Archive for the 'Treatment' Category

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Is it The Answer?

Published on 1 June 2009 in ADHD, Comments, Dyslexia, Families, News, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments

It’s Open Comments Day! Consider this list of connections for a therapy that helps children with ADHD, dyslexia, Autism, Aspergers, Tourette, Learning Disability, processsing disorders:

  • Brain
  • Balance
  • Music
  • Comprehensive
  • Individualized
  • Chiropractic
  • Neurobehavioral
  • Case study
  • Internationally known
  • Natural
  • Integrated
  • Physical
  • Cognitive
  • Dietary
  • No drugs
  • No medical procedures
  • No psychotherapy

Would the descriptors make you rush to the Internet to learn where you could reserve access to the therapy? Would it, instead, make your skepticals rise? What would you think?

Drop a comment. Tell your view. What do you think of this therapy? Do you recommend it?

Check back tomorrow. I’ll explain everything (excluding the meaning of life) then.

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ADHD meds and academic achievement

Published on 26 May 2009 in ADHD, News, Research and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Writing in Pediatrics Richard M. Scheffler and colleagues reported that elementary-aged children who took medication for ADHD had higher mathematics and reading scores than their unmedicated peers with ADHD. The research team identified individuals in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Class data set whose parents repeatedly reported that they had been diagnosed with ADHD and compared the achievement data for those children with ADHD whose parents said their child had taken medication to the achievement of those children with ADHD whose parents said their child had not taken medication. The scores of the children who had taken medication were about two or three tenths of a school year higher than those of the children who had not taken medication.

Although these findings extend the scientific understanding of psychopharmacologic treatment of ADHD, it is important to note that they are essentially correlational, not experimental. Although the study is very well done (uses a good data set, sophisitcated statistical analysis, etc.), the children were not randomly assigned to medication and non-medication conditions. It is possible that (a) some other factors explain why some children were or were not medicated, and that other factor may be the cause of the differences in achievement or (b) that children who had higher achievement were simply less likely to be medicated.

Here’s the abstract:
Continue reading ‘ADHD meds and academic achievement’

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Free Current Practice Alerts

Published on 21 April 2009 in Administration, Assessment, News, Policy, Professional development, Research, The press, Treatment and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

It’s sometimes hard to sort through the rhetoric about different methods used in teaching students with Learning Disabilities. However, two groups within the Council for Exceptional Children have made the task considerably easier. In a series of publications now numbering 16, the Division for Learning Disabilities and the Division for Research cut through the bologna to provide quick reviews about the effectiveness of current educational practices. These Current Practice Alerts, which are readily accessible for general readers, cover familiar topics including these:

  • Class-wide Peer Tutoring
  • Co-Teaching
  • Cooperative Learning
  • Direct Instruction
  • Fluency Instruction
  • Formative Evaluation
  • Functional Behavioral Assessment
  • Graphic Organizers
  • High-Stakes Assessment
  • Mnemonic Instruction
  • Phonics Instruction
  • Phonological Awareness
  • Reading Comprehension Instruction
  • Reading Recovery
  • Social Skills Instruction

They are succinct and faithful to the research evidence. They even make explicit recommendations about whether to use the practice. What’s the hitch? Well, they’re free, so see for yourselves.

Link to the Web page listing these resources.

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Davis goes on tour

Published on 9 April 2009 in Causes, Dyslexia, Events, Families, News, Research, The press and Treatment. 4 Comments

Ron Davis, whose arguments that dyslexia is something worth having ring hollow and whose claims to have discovered the answer to dyslexia deserve strong challenge, will begin a speaking tour of the US and CA in May. If the lectures are like the public relations materials promoting them and Mr. Davis’ views, they will be heavy on a recounting of his terrific childhood triumphs, when he overcame Autism, taught himself to read, and learned to speak during his late adolescence. He will also provide a first-person account of what it is like to have dyslexia—one is likely to resonate with others’ views—and tout his books, The Gift of Dyslexia and The Gift of Learning, as well as his methods, “Davis Dyslexia Correction®,” “Davis Math Mastery®,” and “Davis Learning Strategies®.”

Continue reading ‘Davis goes on tour’

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Omega 3/6 as ADD treatment?

Published on 15 February 2009 in ADHD, The press and Treatment. 1 Comment Tags: .

In the spring of 2008, Professor Mats Johnson and colleagues reported that a select sub-group of children with attention deficit disorder who were given omega 3/6 fatty acids had lower scores on two scales measuring features of the disorder. The sub-group appears to be children with primarily attention Of course, just as one swallow does not a summer, I wouldn’t recommend going into the business of promoting omega 3/6 therapy. Still for those who have championed the importance of nutrition, this will come as welcome news.

Journal of Attention Disorders, Vol. 12, No. 5, 394-401 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1087054708316261

Omega-3/Omega-6 Fatty Acids for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial in Children and Adolescents

Mats Johnson
Göteborg University, Sweden, mats.k.johnson@vgregion.se

Sven Östlund

Göteborg University, Sweden

Gunnar Fransson

Göteborg University, Sweden

Björn Kadesjö

Göteborg University, Sweden

Christopher Gillberg

Göteborg University, Sweden

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess omega 3/6 fatty acids (eye q) in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: The study included a randomized, 3-month, omega 3/6 placebo-controlled, one-way crossover trial with 75 children and adolescents (8—18 years), followed by 3 months with omega 3/6 for all. Investigator-rated ADHD Rating Scale—IV and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale were outcome measures. Results: A majority did not respond to omega 3/6 treatment. However, a subgroup of 26% responded with more than 25% reduction of ADHD symptoms and a drop of CGI scores to the near-normal range. After 6 months, 47% of all showed such improvement. Responders tended to have ADHD inattentive subtype and comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders. Conclusion: A subgroup of children and adolescents with ADHD, characterized by inattention and associated neurodevelopmental disorders, treated with omega 3/6 fatty acids for 6 months responded with meaningful reduction of ADHD symptoms. (J. of Att. Dis. 2009; 12(5) 394-401)

Things to consider: Only the data collection after the first 3 months was blind; note that at 6 months, when blind measures were not used, the percentage responding was higher. This opens the possibility that some of the difference between the percentage responding at 6 months and and 3 months was the result of bias by the people conducting the assessments. The sample is 75, so additional replications are important.

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Sigh–new content

Published on 15 January 2009 in ADHD, Administration, Assessment, Bookshelf, Causes, Comments, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, Families, Foundation, History, News, Not LD, Policy, Research, Social relations, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments

Despite getting virtually no recommendations about future content (3 votes!), I’m starting to post some new content. The new content is, in my obviously biased view (else, why would I post it?), pretty important stuff. It’s about research, practice, knowledge, and all that sort of stuff as it connects to Learning Disabilities. In this page, I discuss big-idea concepts that recur in Learning Disabilities. These are the themes that one sees when one reads a diverse array of literature on the topic of LD.

I recommend it. What’s more, you won’t have to find this post each time you want to refer to the page; it will always be directly accessible under the “special content” link in the top navigation bar.

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Volunteers, teachers, and evidence-based instruction

Published on 10 December 2008 in Administration, Comments, Dyslexia, Families, News, Policy, Research, The press and Treatment. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Over on WrightsLaw, Sue Whitney (one of the folks affiliated with Pete and Pam Wright) use this headline for a story: “Parent Volunteers are NOT a Substitute for Trained Teachers: New DOE Regulations Released.” Ms. Whitney’s got the right idea in that headline, but I’d like to shade it just a bit.

Please permit me to amplify. Parent volunteers are not a substitute for trained teachers, but trained teachers are not a substitute for people using scientifically validated instructional programs faithfully. So, if I was given a choice between a parent volunteer who, with fidelity to the training, is implementing a good curriculum and a teacher who’s doing the hit-or-miss method (such as apparently passes for training in reading instruction in many of the US teacher education colleges), I’d go for the parent volunteer.

Link to Ms. Whitney’s brief piece.

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Masons to the rescue again

Published on 8 December 2008 in Dyslexia, Not LD and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

In “Solving the dyslexia puzzle,” Teri Maddox of the Belleville (IL, US) News-Democrat reports about Matt Grohmann’s struggles with dyslexia. The good news is that Mr. Grohmann hooked up with Michele Johnson who tutors for the Valley of Southern Illinois 32nd Degree Masonic Learning Center for Children.

Matt Grohmann looks forward to after-school tutoring the way other kids look forward to Boy Scouts or baseball practice.

The one-on-one sessions with a reading specialist give him a chance to be successful and make the rest of his life happier.
Continue reading ‘Masons to the rescue again’

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Masons’ fine fund-raising events

Published on 14 October 2008 in Comments, Dyslexia and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: .

The fraternal group Scottish Rite Masons, which has been promoting treatment of reading problems for over a decade, stages fund-raising events throughout an area of the US that deserve mention here on LD Blog: Various lodges (as I think they’re called) sponsor runs (or walks) to raise money for their work in providing services to children who have dyslexia.

JOIN in the RUNS and WALKS TO HELP CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA

Several are Planned So Far, With Many More To Come.

This year our event will take place in many cities and towns throughout the 15-state, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, raising funds to support the tutoring services children need to overcome dyslexia. We’re eager to have you sign up in your local area. Detailed information about the event nearest to you is listed under locations. Please join us in this important cause.

Link to Walk or Run to Help Children with Dyslexia. Also, visit the Masonic Learning Centers for Children. And, yes, part of my interest in this project is that I run; there’s no race in my neighborhood, though…mayhaps I should talk with the local lodge.

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DLD symposium

Published on 15 September 2008 in Comments, Research and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Although I discarded most of my old paper materials in the last millennium, I still find files and folders every now and again. Recently I found a three-page document with the schedule for a symposium sponsored by the Division for Learning Disabilities in 1988. Bernice Wong and Tom Scruggs invited a group of people to assemble at Perdue University and discuss intervention research in Learning Disabilities. I was flattered to be among them.

In conference-like fashion, each researcher presented (three times) a paper on the research she or he had been conducting. Outside of the conference presentations, we all gathered at other times to discuss research methods and similar topics. Later, most folks who contributed to the symposium rewrote her or his presentation as a chapter for a book that Tom and Bernice edited.

Scruggs, T. E., & Wong, B. Y. L. (Eds.). (1990). Intervention research in learning disabilities. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Anyway, if anyone’s interested, here’s a link to download a PDF of the symposium schedule.

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