Helping Our Colorado Kids Cope with ADD/ADHD in Douglas County

We know that living with a student who has ADD or ADHD can be frustrating at times, but learning coping mechanism and ways in which to channel all that energy into something positive will mean that you have a happier home and a student who stays ahead of the game academically. Here are some techniques you can use to help your student to excel.

Understanding your role

Students with ADD or ADHD have trouble with executive functioning. They are every bit as capable and intelligent as other students, but they have trouble planning ahead, seeing consequences, organizing, controlling impulses and completing the task at hand. This means you have to work with your in-home tutor and your teacher to provide guidance and take over these executive functions until your student learns the skills to be independent.

While they want to sit quietly in class, follow instructions and complete tasks, they need to acquire the tools to do so. They are rarely purposefully disruptive, but it’s important to recognize that they can be and manage the impact they have on parents, siblings and class members.

Stay positive and supportive

Remember that not being able to follow instructions or complete tasks can be just as frustrating for your student as it is for you. When you stay positive and calm, you will help them to build confidence and won’t make them think that they are always doing something wrong. Always remember that they are not being purposefully difficult and try to be supportive and encouraging.

Focus on the positive

Believe in your student and believe that they are capable of learning the skills they need to succeed. This will mean that you focus on the positive and don’t sweat the small stuff. When your student does three out of five of their chores, focus on the ones they did and praise them for those while gently reminding them of the ones they left out.

Create structure

Routines and structure will help your students to establish the tasks they need to do and the time they have to complete them. Establish a schedule for getting ready in the morning, doing homework and evening routines. Use clocks or timers to remind students of the time limits and to refocus them when their attention is diverted elsewhere. Keep routines as simple as possible.

Free time

Not every minute of every day should be structured. Allow your student some free time and their own space.

Activity

Physical activity helps students with ADHD and ADD to find a positive outlet for all their energy. Sports are a great way to get your students active and to allow them to rid themselves of all that energy.

Diet

Avoiding refined sugars and other processed foods will help your student to focus and to sleep better. Without the rush of too much sugar and with a good night’s sleep, they will be able to cope better.

Socializing

Encourage your students to make friends with their peers. Healthy social lives will help them to feel a sense of belonging and friends can provide support and encouragement.

Get involved

Every single student will thrive when their parents are involved in their lives and supportive of their academic and sporting endeavors. Keep in touch with your teachers and tutors to ensure that your student is progressing well and take an interest in them. Spend time with them and really listen to them.

Take care of yourself

Ensure that you have your own support network of friends and family members. You can also contact other parents who have students with ADD or ADHD and form a support group. Take time out and make sure that you get to focus on yourself from time to time. Happy parents make for far happier children.

Getting some additional support and tools

If you think your student may benefit from homework support or better executive skill training, we would be glad to setup a free consultation to discuss some support options. 

Please give us a call at 720-638-1373 and ask for Daniel.

DIY STEM Projects for Kids in Castle Rock

Like many of you, I recently bought bargain binders, dollar notebooks and other school supplies.  However, in the name of after-school enrichment at home and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) projects, I also took advantage of seasonal sales to stock up on supplies for my makerspace.

Makerspace?

A makerspace is basically a spot where you make stuff. It could be an elaborate community creative space, an area in your basement or garage, or just a TV tray in a dedicated corner of your family room. I’m lucky to have a home that came with a well-worn workbench in the basement, the original man cave, if you will. But like a cave, the basement workshop is a dark, dank spot that isn’t much fun to hang out in, so it functions more as a storage area. The actual tinkering and creation of things tends to take place on my dining room table. Regardless of location and aesthetics, the making is more crucial than the space.

Making is not only a creative outlet but is also an activity that can build STEM knowledge, the most sought-after 21st-century skill set. Designing, measuring, building or even taking things apart helps developing minds enhance abilities in these critical areas.

Stocking Your Makerspace

• Mark It — My boys were never big on traditional art supplies like crayons and paint, but your mileage may vary. To make markers more interesting, acquire a range of types like gel pens, permanent markers, spy pens or paint pens, taking care to note which ones may leave permanent stains.
• Build, Baby, Build — Fill your space with inexpensive building materials:

Toothpicks

Straws

Wooden skewers

Popsicle® sticks

Drinking straws

Twist-ties

Chenille stems (formerly known as pipe cleaners)

Corks (go ahead, finish that bottle of winein the name of enriching your child’s education)

Tubes from toilet paper, wrapping paper and paper towels

Sturdy corrugated cardboard boxes, as well as chipboard from cereal and snack boxes, are like giant building blocks. They can also be cut, colored and otherwise manipulated to make new things. (http://cainesarcade.com/)

Finally, PVC piping and joints are another great resource for all kinds of fanciful inventions.

• A Cut Above — Special scissors make special projects. Look for scissors that leave unique decorative marks like jagged edges, wavy edges and other intricate styles.

• When Things Get Sticky — What my younger boy lacked in attraction to crayons he made up for in his love of tape. It started when he was in preschool and last year, as a seventh grader, he came home from school with an inventive sculpture created solely out of transparent tape (created during a few stolen moments in class, apparently). This is an amazing decade for tape. In addition to old standbys like masking, painter’s and transparent tape, there’s an explosion of decorative tapes on the market that can add a splash of special to any project. Even duct tape now comes in bright colors and fun patterns that have not gone unnoticed to makers. Loads of duct tape projects are just a click away.

• Connect — Tape can also hold things together, as can paperclips and brads, those brass tack like objects that have two little legs or prongs and allow for motion between connected objects.  Twist-ties, chenille stems and magnets can also be used for this purpose. If your child can safely handle the heat, a hot glue gun really helps things stick together.

• Electrify — Help your child dabble in electronics with basic supplies, such as button cell batteries, LED lights, battery leads and DC motors.

You might feel more comfortable with a starter kit that comes with suggested projects or a set like littleBits that enables kids without prior electronics experience to easily add sensors, lights and movement to maker projects. It’s worth noting that littleBits are also the most girl-friendly electronics I’ve come across to date.

If your children are ready to take their electronics to the next level, read up on things such as Arduino, theRaspberry Pi or the Makey-Makey, which makes anything into a keyboard. You can check out one of my younger teen’s projects here.

Did I miss anything? You might have noticed I didn’t mention glitter. It’s pretty much the only craft supply I ban from my house, and with two boys, I’ve never had anyone question my policy. What are your favorite maker supplies?

Kim Moldofsky started out as a dolphin trainer and later became a potty trainer. Now this leading Social Media Mom of two teen boys blogs hosts online chats and createsvideo content in addition to consulting and speaking at events.

Kim married her love of science and passion for blogging in 2012 by launching a blog reflecting her interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). That blog, The Maker Mom, is dedicated to helping parents raise STEM-loving, Maker-friendly kids.

Kim M started out as a dolphin trainer and later became a potty trainer. Now this leading Social Media Mom of two teen boys blogs hosts online chats and creates video content in addition to consulting and speaking at events.

Kim married her love of science and passion for blogging in 2012 by launching a blog reflecting her interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). That blog, The Maker Mom, is dedicated to helping parents raise STEM-loving, Maker-friendly kids.

How to Get a Early Start on the College Search

Now that I have successfully sent one child off to college, my friends tend to ask me for college prep and selection advice. Top question — how many schools did you visit, and how did you work it into their busy schedules?

I love watching their faces when I tell them, “Twenty-six schools, seriously.”I know they are thinking, “Isn’t that really overdoing it?” Look, in true mama-says-so fashion, I only do this stuff if it’s going to work out well for me.

“College search” was the single best excuse I have found so far to travel and hangout with my kids.  And because it was all about them, they totally went along with it. (Suckers!) Now, we didn’t wait to start the college visit odyssey in the 11th grade.

Over the last few years, we worked campus visits into vacations, so both of our kids could start to get a mental picture of how big schools differed from small schools. It gave me the opportunity to see what some of these schools, that I only hear about during March Madness, actually look like. We saw Stanford on a San Francisco vacation when my son was in eighth grade, the University of Arizona while we visited Phoenix, and so on. I even managed a spring break business trip in L.A. where I had both kids fly out and we hit USC and UCLA.

It wasn’t until 10th grade Christmas break when we started working in specific college visits, where we officially signed up and listened to the pitches. I made my son do all of the online pre-work to register us for every visit. It proved to be an effective way to gradually transfer his enrollment responsibility from me to him. When we went to visit my family in Dayton for the holiday, we drove from Chicago so we could hit the University of Illinois, University of Dayton, Ohio State and Vanderbilt. Seeing several schools in a short spread was interesting because we could compare the schools and start identifying what “lit” him up and what turned him off.

We also got much better at asking useful questions by listening to other families at the early campus visits.My son went from asking, “Where do you go for good pizza here?” to “Do you offer merit scholarships?” and “How important is Greek life at the university?” Practice does make perfect.

During the spring of his junior year, on long weekends, he and I would cash in my frequent flyer tickets and hit some schools that were high on his list. I also extended an NYC business trip so he could join me to tour Columbia and NYU. He didn’t end up attending either, but we have an epic memory of running the Central Park loop together.

In that critical summer between junior and senior years of high school, I planned a vacation to see multiple schools during one trip. My kids and I went to the Boston area and hit five schools and crushed the Freedom Trail. We visited old friends, learned the train system, ran the St. Charles jogging route and did Boston like crazed tourists. We threw in New Haven and Providence just to round the trip out. On another trip, we took our French exchange student with us to explore the Washington, D.C., Virginia and North Carolina schools.

Ultimately, my son sorted out that he liked schools with a defined campus, an accessible big city and a sports tradition. Oh yes, and he then sorted out the schools that offered the majors and programs that were of interest to him. In the end, he chose based on the major and a well-informed “gut feel” for the school.

Sure, there was a lot of online research that went into the college planning, but nothing — and I mean nothing — beats a good ole road trip to a campus. J Fitzgerald