Bright-minds

I posted something from this site before, but wanted to include this link again, as I was there today and there is a lot more to look over. I found a couple links to math sites to help teach the multiplication tables. Check it out! http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/magazine.html

I just met with some folks who do assessments for learning difficulties and they stressed the need for babies to have stimulation on their tummies. The thing these days is to put babies to sleep on their backs to avoid SIDS, when babies stop breathing while sleeping. But they were saying that when the babies are never on their tummies they don't develop certain neural pathways which can inhibit learning later on. In the Family we used to be very proactive with baby exercise and massage and stimulation, so I just thought I'd mention it as a reminder to keep stimulating our wonderful little cuties! Another thing they stressed is using math manipulatives. They also use clay alot to make letters or numbers or to tell stories.

In August I posted this web site which has a monthly newsetter. This month it talks about magnesium and Vitamin B6 supplements. Thought it would be interesting for others so here's the article.

"Magnesium, Vitamin B6& ADHD
Magnesium is an important element in the body because it’s needed for many basic functions, including acting as a cofactor for 300 different enzymes. It’s also involved in fatty acid oxidation, neurotransmission and immune function. About 99 percent of magnesium in your body is inside your cells including bone, muscles and brain cells. Only 1 percent circulates in the blood.
A recent French study by Mousain-Bosc published in a journal called Magnesium Research reports improvement in neurobehavioral disorders (ADHD and autism in a separate study) in children who were given supplements of magnesium and vitamin B6. This is not a new idea. For many years parents have reported improvements in “physical aggression” and improved “social responsiveness” when their children took these supplements.
Mousain-Bosc based their study on reports from other scientists plus their own observations. In 1997 researchers assessed magnesium levels in 116 children with ADHD using serum, red blood cells and hair samples. Magnesium deficiency was found in 95 per cent of these children. Almost 59 percent had low magnesium levels in red blood cells, while about 34 percent had low levels in serum. Over 77 percent had low hair levels. [However, the value of hair analyses is controversial.]
In another study reported by the same scientists they attempted to assess the effectiveness of magnesium on hyperactivity and ADHD in 50 children. The average magnesium dose used was 200 mg and the duration of the study was 6 months. The control children were composed of 25 children with ADHD and magnesium deficiency. They received standard treatments and no magnesium. After 6 months, the children who received the magnesium supplement had increased magnesium in hair and a significant decrease in hyperactivity compared to their baseline scores and also compared to the controls.
In 2004 Mousain-Bosc reported a study using magnesium and vitamin B6 supplements in 52 “hyperexcitable” children. At the end of the trial all patients had significantly fewer symptoms of excitability, and magnesium levels in their red blood cells were in the normal range. This was an open study, meaning there was no control group.
In a study [published in Russian so I could not read the actual article!] a supplement of magnesium and vitamin B6 was used to treat 31 children with ADHD. Twenty children with similar ADHD symptoms comprised the control group. They received a “poly-vitamin pill.” After 30 days the children were given several clinical-neuropsychological and biochemical tests. The group receiving the magnesium and vitamin B6 showed significant improvements in their behavior—less anxiety, less aggression, less hyperactivity and improved attention compared to the control children. The abstract did not say whether the study was double-blind. In other words, did the patients and researchers know who was receiving the magnesium and vitamin B6 and who was getting the vitamin pills?
Based on all this research, Mousain-Bosc in 2006 reported improvement in children with ADHD supplemented with magnesium and vitamin B6. The control group was 36 healthy children without ADHD. They followed 40 children who had ADHD over 8 weeks. The children received 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight for magnesium and 0.6 milligrams per kilogram for vitamin B6. For example, a 100 pound child weighs about 45 kilograms and would have received about 270 mgs of magnesium and 27 mgs of vitamin B6. Those children who received the magnesium-vitamin B6 tablet significantly increased their red blood cell magnesium and decreased their hyperactivity, aggressiveness and improved their attention. When the supplement was stopped, these symptoms returned.
One problem with this study is the absence of a group of similar ADHD children who received a look-a-like inactive substance. In ADHD—and in many other medical and mental disorders—the presence of a placebo affect is quite high. In other words, just taking an inactive tablet that you think might help you improves your symptoms! The researchers of this 2006 magnesium and vitamin B6 study chose not to have a placebo group and/or a group taking stimulant medications for the following reasons: They believed parents would be opposed because their children might receive the placebo and six months of active treatment would be lost. In addition, stimulant medications appear to affect magnesium levels.
Another interesting report from Mousain-Bosc and co-workers was a similar study in children with autism. Twenty three of 33 children improved their symptoms with no adverse effects. After the supplement was stopped, symptoms of autism worsened.
What does all this research have to do with your child? There is a simple test for magnesium deficiency. It’s called Chvostek’s sign. Just tap lightly in the hollow of your child’s check, halfway between the corner of his mouth and the bottom of his ear. The area you tap is the facial nerve. If the upper lip beneath his nose twitches or jumps, the test is considered “positive.” This usually indicates a magnesium and/or calcium deficiency. It’s impossible to fake this test.
Magnesium chloride and magnesium citrate are two well-absorbed supplement forms. The only side effect of taking too much magnesium is diarrhea. After all, magnesium is the active ingredient in milk of magnesia! If your child gets diarrhea, stop the supplement for a few days. Then try it again at a lower dose. Supplementing magnesium is a safe, cheap, easy kind of therapy to try. (Children with kidney problems should take magnesium only under their doctor’s close supervision.) "
References
Coleman, M.C. 1979. A Preliminary Study of the Effect of Pyridoxine Administration in a Subgroup of Hyperkinetic Children: A Double-Blind Crossover Comparison with Methylphenidate. Biological Psychiatry. Vol. 14(5), pp.741-751.
Kozielec, T. 1997. Assessment of magnesium levels in children with attent6ion deficit hyperactivity disorder. Magnesium Research. Vol. 10(2), pp. 143-8.
Stratobrat-Hermelin, B. The effects of magnesium physiological supplementation on hyperactivity in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Positive reponse to magnesium oral loading test. Magnesium Research. Vol. 10(2), pp. 149-56.
Mousain-Bosc, M. Magnesium Vitamin B6 intake reduces central nervous system hyperexcitability in children. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Vol. 23(5), pp. 545S-548S.
Nobovitsina, O.R. 2006. Effect of MAGNE-B6 on the clinical and biochemical manifestations of the syndrome of attention deficit and hyperactivity in children. Eksp Klin Farmakol. Vol. 69(1), pp. 74-7. In Russian.
Mousain-Bosc, M. 2006. Improvement of neurobehavioral disorders in children supplemented with magnesium-vitamin B6. Magnesium Research. Vol.19(1), pp. 46-52for You.htm

http://www.dyslexia-teacher.com/t98.html This is a link to the World of Dyslexia Advice Line and Discussion Forum. I read quite a few entries today and found a lot to look further into. Many posts deal with public school situations, but aside from legalities people ask for advice and others post helpful tips or methods, sites to explore and more.

This is one of the posts I read and thought it might be of interest:

Have any of you ever tried "narrow columns" for reading?A number of my students have visual anomalies that make tracking a line of print across a full line, then skipping back to next line, very difficult. They all, of course, have been taught to read word-by-word. I have toyed with making columns of print only two or three words wide so that the reader can RELAX THE FOCUS, grasp the PHRASE, and read DOWNWARD. From the reaction of my students I think I was on to something... (This is what speed-readers do with longer lines of print - a skill which may develop over time if emphasis is put on "seeing" an increasingly wider span of words at a glance.)Details of what I did are on the Learning Disabilities Resource Community's website (ldrc.ca) in my short article "Narrow Columns for Dyslexic Readers".I think double-spacing, pale blue paper, and perhaps, larger print, may also be important.Those of you familiar with "graphic novels" will know that it is very possible to produce books that read from traditional "back" to traditional "front". For years we have also had large-print books. IF narrow columns with double-spacing helps more readers, why not start producing books in this style also? (Newspaper and magazine columns are too wide for beginners, but that would be a next step - those, and "graphic novels" where speech in cartoon bubbles is never more than a few words wide!)Change the nature of the task instead of trying, always, to change the child.Ann Thompson

Whoa! Time has flown!!!! This is an interesting link for a newsletter by a nutritionist about ADD/ADHD kids. http://www.nlci.com/nutrition/
She touches on different issues, like essential fatty acids & behaviour, sleep needs, drugs for ADD, diet. It is interesting and her approach is more toward controlling things with food, sleep, and dietary supplements. Check it out.

Here is the link if you want to go there : http://www.dyslexia-teacher.com/t66.html
This article is about kids who go to school, but it can apply to homeschooled kids too, to help boost self-confidence, especially if they see their brothers or sisters passing them by academically. Strengths and weaknesses - we all have them! Let's dwell on the positive!

CONFIDENCE BUILDING

A CONFIDENCE BUILDING EXERCISE
The majority of dyslexic children have come to the conclusion that they are stupid! In any school in any week of the year a dyslexic child experiences a huge amount of failure. With sequencing difficulties, any form of writing or math/s is going to present severe problems, and the dyslexic child cannot fail to notice that almost all of the other children are able to do the work which he or she finds so hard. Why can't he read and spell? He must be dumb, thick, stupid. It's the conclusion that anyone would reach in similar circumstances, and it badly needs changing before any corrective teaching is going to be effective. However good our methods with phoneme awareness, finding interesting books and word games are, this basic foundation for each child of a secure self-confidence has got to be addressed before any real progress can be hoped forThe difficulty with dyslexia is that it is not visible. If the child had a broken arm, everyone would be rushing around giving extra consideration. 'Of course he can't write - his arm is broken! There's nothing wrong with his intelligence.' But no-one ever says 'Of course he can't spell - he has inherited a different pattern of brain circuits! There's nothing wrong with his intelligence.'Teachers, parents and the dyslexic child himself come to the clear conclusion that he must be slow-witted.
What I am suggesting is a little cognitive therapy by the teacher, if possible in conjunction with the parent! Not as hard as it seems. The assumption in the child's mind - that he is stupid - is inaccurate, and it needs correcting if he is to re-establish the self-confidence he needs to learn. This is not going to be achieved simply by telling him that he's as intelligent as the next person. Well-intentioned people have been telling him that for years to no effect. He needs evidence, and he needs to re-construct the picture he has of himself in his own mind. Only in this way can he see his difficulties as a dyslexic learner in the proper context of a person - like anyone else - who has both strengths and weaknesses. Most dyslexic people have great strengths in the areas of physical co-ordination and/or creativity and/or empathy with other people. His strengths may lie in some of these areas, and he will know that lots of other children are weak in exactly these same areas.The following exercise has a great effect on children, and can be carried out by a parent, or a teacher, or, if at all possible, both together with the child, who needs to be on his own (not in a group situation). Take a sheet of paper and make two columns: in one column put 'Things I am good at' and in the other 'Things that I am not so good at'
Things that I am good at
Things that I am not so good at
Take about five or ten minutes of discussion with the child for you to write a list of things that the child is - from an objective point of view - successful at. These will include such skills as swimming, sports, caring for pets, making a collection, dancing, drama, singing, art, painting, drawing, and so on. In the 'Not so good' column let the child tell you the things like spelling and writing that he really finds hard. The list will look something like this, depending of course on each child's interests:
Things that I am good at
Things that I am not so good at
swimmingdivingbasketballlooking after my rabbitsdrawingpaintingcollecting stampsgetting on well with other childrenclearing the tablemaking people laughsoftballbeing friendly to grandpaknowing about space and the planetsetc.
spellingreadingwritingmath/s

The evidence is staring the child in the face: there are far more things that he is good at than things he has difficulties with. He can't possibly be stupid. He is clearly a successful person.But he may well say that the things he is weak at are the things that matter in life. If you can't spell, how can you pass exams and get a job? This is the stage at which you have to argue - not tell - and say such things as 'What do you value people for - because they are good at spelling? Of course not. You value people for all sorts of qualities, especially their ability to be friendly, get on with you, consider your needs, think of other people before themselves and so on. It's up to you to keep the argument going until the child can really begin to see himself in a new light - as a successful person who just happens to have been born with a small handicap. Like being color-blind. It's not his fault. It's not because he doesn't try hard enough (as, unfortunately, many teachers will have told him).Seeing himself in a new light can be a turning point for the child - whatever his or her age - and this new-born self-confidence can lay the foundation for the special kind of learning he needs to build up the spelling and writing skills that his fellow pupils find so much easier to acquire. But it's not an over-night change, and it needs carefully nurturing over the coming month. The list should be carefully preserved and pinned up at home in the kitchen for all to see. He needs praise, gold stars, credits, and certificates over the coming weeks for things he does in school - of a non-academic nature - which are commendable: helping a new pupil to settle in, co-operating well in a games session, coming up with a fresh creative idea for art, and so on. The certificates he receives for these valuable activities may be the first he has ever received in his entire school career.John BradfordJune 2001
Confidence-building in practice
I began this activity by talking about a new session my learners would be having with me, which is Positive thinking. I modelled on the board my list and the children called out ideas. At the beginning of this activity this particular learner said, 'I'm not good at anything'.
My reply was 'Yes you are. You are good at football'. This made him realise that - yes - he can do things. With some discussion he managed to make a list.
Things that I am good at:
Football Running Drawing Helping my friends
Things that I am not so good at:
Reading Writing stories
At the end of the session he felt quite confident about the things he isn't so good because I was able to bring to his attention that he can read just not as well as he is wanting to at the moment. We talked about books he had read and group reading activities where he sometimes helps other children with words like they help him.
The following day it was group reading. He put his hand straight up to be the first to read and he read steadily and more readily accepted help from the other children. (S. B-W., Somerset, UK)
Recognizing low self-esteem
A J is the typical 14-year-old boy—great athlete, “cool” with the girls, and loves to clown around when the pressure is on. I believe that underneath that façade what he projects is fear of failure in the eyes of his peers. During class he appears to pay attention but, when he is called upon to answer something that he is unsure of, he pretends not to have heard anything in the past five minutes.
This elicits a classroom response of giggles, especially in English or history. Science is a totally different matter, where he is truly interested, and is the first to answer or ask questions about an experiment. History and English are difficult, so he is frequently forgetting to complete assignments on schedule without constant reminders. He wants his peers to believe that he is just as carefree as everyone else and that school doesn’t offer any extreme challenges. (Lisa Landers, Texas)
Praise for non-academic achievements
Dyslexic children rarely receive certificates, merit points or stars for academic achievements. To compensate for this, non-academic achievements can easily be recognised and rewarded. Examples of such instances include:-
• Helping in class by handing out/collecting in work;• Demonstrating to rest of class in P.E.;• Showing good effort (regardless of outcome); • Keeping desk tidy; • Being organised with own equipment for lessons; • Showing kindness to others; • Willingness to participate in discussions; • Sitting quietly and attentively; • Good table manners at lunchtime; • Helping to put out equipment or tidy up; • Being polite; • Setting a good example to younger pupils; • Willingness to become involved in all aspects of school life (productions, clubs, trips, fundraising activities, etc). (Rebecca Draper, Suffolk, UK)
Creating a true picture
I made a list up with MC of his strengths, things that come easy to him, and his weakness', things that he struggles with. When we started the list it was just me asking him what he thought of himself and he mainly focused on the areas he thought he was weak in. He seemed to think that there was automatically suppose to be more negative than positive things on the list. If there was more positive he tried to come up with negative things to make that side more. So then I had his sister, dad and I be a part of the list and we had so many positive things to say about the type of person he was that he was smiling and agreeing with them, he could tell we weren't just saying those things but that we actually meant it. By the time we were done the list of strengths way out weighed the negative and he believed that the list was right. He was able to see on that piece of paper the areas he struggles in are just a very small part of who he is a whole person. (T.R., Orlando, USA)
An adaptation to the Confidence-building Exercise
Kez Celiker suggests adding an additional column to improve the confidence-building exercise.
A 10-year old dyslexic boy
I did the confidence-building exercise with him. He had to make two lists of things he was good at and things he wasn’t so good at. He could also make drawings with the list of things. The drawings he liked very much. He even drew himself smiling in the list of things he is good at. Before he started at the lists he had a serious expression on his face while I was explaining the exercise (I told it was a kind of game).He started with the things he isn’t so good at. After that he continued this with the list of things he is good at. While he was busy writing down things he is good at (and doing a few drawings) and seeing the list being so long, the expression on his face started changing. He really started beaming! After he was finished I asked him if he was happy with his lists and he admitted that he was very happy because he had never known he was so good. The next time he started the session by saying that he has more things to add to his list of things he is good at. I had him do that. I was very surprised.He even said that now he was also thinking of what he would become when growing up. (P.T., Curacoa, Netherland Antilles)
Praise for non-academic achievements
These opportunities to praise AK, my daughter (aged 8), have really arisen at home over the last couple of weeks. Some of them have been rewarded, as well as praised.
1. You cross-country-skied nine kilometres on the school trip! Class record-breaker! 2. You’ve been playing with your little sister really nicely, all afternoon. 3. You’ve drawn such a beautiful picture. 4. You chose really pretty fish; our aquarium looks great with its new members. 5. The cookies you made (Granny’s recipe) taste just as good as Granny’s! 6. You got brave enough to put your face in the swimming pool water. 7. You were so kind to your little sister when she was ill. 8. You’ve tidied away all the pens and pencils in your room, just like I asked you. (I’ve learnt NOT to ask her to tidy her room, but rather to subdivide the task!) 9. I don’t know how you can make such brilliant models out of so few pieces. You have a knack for ”simple but effective.” 10. You are the best teacher Mummy’s ever had; I’m getting better at rolling my ”r”s in the Finnish language. (H.K., Finland)
Making positive statements
One helpful exercise someone taught me was to have the child repeat positive statements about their hard work and effort. Examples: "I do a good job when I work hard." or "I feel good about myself when I try hard." I've tried this with a child who was incredibly anxious about her academic performance, and it has seemed to help. By focusing more on effort and work rather than the end product or grade, self-praise can be earned each learning opportunity, whether it be an assignment or a test. Not all children can earn excellent grades, but all children can be proud of how hard they are working and putting good effort towards attempting a task. By focusing on the work ethic, we are teaching children that trying is more important than making a 100 on every test. (B.W., Tennessee)

http://www.crosswalk.com/family/home_school/1356590.html -This is a link to an article which has truly been an inspiration to me. How to teach kids who can't sit still? Give them lots of motion!

http://www.synthetic-phonics.com/phonics_activity.html This is a link to a site with ideas for teaching phonics. Looked interesting!

I heard about something called Brain Gym. At first I thought it to be exercises to help focus, so kids (or anyone) could concentrate and not stay distracted by one's thoughts or the many things happening around you. There are indeed exercises but I also read a couple of articles warning about Brain Gym, one said the information about it was full of new age terminology. Another talked about a woman who uses it extensively as also teaching yoga. Others in England just ridiculed it. I wonder if the exercises alone can indeed help one to concentrate so as to be able to read or do math, but if you get more into the program that then it might get into opening up yourself to influences that are of a spiritual nature. One place it talks about emptying your mind, and we know that the Bible talks about thinking about good things, whatsoever things are pure, just, lovely, of good report, not emptying our minds. So does anyone have any knowledge about Brain Gym? Could you let us know? Thanks!