Attention Deficit to Attention Abundance

Nine million prescriptions were written last year in the United States for school-aged children for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). In 1975 roughly 150,000 children were taking Ritalin. In 2003 about 6 million American children took Ritalin.

Drugging children to get them to behave seems to be the trend. What we have learned in the past ten years with information from FMRIs (functional magnetic resonance imaging) of children's brains is how rapidly the brain is changing and developing. Neurologists call this brain development ''brain plasticity.''

Children are learning how to concentrate, and neural pathways are being created in the brain structure for concentration. We need to ask, Are we using drugs to change behavior or our children's brains? Surely there is a better way.

A study using FMRIs on monks' brains showed that during meditation the monks' brains changed dramatically, suggesting that mental training changes the structure of the brain.

Dr. David Stein, author of Ritalin Is Not the Answer and father of two sons diagnosed with ADHD, says that our children have learned to be inattentive instead of learning to pay attention. Children with ADHD haven't been shown how or when to pay attention. Stein lists these behaviors that parents and teachers associated with ADHD:

Active Manipulations: Not doing as told (non-compliance), defying commands (oppositionalism) and having temper tantrums.

Verbal Manipulations: Making ''poor-me'' statements and negative statements, nagging, interrupting and reporting physical complaints (saying they are ill or hurt when in fact they are not).

Inattention Behaviors: Displaying helplessness and dependency, dawdling, exhibiting poor reading skills, performing poorly at school and not paying attention.

Other Common Misbehaviors: Tattling, fighting with siblings, showing aggression and lying.

In his Caregivers Skills Program, Stein recommends visiting with the child and going over this list, saying something like, ''My job is to help you learn how to pay attention. Here are some behaviors that show me that you are not paying attention. When I see you doing one of these things, I'm going to ask you to go to a chair and sit for ten minutes. Then I will come and ask you why I sent you to the chair. If you can't tell me, I'll ask you to sit for another ten minutes or until you can tell me.''

''The chair'' is a place where the child is safe and comfortable (Stein recommends an upholstered chair) but cannot see, hear or do anything distracting. No TV, radio or music. No window out of which to gaze. No books or toys. And no talking. Just the chair, the child and his or her thoughts for ten minutes.

An example: We've asked Tommy to get his pajamas on. He makes no effort to do so. We give no second reminders. We simply say, ''Tommy, please go to the chair.''

Tommy starts to cry. ''But Mommy, what did I do? I don't want to go to the chair.''

Kindly and silently, we walk Tommy to the chair, and then say, ''Ten minutes.''

If Tommy talks or gets out of the chair, we add another ten minutes to his chair time for each infraction.

After ten minutes, we return to the chair and ask, ''Why did I send you to the chair?''

Tommy should say something like this: ''Because you asked me to get my pajamas on. I didn't turn off the TV, and I started watching another show.''

If Tommy says, ''I don't know,'' we kindly say, ''Ten more minutes.''

I have used Dr. Stein's program successfully with five- to nine-year-olds. My experience is that a child will do a 20- or 30-minute session in the chair only once. For children under age five, five minutes instead of ten may be appropriate.

Dr. Stein's technique trains a child to think and pay attention. Those ten minutes in the chair are spent creating mental pathways for concentration. With Dr. Stein's program, as the adults in charge, we can unemotionally direct the child to appropriate behavior. No raising our voice. No saying, ''How many times do I have to tell you?'' We make requests once.

Dr. Stein makes recommendations for situations requiring stronger measures. If a child continues to be disruptive, consult a pediatrician or family counselor for guidance in establishing effective training techniques.

Let's teach our children to pay attention instead of paying for drugs. Let's use brain plasticity to help our children learn to attend and to ''be here now.''

Next week: Extending the Olive Branch

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 20 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

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©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

The Three C's of Motivation

''The manager's job, then, is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve, so they will become motivated.''
~Frederick Herzberg

Charlie walked over with the teaching clock. ''I've learned to tell time. Do any time, and I can tell you.''

Five-year-old Charlie sat down with me, and I proceeded to move the hands of the clock to test him.

''Six o'clock. Twelve-thirty. Two-fifteen. Ten-forty-nine,'' Charlie responded, always with the correct time.

''Charlie, you really know how to read a clock. Did your mom or dad work with you?''
''Oh, no. I learned it at school.''

''How?'' I wondered out loud, since I had never given Charlie a lesson.

''Mike taught me, and I watched you with Sarah,'' Charlie grinned.

Charlie gave me my first ''ah-hah'' moment that not every child needs every lesson. As a new teacher, I had faith in my Montessori training and followed as best I could the guidelines for allowing freedom of choice, freedom of movement, freedom to choose where and with whom to work in the classroom and freedom to talk. I believe these freedoms aided Charlie in learning to tell time.

Years later, I read in Alfie Kohn's book, Punished by Rewards, about creating conditions for authentic motivation, which he called the three C's of motivation: collaboration that defines the context of work, content of the tasks and the choices people have about the work they do and how they do it. Kohn's ''three C's'' were the elements that had allowed Charlie to learn to tell time without a teacher.

Collaboration. Our classroom provided for collaboration, as children were free to observe each other at work, free to ask questions and free to move around. The children also knew they were at school to learn to do new things and be with their friends. The children were given basic rules of behavior on how to treat each other and the materials in the classroom and the consequences for not following those rules. Children understood they were at school to learn and work together.

Content. Our school environment also provided the content of the tasks that the children could do by having a three-year progression of lessons for the three-to six-year old displayed on low shelves. The work at school was meaningful to the children with practical activities such as sweeping, buttoning, cutting an apple, as well as learning letter sounds and shapes, reading, writing, spelling, number work, geography, music and more. Kohn quotes Herzberg, '''If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do.''' The classroom content was full of interesting and challenging work.

Choice. The element of choice in the classroom was a critical factor in creating an environment of achievement, thus leading to the children's motivation to learn and challenge themselves. The children knew they were free to choose activities a teacher had presented. The children recognized they could work with their chosen activity all day if desired, without being interrupted or told to ''share'' the activity with another child. Children were also allowed to ask for a new or challenging lesson. Kohn cites 47 studies that show the higher the level of decision-making, the higher productivity and job satisfaction in a work environment. Choice created powerful learning in our classroom.

Collaboration, content and choice--the three C's of motivation--emerged when I applied the pedagogical principles I trusted. Use the three C's to create a place where all can work together while choosing to do meaningful work, thus creating a satisfying and productive life at home and beyond.

Next week: Attention Deficit to Attention Abundance

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 20 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit http://www.shininglightreading.com/ for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Punishing with Rewards

A fishbowl full of candy sat on the third-grade teacher's desk.

''When you've finished your math assignment you can choose a piece of candy,'' Ms. Marsh said as she handed out worksheets.

All but two of the students went to work. Tamika and Jennifer looked out the window, math sheets untouched. Tamika began her calculations as the first students turned in papers. Jennifer never picked up her pencil.

At lunch, I sat down and visited with the girls about what I had observed.

''Jennifer,'' I said, ''why didn't you work on your math assignment?''

''Well,'' Jennifer said, ''I don't like math, and I don't like that kind of candy. So why bother?''

Tamika joined in. ''I like math, but I don't like being treated like a baby.'' Her voice changed to a high-pitched singsong. ''Here baby, baby. Do your mathy-wathy and you can have some candy. Okay, baby?''

Jennifer said, ''Yeah, that's kind of how it feels to me.''

Tamika continued. ''So I challenge myself. I wait until the first person turns in work, and then I see if I can get it done, 100 percent correct, by the time the fifth person gets to Ms. Marsh's desk. And I don't like that candy either.''

Alfie Kohn in his book, Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and other Bribes, documents how rewarding behavior can create the same kind of discouragement, anger and resentment that is created when punishing behavior. Incentives rarely motivate, and as in the case of Jennifer and Tamika, actually become disincentives.

Kohn recommends that instead of ''doing to'' our children to change their behavior, we should instead concentrate on ''working with'' our children to help them understand their personal or intrinsic motivations.

Kohn suggests we can create in our homes and classrooms conditions for authentic motivation by doing four things: Watch, listen, talk and think.

Watch. Watching means we don't keep our children under constant surveillance. We look for problems that need to be solved and help our children solve them. Tamika's parents had taught her how to make a game out of something that she might not be motivated to do.

Listen. We listen to our children and take their point of view seriously and respectfully. We try to imagine how the situation looks from their point of view. Ms. Marsh, in her desire to motivate her students, had neglected to listen for her students' point of view.

Talk. Talking actually means for us as adults to talk less and ask more questions. We need to encourage our children to talk to us so that we will know what we are doing right, where we need to improve and how we might change. As a visiting classroom observer, I was able to ask Tamika and Jennifer about their math and get important feedback.

Think. We need to think about the long-term effects of our strategies when we offer extrinsic rewards. We also need to think about the origins of our strategies. Are our strategies based on a preference of using power in our relationships, or a reaction to being controlled by others? In Ms. Marsh's situation, she had learned about the candy reward system in an in-service presentation. Her school was trying to improve scores on their state-mandated math test. Test scores, which did not improve with candied motivation.

If we are committed to helping our children be able and willing to do their best, we need to watch, listen, talk and think to be sure our strategies are building intrinsic motivation and not punishing by rewards.

Next week: The Three C's of Motivation

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 20 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit www.shininglightreading.com for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.

Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing

Understanding the Three-Hour Work Cycle

Tired and agitated, Sara got ready for bed. What had happened to the day? She had woken up fresh that morning, ready to have a productive day.

During breakfast, Sara's assistant had called to alert Sara that she wouldn't be in to copy the reports for the next day's meeting. When Sara went to make copies of her presentation, the toner cartridge was low, the paper jammed and the machine ran out of staples. When Sara reviewed the copies, page 17 had been skipped by the machine. Sara's lunch appointment cancelled while Sara was waiting in the restaurant. After lunch, she couldn't get online to do some research. Then Ron, a co-worker, came in and complained about his weekend for half an hour. What went wrong with Sara's day? Sara was unable to get a work cycle completed.
A work cycle consists of selecting an activity, doing it, achieving some internal satisfaction for the work and then selecting the next task.

When we experience this cycle of ''choose-do-return to order-satisfaction, then choose again,'' we create a powerful success cycle with feelings of accomplishment and contentment.
When we are having a productive work cycle, we'll say we are ''on a roll.'' We go from task to task, choosing progressively harder tasks as time allows. On those high-achieving days, we feel unstoppable.

Then there are the days when we get off to fits and starts because we are interrupted, don't have enough time to complete a task before another commitment or lack the necessary supplies. How that trip to the hardware store can sabotage the best efforts for a productive workday!

Most of us, even small children, have a built-in three-hour work cycle. We might contrast and compare it to our sleep cycle. When we know we have at least three hours of uninterrupted time, we will tackle a multitude of jobs and enjoy doing it. If our time is interrupted, we may not even try to start anything. ''It's not worth the effort,'' or ''I don't feel like doing anything,'' we might say. Sound familiar?

When given a regular three-hour period, children (and adults) learn to tap into a success cycle. After accomplishing a series of short and familiar tasks in a 90-minute time frame, a child will choose a task that is challenging and represents ''true learning.'' At this 90-minute mark there is a period of restlessness that lasts about ten minutes, until the choice for the challenging activity is made. The new activity may last for 60 to 90 minutes.

Here's an example of a recent Saturday morning three-hour work cycle for me. Not very glamorous, but I was on a roll.

Clean kitchen, 15 minutes. Start laundry, 15 minutes. Make phone calls for appointments, 20 minutes. Vacuum, 20 minutes. Feeling of restlessness. What should I do next? Cup of coffee, 10 minutes. Balance bank statements and pay bills, 90 minutes.

Here's an example of a four-and-a-half-year-old's work cycle that I recently observed. Work puzzle, 10 minutes. Build with blocks, 15 minutes. Water plants, 20 minutes. Sweep floor, 10 minutes. Number counting cards, 15 minutes. Walk up and down steps, 5 minutes. Talk with dad, 10 minutes. Do 100-piece puzzle, 45 minutes. Practice tying shoes, 45 minutes.
When we have achieved a three-hour work cycle, normally we are eager to begin the next cycle. Productive adults have two to four work cycles a day. Children under the age of five usually have one work cycle a day. Around five, children will start a second work cycle if given the opportunity.

The gift of uninterrupted time gives us, children and adults, the opportunity to engage in our own powerful three-hour work cycles, creating personal success in learning, concentration and independence.

Next Week: Punishing with Rewards

Kids Talk™ is a column dealing with early childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Mrs. Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland.

She has over 20 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is also Creative Director for a video-based reading series for children ages three to six, The Shining Light Reading Series. Contact her via e-mail at maren@shininglightreading.com.

Complete Collection of the Shining Light Reading Series Now Available on DVD
Visit http://www.shininglightreading.com/ for more information.

Ask your local newspaper to carry Kids Talk. Call, write or e-mail your local newspaper editor and recommend Kids Talk.Would you like to send Kids Talk to friends and family or receive Kids Talk e-mail updates in your own inbox? Sign up for FREE here:
Click here for a free subscription.

©2006 KIDS TALK™
25877 East Bright Avenue
Welches, OR 97067
503.550.3143
maren@kidstalknews.com

Kids Talk is published in conjunction with Scribe Marketing