The "Social Skills" package details how to form and run a small group where the focus of the work is the development of social skills. There are a number of ready made group sessions as an aid to starting off in this type of work. The central aim, however, is to providethe user with sufficient skills to begin to plan and run a group using information gained from the context that the child lives and studies in, and by identifying the particular difficulties that the child is experiencing.
Scotopic Sensitivity, Meares- Irlen Syndrome
Prof. Wilkins of the University of Essex has produced some very interesting research. He had found that there were substantial numbers of children helped by being assessed and then offered the use of coloured plastic overlay when reading. Some children had quite severe difficulties, with dramatic results being seen with use of an overlay. Many were made more comfortable with regards to reading; with academic gains as a consequence. The research results equated to the equivalent of a whole secondary school in an average LEA benefiting from the use of an overlay. This was very exciting from the point of view of raising achievement, let alone individual effects, such as enhanced exam grades, life chances, increased self esteem etc. The assessment instrument devised by Prof. Wilkins is the Intuitive Overlays Test.
If you or your child is experiencing visual effects such as: text wobbling, moving, flickering, blocking out, underlining, halo effects, head aches, a feeling of over brightness, then it would be useful to have an assessment of scotopic sensitivity.
The Hostile Child
Stott gives an excellent description of hostility in children; describing hostility as similar to the emotional state of a jilted lover. This may seem a little strange in the context of children and their relationships with those who care, teach or play with them, until we unpick the causes. A jilted lover feels unjustly treated, not deserving of his or her predicament; life has not treated them fairly. When explaining this to teachers and parents the universal response is that the child gets treated more than fairly, in fact people have bent over backwards to help encourage the child to engage in his/her learning and social environments in an appropriate way, but to no avail.
The first thing to remember is that we are never dealing with objective reality, but with the human perceptual system. If a child is presenting hostile behavior we must try and understand how they are interpreting and understanding the world. We need to explore the home culture of the child. Are they an only child and used to feeling special? Are the parents using a parenting style inherited from another culture? Irish parenting is very different to English parenting as an example. Does the child have some form of social comprehension problem? Does the child have a physiological problem that drives their behavior, such as ADHD, a tumor or undetected chromosome abnormality? Does the child have a hearing problem? One could go on.
We will never solve this problem with sanctions, as you may have discovered. Sanctions will, in fact, reinforce the hostility and make the problem worse. Only by gathering information, undertaking classroom and playground observations, and asking carefully crafted questions will we be in a position to review the material and gain a glimpse at the possible cause. We can test our hypothesis by delivering a precisely targeted classroom intervention linked to regular review. If the hypothesis is accurate, then behavioral change will result in a much happier and well-socialised child.
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Treating ADHD Without Medication?
This post was written by Tim Francis in 2016 when he had been working as an Educational Psychologist for many years. Tim is now retired however this information is still relevant and could prove useful.
Extract from this package: "Before I became an educational psychologist I was, for about five years, a member of a behaviour support team. We worked intensively with children, each of us having around six on our case-load; each child was visited twice per week. It seemed that there was perennially a restless child as part of the weekly case load, known affectionately within the team as "Wiggle bums". Observing these children was quite an experience, for instance, when seated on the carpet at the beginning or end of the day they would wiggle from one side of the carpet to the other in about 15 minutes. To be honest, I cannot remember any member of the team thinking this was difficult with regards to intervention; we had a clear approach and just got on with it.
I distinctly remember a member of the team coming in one day and telling us about this thing called ADHD, and that many children in America were taking some form of medication for this disorder. The speculation was that it would catch on over here soon enough.
The approach we took with our "Wiggle bums" was fairly straight forward; a relaxation technique was taught to the parents to use with the children on a daily basis, and a concentration development and social skills development programme was put in place. The children were seen twice per week for about 40 minutes on each occasion; this didn't work with every child, but the success rate was substantial."
As an educational psychologist and with the benefit of substantial extra training and experience, I would be of the opinion that many of those "Wiggle bums" would now be diagnosed as having ADHD.
I have seen at first hand on many occasions the dramatic effect medication can have on children who are diagnosed with ADHD. I would have no hesitation in allowing my own child to be medicated for this condition taking into account the full cost and benefits. However, I would not under any circumstances allow my child to be medicated without a more conservative approach be tried first.
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Children Who Find Writing Difficult
Alternative Methods of Recording
Writing is important up to a point as an adult. The average specialist assessor or doctor writes reports all the time. Or do they? Sure enough some professionals do actually handwrite their reports, prior to having them typed, but many use alternative methods, such as word processing or dictating for a typist to type. Is this any different to the occupational experience of many in the working population? However, for a child at school writing is a very important skill. Why? The answer is simplicity; it requires little teacher thought or preparation; the materials are cheap and readily available and the finished product is easily portable. Writing leaves a trace, which shows the child, has processed the information, yet handwriting is only one method of leaving a trace and demonstrating that information has been processed. For a child who is experiencing difficulty with hand writing, persisting with that as the sole medium is not a particularly productive nor thoughtful approach to educating that child. Similarly if the child is physically capable of writing, then it is important to develop that skill but in a way that will not leave the child with low self esteem.
When investigating an alternative method of recording, it is crucial that the child is offered a range of choices and is then allowed to experiment with each approach. Recording, for instance, is something that requires a clear mind, and the skills of prior reflection and planning. Typing on a computer or portable word processor has the advantage of leaving a visible trace, which is available for instant review, however it can be vastly slower. Speech to text software has the speed of speech, and the advantage of leaving an instant trace for review. It does, however, require the use of a reasonably up to date PC. The use of a scribe is a very expensive method, but has advantages with respect to chivvying the child along, and offering help at crucial moments.
It may be that the child needs to use a mix off approaches. For example, if the child is ok at writing factual information, then the use of a laptop may be the right approach for this type of lesson. For creative writing they may need a scribe because they lack confidence, or they find concentrating on the creative process takes all the cognitive resources they have, thus makeing handwriting much more of a problem for them. For note taking, they may hand write, but use mind mapping rather than writing things in long hand. Copying from the board is not wise, but if the child were to process the information and reduce it to a mind map, then they would probably get more out of the lesson than the children who simply copied off the board. Come to think of it why don’t all the children use mind mapping? They would then all be actively processing and learning.
A particularly cost efficient and learning efficient method is to use discussion groups with a scribe. The children discuss the information they are required to process and learn and come to some joint conclusions which are written by a scribe; often a child who is good at writing.
Of course we need the child to develop their handwriting skills as far as is comfortable for them. A useful approach is to present the child with an acknowledgement that they have found handwriting very difficult and offer them alternatives. Explain that they are free to find the best recording and processing method for them, then explain that it is still very important that they practice their handwriting. Ask if they will commit to 10 minutes practice per day; this doesn’t have to be in one lump, they can do it in a number of small sessions whenever they have a free moment, or they can request some time out to do it. They will be in control. A teacher or parent should of course monitor this and reward with much praise. What tends to happen is that the child will respond and will quickly work up to the limit of their endurance. If the child does not practice of their own volition, reduce the daily commitment to something they will do and then build up to 10 minutes via a reward and praise system.
If you encounter difficulty in persuading your childs' school to adopt this approach, it may be useful to seek advice from an specialist SpLD/Dyslexia assessor.
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Autism Checklist
The diagnosis of Autism is a very skilled task, generally undertaken by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) containing a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist and often a speech and language therapist or other autism specialist. Please remember it is very easy to go down the wrong path with home-based diagnosis. As with the other checklists provided on this site, the aim of this is to identify if further assessment is necessary. If you would like to further explore a diagnosis of autism, then you can discuss this with your GP or seek a private assessment. Ensure that any privately obtained assessment is provided by a qualified MDT (for example, Compass Psychology).
The behaviours listed would normally be expected to be present across social contexts, and thus be present in contexts where they are not appropriate, taking into account the age of the child.
Autism check-list
Has little interest in mixing or playing with other children.
Leaves you confused because they laugh at inappropriate times, sometimes when people are hurt.
Makes very little eye contact and when they do it is fleeting, often out of the corner of their eye.
Likes predictability and routine and can become distressed if this does not occur.
Would be described as having no fear of danger.
Games may appear odd, choosing to play with unusual items such as vacuum cleaners.
Does not seek attention when obviously in pain and may therefore be described as insensitive to pain.
Repeats phrases that they have heard, often in a completely wrong and inappropriate context. They may repeat rude phrases.
Would be described as liking their own company.
Cuddles are not sought or wanted.
May engage in the spinning of objects or be fascinated by patterns of moving light.
Appears not to listen and respond to the verbal world.
May attach to very unusual objects, or be over attached to items such as cars or Thomas the Tank Engine.
Has great difficulty in expressing their wants and needs. Will probably be highly reliant upon gesture and pulling adults to what they want.
Physical activity may be much more pronounced than other children of the same age, or much less active.
The child may enter into a tantrum without there being a discernable cue or trigger; the tantrums seem to come out of the blue.
Will respond to teaching that is highly adjusted to suit children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
There may be an uneven development of large and fine motor skill development. For instance, the child may be able to thread beads with great skill, but find riding a tricycle or bike very difficult.
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Attention Seeking Behavior
A child that wants attention will obtain it by some means. This is usually done in a positive way; they do a drawing, or perform a play. By offering an adult the best of what they have to offer, they seek attention, and this will hopefully allow them to obtain it. In general, children without any additional needs will require an amount of attention which is manageable for the caregiver; as long as attention is given when needed, things run smoothly. However, some children seem to have an insatiable desire for attention; they get positive attention galore yet they want more. They misbehave and quickly realise that certain behaviors can't be ignored by adults, meaning they engage in them. The class teacher will likely tell you that they spend vast quantities of their time with the child yet it is never enough. The child if observed in class, will be engaging in a whole host of activities, all of which appear geared toward getting attention. It would be nothing noteworthy for children like this to have the teacher intervene every 2-3 minutes.
Often parents and teachers are confused. They will tell professionals involved that the child gets lots of attention, much more than any other member of the class, something that is supported by observation. The important thing to remember with humans, in such cases, is that we are never dealing with concrete realities; we are dealing with perceptions. It is rather convenient to see the childs' thinking in terms of there being a black box through which all thinking must pass. The black box contains one simple instruction that is, "I do not get enough attention" . If we take on board this simple assumption, we can now see why the child will behave in an attention seeking way. For example, after being taken out for a wonderful day out, and absolutely showered with attention, they come home and do something totally silly that guarantees more attention, albeit negative. So what to do?
Intervention
The following intervention is extraordinarily powerful. It works just about every time and the only reason it fails is because the adult stops. Children never tire of this intervention. The intervention takes about ten minutes each day and is focussed on the childs' perceptual system.
Special Time:
Tell the child that they will be getting a special time each day.
Then each day tell them that special time will start in 2 minutes.
Tell the child that special time will start now.
Engage in special time.
Tell the child that special time will end in 2 minutes.
Tell the child that special time will end now.
You have therefore told the child four times that they are getting special time.
During special time, the child may choose to do anything that is reasonable. They may want to watch a video with you, or make a cake for instance. Do not teach, simply watch the child, helping if they request it, but never offering help. The adult watches the child, and every so often sums up what the child is doing with praise for the skills shown. For instance 'It feels lovely when you cuddle me'; 'I love how carefully you are mixing that cake mix'. This shows that the adult is paying attention. The analogy usually used is bathing the child in a warm bath of positive attention.
Do this every day.
Do not under any circumstances take away the special time as a sanction.
Even if the child has had an awful day, special time must occur.
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Anger Management
The "Anger Management" pack is a guide aimed at training children in how to manage their anger. It takes, as an assumption, that anger is a normal and healthy reaction. However, some people just haven't understood that there are different degrees of anger, and that each culture will have an appropriate level of anger in a given context. For instance, if a child was unfortunate enough to witness their parent being attacked, it would be quite appropriate for them to be very angry and hit the attacker with a stick. The same level of anger and reaction is inappropriate if the offence is of a much lower level, being sworn at in the playground for instance. The whole thrust of the work is to help the children in the group readjust their responses in line with prevailing cultural norms.
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Adult Assessment For Dyslexia
Many adults come to this site in a very unsure fashion. They may have realised that one of their children has specific difficulties, and have begun to see their own difficulties in a new light. Or when beginning a higher level of study, the methods that they managed to use are no longer cutting it and they begin to struggle at A-Level or university.
Adult assessment includes anyone over 16-years old. There are many routes by which they can be assessed. Colleges and Universities should have a list of assessors, and there is likely to be a system whereby the student can have the fee paid, or receive a subsidised diagnostic assessment. This is particularly true in Higher Education.
Often a person will have been highly successful, but just feels that their learning is impeded. An assessment will often shed light as to why the person feels that way, and offer ways around the subtleties of their specific learning difficulty (SpLD). This allows the person to go on and achieve to their fullest potential. Planning difficulties often surface, as do complex language processing difficulties, along with a whole host of other subtle SpLd's that interfere with seamless learning and cause underachievement. With the extensive array of teaching and technological solutions available today, an assessor familiar with adult assessment can usually put together a complex solution that leads to the client going forward and learning in an unimpeded way, perhaps for the first time in their life. Underachievement and the consequent emotional effects on self esteem will be slowly left behind.
If you would like to arrange for an assessment of an adult contact Dyslexia South.
See also: DSA assessment for those in adult education
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ADHD Diagnosis and Checklist
Who Can Diagnose ADHD?
ADHD is generally diagnosed by a clinician trained in differential diagnosis (so that they can determine if symptoms relate to one condition, such as ADHD, or if they fit with something else such as autism). Generally this is a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist.
In adults over 16 years old, specialist assessors (APC) and educational psychologists are able to identify if ADHD is highly likely and this level of identification can be used to gain support at university and work, DSA funding and Access to Work funding. Please contact Dyslexia South to organise an adult ADHD assessment (educational diagnosis).
The medical route (which requires diagnosis by a psychiatrist) would have the potential to provide specific medications for ADHD that can help to control impairing levels of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and associated emotional lability. Several medications are safe and effective for treating ADHD and for preventing many adverse outcomes (Faraone et al, 2021). These are recommended by NICE (2008, 2018) as first line treatments for the reduction of impairing levels of ADHD symptoms and may have a considerable impact on improving educational performance and other aspects of ADHD. The NICE guidance recommends a holistic approach when planning treatment and highlights the importance of discussing strengths and weaknesses of both pharmacological and alternative interventions with people with ADHD. It should be noted that NHS services are limited in this area.
ADHD Checklist
If your child fits many of the criteria below, you may wish to seek further professional advice around ADHD.
The child is much less likely than the other children in class to pay attention to school work, and makes seemingly inexplicable mistakes.
The young person appears to have substantially more difficulty sustaining concentration when engaged in practical or play activities.
The child is described as failing to listen, even when spoken to directly.
When the child is given a task which they are motivated to engage with, they do not complete it.
The child does not seem able to get hold of themselves and the set task sufficiently to be able to organize their thoughts and plan a reasonable plan of action, yet they do understand what is expected of them when questioned about the task.
The young person will actively avoid, and clearly dislikes, tasks and activities that demand sustained concentration and thought.
Teachers and parents complain that the child always manages to lose things. This becomes particularly apparent with respect to school essentials like pens, pencils etc. but they will also be mislaying items precious to them such as toys.
The child is easily distracted; when observed, they appear to turn toward movement and noise. The child appears to be over alert.
Routine tasks are often forgotten, leading to frustration in those who have to manage the child, who may complain of the child deliberately avoiding routine tasks.
When observed, the child appears much more restless than peers. For instance, when on the carpet they may squirm from one side of the carpet to the other, seemingly oblivious to what they are doing.
There is a very clear pattern of wandering around the classroom when the task demands the children are seated. They appear to be on the look out for any reason to leave their seat.
The child will take any opportunity to engage in running around or climbing; this is particularly noticeable when it is an inappropriate activity and other children in the class are not engaging in these activities.
Quiet play is not something you would associate with the child.
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Planning skills for university students
Interpreting an essay brief and essay planning
Of all academic skills, the most valuable for a student is that of accurately interpreting course briefs. It's easy for a dyslexic to get this wrong and many have had the experience of receiving back a marked essay with a tutor's comment saying something like; 'Not quite what was asked for'. Students usually think that the weakness here is one of writing. It probably isn’t. It's normally one of interpretation and planning. Put differently, it's the work you do before you start writing that makes the difference between a good essay and a not so good one.
Remember that the title/brief is a menu of items that will earn you marks – if you follow it correctly. Here's an approach that will help. It may not be as easy as it seems at first but the technique is well worth mastering.
Work on the title: Take the essay title or brief, extract from it the key words or phrases (use a highlighter). Make sure that you have chosen a) all the key elements and b) the absolute minimum number of words possible. There should be a tension between these two requirements. It should make you think very hard about whether you need this or that word or phrase. If the process doesn't cause you some hard thinking, you may not be doing it right.
The exercise will be very different from one essay brief to another. It depends on how they are written. And we are assuming that the tutor has composed a title/brief that is an accurate reflection of what they require. It isn't always so. Also, you should take into account any additional requirements that the tutor has added verbally. S/he may say 'You should concentrate on X in the essay' or 'Don't spend too much time on the background issues'.
Creating a plan: Next, list these words/phrases. Your list should contain only words from the brief. Don't worry if you aren't completely sure of all of the elements at this stage. Spend some time arranging and rearranging the list until you have what looks like a plan for your essay. There isn't only one way to do this and you may have to spend time to find a result that 'works'. Some aspects of the brief may be repeated in different sections as necessary.
Add 'Introduction' to the start of the list and 'Conclusion' to the end. The introduction should have three sub-sections: overview of essay (in which the essay is 'described'); explanations and parameters (in which any aspects of the essay not clear from the title are explained, such as the student's decisions regarding content); preview of conclusion (which may start 'What this essay will show is...'). The conclusion has two main sections: overview of main arguments; concluding position including what is significant about it.
Now you should have a plan with, say, five or six sections. Depending on the detail in the brief, you may now need to add into the plan missing elements that you're aware of from your reading or lectures, etc.
Word-count: Allocate the word-count. The introduction and conclusion should each have roughly 10% of the words. Divide the balance according to your idea of where the emphasis should be. You will now have a series of separate sections of specific lengths that can be written more or less independently. All this should be done before any research – and definitely before any writing takes place.
Consider what your conclusion will say. You should certainly know this before you start to write. Think about the main significance of the subject – you'll also need to point this out.
Most students find that when they have done all of the above the task seems both clearer and more manageable.
What do I not know or understand? Now ask this question. Some students shy away from it, preferring to focus on what they do know, but it's always better to address this early in the process. The answers to the question are the areas that need to be researched first. Go to the course reading, your lecture notes. Speak to fellow students, your course tutor. You can't write your best essay unless you do this.
Bear in mind that what you will now have is a plan for your research as well as for your writing.
The 'verb': Also, learn to be clear what exactly the 'action' is that the essay requires. Most essay titles/briefs contain a main word/action/verb. It could be 'analyse', 'outline', 'describe', 'compare', 'contrast' or one of several others. (See Key Words in Essay Titles) They do not mean the same thing. Many students treat them as though they do. Or, often, they interpret all these words to mean 'write about' with little precision as to what this might mean.
Habits: When you practise all this for the first time what you are doing is creating a new habit. It's never easy to do this and your old ones will try to reassert themselves. Don't worry, it's normal. Just persevere and eventually you'll have a new habit – and better essays that actually answer the question that was set.
Key Words in Essay Titles
Account for: Explain why something happens; give reasons for it.
Analyse: Break down into its important parts and comment on. Examine in close detail; identify important points and chief features.
Comment on: Identify and write about the main issues, giving your reactions based on what you have read or heard in lectures. Avoid purely personal opinion.
Compare: Show how two or more things are similar. Indicate the relevance or consequences of these similarities.
Contrast: Show how two or more things are different. Indicate the relevance or consequences of these differences.
Critically Evaluate: Weigh arguments for and against something, assessing the strength of the evidence on both sides. Use criteria to guide your assessment of which opinions, theories, models or items are preferable.
Define: Give the exact meaning of. Where relevant, show that you understand why the definition may be significant.
Discuss: Describe the most important aspects of the topic (probably including criticism); give arguments for and against; consider the implications of.
Distinguish: Bring out the differences between two (possibly confusable) items.
Evaluate: Assess the worth, importance or usefulness of something, using evidence. There will probably be cases to be made both for and against.
Examine: Put the subject ‘under the microscope’, looking at it in detail. You may be asked to ‘critically evaluate’ as well. See 'Analyse'.
Explain: Make clear why something happens, or why something is the way it is.
Illustrate: Make something clear and explicit, giving examples or evidence.
Interpret: Give the meaning and relevance of data or other material presented.
Justify: Give evidence which supports an argument or idea; show why a conclusion or decisions were made, considering objections that others might make.
Narrate: Concentrate on saying what happened, telling it as a story.
Outline: Give only the main points, showing the main structure.
Relate: Show similarities and connections between two or more things.
State: Give the main features, in very clear English (almost like a simple list, but in sentences).
Summarise: Draw out the main points only, omitting details or examples.
To what extent: Consider how far something is true, or contributes to a final outcome. Consider also ways in which the proposition is not true.
Trace: Follow the order of different stages in an event or process.
Written by Simon Hopper
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Writing Dissertations
Writing Dissertations
Firstly, you must know the conclusion of your piece before you begin to write.
If, when setting out on a dissertation, you are offered the advice; 'Just write it, it'll become clear as you progress', ignore it. Many students have written half of a dissertation like this only to find that they can't finish it coherently.
Each paragraph should move towards the conclusion. This can be achieved only if the conclusion is known in advance. Otherwise, you will be 'writing in order to discover what you are going to write'. Don't do it. It might work for poetry, stream-of-consciousness prose or other creative writing, but it won't work well for an academic piece. Some people can get away with it, but they rarely write their best work this way. Dyslexics never do.
A dyslexic is not so good at holding a view of the big picture while dealing with the detail. (Or, keeping an eye on the overview of an essay while constructing sentences.) You therefor need to have the plan to refer to as you write. That requires research and thinking and mulling over and leaving to ferment. But sooner than most expect, the broad point of the piece should become clear. This should then guide the completion of the research and the shaping of the dissertation.
If your course insists on a draft early in the process – and provided it does not carry part of the course marks – explain the above, show that you are progressing in the manner of this article and stick to your guns. The tutor is only concerned that you finish on time, if they can see that you will, they will not usually be worried.
Next, you'll need a good idea of the following: a title; an introduction; a conclusion. They must reflect each other, they must ‘work together’. Once you have decided on them don't be tempted to change them. You may feel you want to add a little extra section or change the line of attack because it's interesting to do so. Don't.
Resign yourself to the fact that the process of producing your piece will become boring before it's finished. The early stages of your voyage of discovery are often exciting, but the excitement usually wanes before the end. Prepare yourself for that and don't fall into the trap of spicing up the proceedings with an extra element or diversion. It'll still need a final writing-up at some point anyway and you'll run the risk of running out of time.
Also, draw up a shopping list containing: subject matter; question; theorists; examples; 'why I’m asking this question'; 'what my answer is'; 'why this matters'. Just as when preparing a big meal, you must have your ingredients to hand before you start to cook. Particularly, you need to know 'why this matters'. What is the reason you are writing? Why should anyone read your piece? It doesn't have to provide the end to world poverty or a cure for all known diseases, but there should be some significant purpose for your investigation, however modest.
Divide the piece into its different parts and allocate a word-count. A dissertation is not one seven-thousand-word piece. It's six or seven separate much shorter pieces. Once you have got your head around that, it'll be easier to write.
It could look like this;
Intro, 700 words
Chapter 1 (say, historic background to subject) 500
Chapter 2 (discussion of element #1) 1250
Chapter 3 (discussion of element #2) 1250
Chapter 4 (arguments for) 1300
Chapter 5 (arguments against) 1300
Conclusion, 700
The intro and conclusion should be roughly 10% of the total. The intro should have: an overview of the whole dissertation; an explanation of all the main elements; a preview of the conclusion. The conclusion should have: a recap of all the main points; your concluding comments – your final position; 'why this matters'.
Finally, write using the shortest words, the simplest language you can. Write short sentences (an average of 15 words per sentence). Think in terms of one idea per sentence if it helps in this. Use single syllable words whenever you can. Only use longer words where no other will do. (Technical words belonging to the subject area are a good example.) Be confident in what you have to say – don't try to make it more impressive by how you say it. Doing so nearly always makes writing more difficult to grasp. (This is why some academics – who seem to need to prove how clever they are by how they write – often write in ways that are difficult to understand.) And avoid thesauruses. They don't offer words that mean the same as the word in question, but merely words that are similar in meaning. Their use often results in confusion.
Written by Simon Hopper