Posts Tagged ‘work’
“Work and laugh.” ~ Doc Meek
March 11th, 2011 | 
Author: 
Friday, March 11, 2011. Today I am grateful that I was able to work with a mother whose child has learning difficulties. We both worked hard and we enjoyed some humor along the way. Occasionally we laughed out loud. 😮
After I got home, I read a “Senior Citizen Joke” a friend sent me; I think he thinks I am a senior citizen, eh? 😮
This is the joke (a lady is speaking):
I have a new jigsaw puzzle, but I can’t figure out how to get it started. All the pieces look too much the same.
Her neighbor asks, “What is it supposed to be when it’s finished?”
The sweet old lady says, “According to the picture on the box, it’s a rooster.”
Her neighbor decides to go over and help with the puzzle.
She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table.
He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says,
“First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster.”
He takes her hand and says, “Secondly, I want you to relax. Let’s have a nice cup of tea, and then,” he said with a deep sigh ………….
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Way to go, friend! 😮
Doc Meek, Fri, Mar 11, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
Posted in learning, learning differences, Learning Difficulties, learning solutions, overcoming learning problems | 
Tags: active learning, brain rules, changing your behavior, changing your mind, Doc Meek, docmeek, grateful, gratitude, happiness, head heart hands hope, laugh, self-involvement in learning, success, work, work hard | 
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Are drugs the only effective help for ADD/ADHD?
I know a highly qualified MD who works with children who have been labeled ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). He affirms in his writings, and in his private practice, that the only effective method for treating ADD and ADHD is the use of pharmaceuticals. Many school personnel agree with his opinion.
Image courtesy of: Â http://www.mychildourfuture.org
Since pharmaceuticals are all that he uses, and about 65% of his patients receive almost immediate help in the form of better attention and focus in the classroom, short-term, he feels he is right. So do the school personnel.
Are drugs really the only answer?
Let’s take a second look.
The help that drugs can provide to children labeled ADD or ADHD can be a “quick start” for some children if that is what you are after.
Long-term, the effects are seriously problematic if steps are not taken to capitalize on the “quick start” by also empowering these drugged children with personal strategies that will help them know they can develop self-managing patterns of behavior and thinking, pill or no pill.
I have been working with children labeled ADD, ADHD, ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and other attentional and learning problems for over 30 years, and I have always had success with children and parents who follow a multi-factor approach, and whose ultimate goal is permanent self-management (pill or no pill):
(1) If the child has not yet been drugged, we show her or him that s/he has the power to beat the “squirmies” for example. Or whatever else the presenting problem is.
(2) We also look at numerous confounding factors, all the way from nutritional deficiencies/needs through to allergies and toxic exposures, many of which are disguised as ADD, ADHD, ODD, Autism, etc.
(3) We engage the child at the level of taking responsibility for self-management and self-improvement, one baby step at a time.
(4) Progress not perfection.
(5) We show parents innovative ways to work with their child to avoid the “never-ending battle of wills.”
(6) “A pill for every ill” is not necessarily the only answer.
(7) If the child is already drugged, we work with the child and the parents to develop personal self-management strategies such that dosages may be reduced or even eliminated.
(8) Learning problems that have been transformed by labeling into seemingly intractable diseases are not as easy to treat as learning problems that are maintained at the level of personal problems to which personal solutions can be discovered with imagination and good will.
(9) It’s a great day when a child learns and knows: “Hey, I can do it!”
To hope and work and self-determination, and more than one single answer,
Doc Meek, May 6, 2010
At Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA; not at South Jordan, Utah, USA
