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Home  > Disabilities > Learning disabilities: the Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity (ADD-H)
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Learning disabilities:
the Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity (ADD-H)
Online
course:
Educational innovation for the
different learning styles
(dyslexia, ADD, autism, etc.) |
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The ADD kid plunges into crisis the teacher's common sense: it is a
child that seems to be intelligent, bright, vivacious, and yet he
doesn't learn.
If he doesn't learn, we might conclude that he's not
intelligent enough
or that he just doesn't want to learn, he's lazy: as a
conclusion it seems logical but it is wrong, clearly wrong.
To understand why it is wrong, we must
know exactly what is the ADD or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
syndrome.
The
ADHD pattern can be fully understood only from a multifactorial
perspective, in which the neurological, psychological, social and
pedagogic levels closely interact to determine the development of the
ADD affected person.
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ADD reveals with an evident difficulty to regulate attention: ADD reveals with an evident difficulty to regulate attention:
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ADHD kids can't get to focalize attention on details; |
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they are easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli;
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they can't keep attention on a task, but pass from one to
another without finishing one; |
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when someone speaks they do not listen, and when speaking they
jump from one topic to another; |
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they are careless in everyday activities, losing their things,
forgetting appointments, they are always late, etc. |
In some cases impulsivity and motor restlessness is specially relevant:
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they cannot wait, for instance, their turn to receive or say
something; |
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they are extremely impatient and untimely: they continuously
interrupt the others and interpose themselves in any context;
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they run endlessly, move in the seat, they seem to run away from
everything. |
Unavoidably, all these negative traits influence their learning
possibilities: performance and school records get worse
progressively.
Their
ability to process and organize knowledge, though being potentially
good, lack
an essential function:
the coordination and management of all cognitive and behavioral
activities, usually guaranteed by
metacognitive
processes.
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Kids affected by ADHD lack the "command office"
for activation, inhibitions and modulation of all executive
functions.
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In
response to a more or less new stimulus, they cannot properly
modulate their organism activation state, therefore they don't reach
to focalize attention to analyze its characteristics; the working
memory processing activity doesn't proceed in a coordinated mode
under the guidance of a "learning to learn" mechanism that the mind has
developed with time, that's why attention is not kept for enough time.
It
becomes clear that following a traditionally programmed instruction,
that usually requires attention to speech (not always stimulant
neither engaging) and readings, is out of the ADHD best wishes and
willingness. In these cases it just leads to failure.
The ADHD would require from teachers and instructors a considerable
effort of reorganization and coordination of their own resources to
provide these students with a highly structured and engaging
educational environment, for stimulation and guidance in the
management of their own cognitive processes.
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Knowledge Master
concept maps technology offers a valid support to teacher's working
with an ADHD student and to the students themselves: the
graphic, logical and cognitive characteristics of knowledge
representation and management offer a progressive and natural guide
in the first phases of learning, that proceeds afterwards, looking
for insight, through the support of the following automated
cognitive functions, specific of
Knowledge Master
cognitive engine:
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most relevant concepts recognition automatic function |
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self-assessment and control questions |
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semantic searching |
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concept types searching
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concepts and relations categorization
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map construction, in depth, etc.
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These functions stimulate
and induce the activation of
cognitive processes, attention,
exploration and observation, of analysis and critical
comparison, intuition, of categorization
and reasoning.
All these functions have the technological support of vocal
synthesis, the active voice has an important role,
because it's nearer to human communication.
Interaction with these functions
progressively creates a metacognitive
dialog between the student and the knowledge base, that enlivens
knowledge processing.
This way, the ADHD student acquires a metacognitive regulation
function that progressively creates a framework for his
cognitive processes.
There is a strong
correlation between ADHD and creativity.
Because their
attention wanders easily, the ADHD person can often see a problem
from several different directions and arrive at new, unique
conclusions. It is not unusual for such people to have a number of
careers, sometimes simultaneously. Beside creative, other
characteristics frequently observed in this "community" are:
"artistic", "sprinter", "intuitive", "empathetic", "visionary", "inventive",
"sensitive", "original", "loving", "exuberant".
The diagnostic criteria for ADD seem to fit
into two clear divisions. On the one hand they describe a particular
way of thinking as seen from the outside and on the other they
describe the effect of having this way of thinking in a society that
doesn't tolerate the difference very well. It is not surprising to
find high intelligence and creativity along side depression and low
self-esteem in the adult criteria. Try being highly intelligent or
creative in our conformist society and see what it does to your
self-esteem.
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Knowledge Master
and cognitive training:
Cognitive training consists of a variety of exercises designed to help improve functioning in areas such as attention
control, memory, thinking before acting, visual and auditory processing, listening and reading. The principle
supports cognitive training is to help improve the "core" abilities and self-control necessary before an individual can
achieve success in studies. Knowledge Master exercises "drill for skill" directly in the areas the areas where specific cognitive difficulties occur.
These tasks are highly interactive, use voice "intelligently" and
can be supported with graphics, structures, and multimedia.
Since this approach requires repetition and one to one instruction,
Knowledge Master is the easiest and most cost effective way to implement this type of
training. Knowledge Master also provides the option of game
or puzzle like structures to motivate students to complete training.
Cognitive training is important for the inattentive or distracted student.
This is why in any learning technology for people affected by
ADHD, some specific factors must be involved:
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Strong
interaction
(interaction is an important element because it
raises motivation and attention,
for instance automatic assessment questions,
paths and some other functions in Knowledge
Master).
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Optimal use of
voice. Often, the student affected by ADHD
has also reading problems. Perception of written
concept names and at the the same time
perceiving them read aloud reinforce
concentration in reading and on contents to be
learned. Voice in KM is also associated to
the execution of paths and to the dialog based
on automatic assessment questions. Multimodal
perception also contributes to an optimal use of
working memory.
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Graphical
interface. The graphical interface catches
the attention of the individual affected by any
form of ADD. To this interface, most of the
dynamic functions of Knowledge Master are
associated.
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