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LEARNING DISORDERS, LEARNING STYLES, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, MEDICATIONS...
and other dangerous hoaxes!

I have been asked to comment on what I think about learning disorders, medication for learning disorders, learning styles, and emotional intelligence. Are they all a lot of dangerous mumbo-jumbo? With exceptions, the answer is, "Yes."

Yes, because learning disorders and etc. are usually used to obfuscate what a poor job teachers are doing in the classroom. After all, "It can't be the school's fault. It can't be the teacher's fault. It must be the fault of the culture, the child, the family, the government, television, video games, gosh knows what all." When was the last time you heard a school or teacher accept responsibility? As a general rule, the problem must lie with the child.

I would like to suggest that teachers and schools have very little idea about what to do with students who don't fit into a very tight mold (approximately the top 20%). What happens to children who are in the bottom 20%, or stagnating in the middle? Do they get useful help at school, or are they referred outside the school to Special Education, Outside Tutoring, Learning Specialists, Educational Consultants, Psychologists...? When children are failing we usually refer them away from the classroom and away from the school. Parents with adequate financial resources take advantage of a myriad of outside resources. Parents with more restrictive financial resources quickly reach a state of abject frustration.

The lack of candor about graduation rates makes it difficult to know the exact figures, but, depending on economic background, somewhere between thirty and fifty percent of students who graduate from eighth grade fail to graduate from high school, and the number appears to be increasing. Why? I would argue because students are bored, embarrassed, and sick of failing. School does not represent a haven of success for many because they have never been taught the fundamental academic skills required. Far too many young people can not perform their fundamental academic skills to grade level. Too many are very poor readers, writers, listeners, speakers, organizers of information or able to study well. Their knowledge of history, math and science tends to be abysmal.

What is a teacher to do to remediate all this failure when met with so much disparity in a single classroom? I am sympathetic, but there is an answer:

The answer is: no matter what subject is being taught, no matter what grade level, teachers must employ a curriculum and teaching technology that has all the students reading, writing, listening, speaking, organizing information and developing study skills 50 minutes out of every hour. They must be able to test for mastery three to five times every class period.

For virtually all students, Brainsarefun outlines the program required to achieve this goal, no matter what grade level being taught - kindergarten through the corporate board room - no matter what the learning style, learning disorder, or emotional intelligence.

A FEW SOBERING TRUTHS - Yes, some children have special learning challenges such as ADD, ADHD, depression, dyslexia, hyperactivity... Yes, some children and adults learn differently than others and have different learning styles.

However, only about 1% are afflicted with these difficulties to a clinical degree. The remainder, the overwhelming bulk of students diagnosed with a learning disorder, special learning challenge, or unique learning style, have simply been over-psychologized by professionals, and labeled by schools that have no real curriculum for dealing with the problem.

Virtually all "special" children experience positive changes in behavior just as soon as they enter classrooms where real teaching and classroom management occur; when they are taught to master their basic skills: how to read, write, listen, speak, organize information, study and do math. As soon as they are over the embarrassment of being sub-standard, behavior improves dramatically. It is criminal, in my opinion, that parents and students are forced into outside tutoring programs, and into the arms of educational "experts," to solve problems that could be addressed in the standard classroom - if only more teachers had the benefit of being taught how to teach.

The major goal of Brainsarefun is to teach these skills. When explicitly taught, academic performance and appropriate school behavior skyrocket. Continue in the typical classroom and little changes, no matter how many drugs are swallowed, counselors are consulted, or special education classes attended.

RITALIN AND OTHER "LEARNING DISORDER" MEDICATION

Learning disorders and learning styles are labels that haunt children for as long as they live. Teachers and other "experts" who engage in this type of labeling are playing with fire. The overwhelming number of children who are on behavior-modifying medication today should not be. Medication should not be prescribed without an accompanying program of remediation - and very few educators, schools, or programs are able to offer much in the way of remediation.

When in doubt, ask yourself, "What other changes are we making other than prescribing drugs?" The fact is, the overwhelming number of children who are on drugs are on them because there is no other program, their behavior is not being managed, and they are not being explicitly taught the skills and behaviors required to achieve and succeed.

What skills do all students need to learn? The answer is always the same, no matter what else is taught: reading, writing, listening, speaking, information organization, study skills and math.

What behaviors? Starting on time, staying on task, completing assignments.

THE BRAINSAREFUN SOLUTION

Brainsarefun is a program designed to teach the skills and behaviors required, including the following:

• Accelerated Learning/Study Skills
• Accountability and Evaluation
• Answers First
• Behavior Management
• Breakouts
• Chorusing
• Cooperation and Contracts
• Consistency
• Copying
• Core Knowledge
• Correction/Self Correction
• Counting/Graphing
• Delaying Negative Response
• Direct Instruction
• Fast Writes
• Format/Pace
• Interventions
• Memory Maps
• Note taking
• Pace
• Play
• Portfolios
• Positive Discipline
• Precision Teaching
• Proximity Management
• Reading Aloud
• Reading Mastery
• Reinforcement
• Response
• Rewards
• Scripts
• Self Correction
• Solution Keys
• Teaching by Objective
• Teaching to Mastery
• Tell Backs
• Testing
• Voices off. Eyes on me.
• What Mom and Dad can do to improve the academic lives of their children

When teachers are equipped with these skills, it's amazing what happens in the classroom and how many more children succeed.

If you are concerned that your child is at risk of serious failure, if you are told your child has a different learning style, learning intelligence or learning disorder, the very first step you must take is "stop." Stop blaming the child. Stop labeling him/her with a pop diagnosis. Stop and take an inventory of the behaviors the teachers and parents are going to change. Are you going to insist that your child do all the changing, while you remain steadfastly the same? If so, your child is going to continue to fail.

I have worked with hundreds of parents concerned about their children's "disorders," and have observed some common threads. First, one of the parents (usually the father) is absent from the child's life - commonly through a combination of divorce, estrangement, workaholism, too much drinking, and a refusal to accept parental responsibility. Second, both parents work outside the home and leave no real time for the child. The child is treated as invisible 90% of the time. Then, driven by guilt and a frantic sense of personal failure, when parents and children are together, everyone rushes from event to event: family gatherings, sports activities, religious trainings, vacations - anything short of slowing down and providing the proximity required for real connection. Rushing from event to event, trying to be your child's friend, is not the same as being a parent. A simple truth, if parents choose to ignore their responsibilities, they can expect their children to do exactly the same. Parents and teachers who insist that children and students do all the changing are guaranteeing failure.

Parents must make difficult decisions in favor of their children. Begin today by reading aloud to your children, no matter what their ages. See BOOKS TO READ ALOUD TO YOUR CHILDREN - birth through 18 years.

Parents are advised to stop believing that before-school programs, after-school programs, day-care programs, virtual strangers and powerful prescription drugs are a replacement for parental involvement and trust. They are not, and this vacuum of parental involvement is endemic today. Vacuums are always filled, and in young people the vacuum is commonly filled with a panoply of poor choices and destructive behavior: television, sedentary behavior, poor diets, early sex, illegal drugs, apathetic academics, dead-end jobs, crime. If you are not worried about your child, no problem. However, if you are concerned, S*T*O*P*.

Stop making excuses and negotiate a clear contract today. Stop convincing yourself how your child is going to learn to read next year. Begin READING TODAY.

If you still believe your child's poor behavior may be related to a medical problem, consult with the child's doctor or pediatrician. If the doctor or pediatrician believes there is cause for concern, and believes that medication may benefit, ask for a recommendation to see a doctor who specializes in modifying behavior with drugs, a "psychopharmacologist." These are the professionals who have the training to effectively and safely administer these medications to the approximately one percent of children who might benefit from their use. Many large cities have hospitals that specialize in treating children and psychopharmacologists are often associated with these hospitals.

Parents, please keep in mind that most teachers and school counselors have not received the training required to diagnose learning disorders, or any other medical or psychological problem.

Teachers must make the difficult choice to learn real and solid teaching skills and to stop labeling their students. Begin today be learning how to
turn any lesson into a direct instruction / Accelerated Learning Lesson: SUGGESTIONS FOR GETTING STARTED

I do not say, or believe, that there is no place for medication in a well designed program. I believe that drugs have worked wonders with a specific type of child. If you believe your child may be one to benefit, visit your doctor and ask for a referral to a specialist in prescribing drugs: a psychopharmacologist. Then, ask what else is changing.

P.S. The only teachers with whom I am familiar who are trained to teach children with, so called, different "learning styles" are teachers grounded in Direct Instruction and the skills listed above. Armed with these skills nearly all children learn to achieve academically. Forced to sit through the mindlessness that dominates most classrooms, it's no wonder that the students act out. Most teachers have no solution other than blaming the student, the parents, or the home. Few schools actually hold teachers accountable to what the students are learning. When held accountable, my experience indicates that most teachers threaten to quit, the teacher unions step in, and there's even a greater problem. I have described my frustration with this problem in an article entitled Education Reform Can Not Occur, available at http://www.brainsarefun.com/Editorials.html.

Please email me directly with questions or comments concerning this thorny issue: roryd@brainsarefun.com. In the meantime, parents read aloud to your children; teachers, learn about Direct Instruction.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: LEARNING DISORDERS AND DRUGS © April 2001 by Rory Donaldson. All rights reserved. In order to help reverse the tide of academic failure and optimize success, individuals may copy brainsarefun solutions for non-commercial use at no charge. Contents may not be sold or repackaged in any manner without the written permission of Rory Donaldson. Since all material is copyrighted, please ensure that this entire copyright notice and contact information continues to be attached to each article you download. Mr. Donaldson appreciates the feedback. Additional solutions may be viewed and downloaded at no charge by logging on to brainsarefun.com. New titles are being added regularly.

Suggestions and comments encouraged, email: roryd@brainsarefun.com.

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