman has great info. on Hoagie Gifted Web Site about visual learners.

Tks TMI Grandma.

I haven't read many books about ADHD/ADD because I'm only slowly getting convinced that he has a problem/not. But I have them on the bookshelf (all my books seem to need a period of incubation before I get to them, groan).

I liked 123 Magic because it seemed so, so possible, but it was an utter disaster for us. My son does not know how to scale down. He kept daring me to count to 3 and would happily live out the deprivations because he had so much going on in his head anyway. What works for discipline seems to be a brief explanation (in analogy form because that's the language he speaks), a lot of trust, and a lot of repeating. As a backdrop, be very positive (like Grinity is :)). There's quite a bit of this addressed in the Edison Trait book, as well as the Nurtured Heart Approach proposed by Howard Glasser. Seems to be working.

We're having it easier these days because of the hols, but I realize that school is the problem. There is just zero challenge for him. We're lucky in that he's accelerated in math, although insufficiently. It's his writing that he should step up his efforts, but I'm beginning to think that cherry picking "meaningful homework" in a very deadening environment just doesn't help with the inspiration. He's a completely different boy at home, especially during the hols.

Raddy,

I'll have to try for The Mislabeled Child book, tks. For awhile, I thought it was the Misdiagnosis book by James Webb, which was excellent as well.

I understand about the variation in performance. My son is exactly like that. He loved Ed Zacarro's Primary Math Challenge - he'd be doing wonders for weeks and then seemingly blank out on what to do on the same topic suddenly. I used to think it was "good days" and "bad days", and luckily, we didn't have the pressure of school back then.

In my son's case, I think he may have had gaps in his understanding. He's great with logic and thinking through each question, but he does stumble or gets tired sometimes. I used to think that he didn't need practice, but I'm realizing that perhaps he does need to, not in a drillish way, but in a as-many-interesting-problems-as-I-can-find sort of way. To this end, we're trying a mishmash of questions, from grade 4-6 (from Aleks to Singapore Math to a mathplayground.com) and some algebra when he feels like it. School doesn't allow for this sort of experimentation though.

Raddy and TMI Grandma, I finally read "Right Brain Learners in a Left Brain World". It is terrific for my level of understanding, which is just at the beginning, but perhaps not for someone who is looking for solutions. It provides a lot of anecdotes. For eg, I'm 51% convinced my son has more ADD traits than not, although he doesn't seem to have trouble learning.

The book prompted me to ask my son if he has many concurrent thoughts. I was surprised by the answer - "I have speed flashes of moving pictures that go through my mind, like a menu with many options." No wonder he seems to have 10 different perspective to issues all at once. On the other hand, he can get disorganized as the horses can pull in different directions all at once. I'm telling my son to try to visualize his brain like a stadium light with many individual lamps. To focus, he has to train each lamp on to the object. He loves the visualizing! The novelty is working, at least for now .

I'm plowing through the Mislabeled Child now. This one is tough work, but it holds possibilities for a more precise solution or at least a direct area of approach.

Will look to other books and let you know if I come across helpful ones.

Blob
I noticed your post about this book
[Coincidentally, I finally read this book on the Edison Trait.
http://www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Disc...mp;s=books&qid=1276480947&sr=8-2
It's terrific and describes big chunks of my son ]

and wondered if you've found it to provide useful practical tools/strategies in dealing with your DS (who sounds like an older version of my DS right down to the mash potato loathing).

Sometimes I find books that describe DS pretty well - Mary Sheedy Kurchinka's Raising Your Spirited Child is an example - that gives insights but in the end didn't leave me with a lot of new ideas on managing some of his more challenging behaviours. Though spirited is definitely our favourite description of him now and it's nice to put the emphasis on the positive.

Freya,

The primary thing it did for me was to make me realize that there are things DS can't help doing. Like smiling to himself when I talk to him because he's replaying a scene or a page in a book in his head. It irked me so much, and I used to think that he was being rude, but these memories just flash at the slightest hint of a link to what I could be saying to him. At the time I was losing patience with him, so the books helped to remind me about how sensitive he is. He hasn't forgiven his class teacher for scolding at him last term, for example. The primary practical tool/strategy offered that I could glean was - keep calm, talk to him in analogy (that's how DS speaks too), do the broken-recorder technique, ie, keep repeating your stance. That's been my modus operandi from day 1, lol!

What I've found to be more helpful is The Mislabeled Child. I can see that he's highly creative but he lacks attention to detail. It's a long term process - he's only x (I'll keep changing this number as the years go by), and I'm making sure I maintain my stamina with doses of books such as these.

Somehow because of the better understanding I have, our relationship has improved markedly in the last several weeks. I actually bought several books from Howard Glasser called Transforming the Difficult Child, but I haven't had the need to read them in great detail. Am saving this for the next crisis (which I hope will never come!) But the approach is the similar - focus on strengths, be positive, understand the cause of the behaviour and work around it.

Freya, perhaps my son is older and more settled than in your case. According to the Eides who wrote The Mislabeled Child and to a lot of anecdotal evidence around me, kids definitely improve with age .

Blob

This is a very belated thank you for pointing me in the direction of the Mislabled Child. I finally managed to get my hands on a copy a week ago and it's been enourmously helpful and I haven't even finisnhed reading it yet - I keep pointing out bits DH should read and it's one of the few books he's been happy to read.

I'm sure things will improve with age - he's certainly much better than he was a year ago though a lot of that has been because of the effort put in not only by us but also his school and other carers who we shared his test results with. We all have a better understanding of who he is now.

You might also be interested in the following article on kids zoning out and daydreaming, "New research shows some types of optimistic daydreaming are productive, improve IQ and inspire resolve". I haven't looked at the research yet but the ideas presented make a lot of sense and provide comfort to me as a parent of a daydreamer.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/time-out-boosts-brains-20100801-111fk.html