Just medication is not going to improve your child’s academic performance!

A recent research study by Dr Jeffrey Epstein of the Center for ADHD at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio indicates that just following pediatric guidelines for treatment of ADD, didn’t result in functional changes for children with ADHD. Just proper medication didn’t change their school performance at all.

More simply put:” Pills don’t teach Skills!

The study suggested that ADHD kids needed additional training in organization and academic skillls to improve academic performance. This finding flies in the face of the “just give ‘em their meds and they’ll be all right.”school of treatment. Medication by itself will not help your child improve his or her grades.

This research combined with the research on the importance of working memory to academic performance (see Working Memory beats IQ in School, 02-23-2010) builds a strong case for the importance of computerized cognitive retraining (CCR) for improving academic performance of kids with ADHD.

I personally am more confident recommending CCR for students with ADHD after reading these studies.While the effectiveness of CCR in improving working memory is well-researched and well-proven, the extension to improved academic performance is now firmly established.

CCR improves academic performance. Period.

If your child is struggling in school, you need to strongly consider CCR. Approximately 30 sessions over a few months time will make a big difference.

{ 0 comments }

Working memory is more important to academic success than IQ, according to recent research.  Why is that important to ADHD parents and what the heck is working memory anyway?

Working memory is the ability to keep information in awareness until a task is accomplished. An example would be when you tell your child to do three things and only two get done ( if  you’re lucky). People with ADHD have very poor working memory, so your child’s difficulties in school are likely related to difficulties with working memory.

The research was recently published in The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology by Dr. Tracy Alloway. It indicates that working memory is more important to academic success than IQ. Working memory is also the best predictor of reading,spelling and math

IQ is a very unreliable predictor of academic performance. Indeed, if I only had a nickel for every time a parent has told me– “He’s  very smart , he just doesn’t get good grades.”

So, the bad news is that here’s another problem for ADHD kids.

The good news is that working memory is something we know how to improve. The research on neuroplasticity indicates that the brain adapts and adjusts to the demands we make on it.

Computerized Cognitive Retraining(CCR) is a very effective, well-researched and efficient approach to improving working memory. We have known that CCR improves working memory,but we haven’t had direct evidence that it impacts education directly. Now we do.

This research also explains why tutoring for ADHD kids is frequently not effective. It’s not aimed at the right target. Its not designed to, nor does it improve working memory.

CCR can specifically target working memory and improve it . The improvements take 20-30 sessions of CCR to become noticeable and they last because you’re training and structurally changing your brain. MRI studies show that CCR causes growth in the specific part of the brain targeted by the program.

The part of your brain that’s involved in working memory actually gets bigger and more dense. (Density is good in this case because it means more dendritic connections, that is your neurons are talking to each other better.)

If you have questions about CCR and ADHD and/or school performance, feel free to contact me.

{ 0 comments }

ADHD Brains-Cognitive Behavior Therapy

February 18, 2010

ADHD kids are plagued by emotions that are frequently out of control. They are emotionally labile–happy one minute, enraged the next. They appear to have little control over their emotions.
This is a cause of significant distress for the child and everyone around him or her.
One of the characteristics of ADHD children who are sucessful in [...]

Read the full article →

ADHD Brains–Internal Structure

December 1, 2009

Disorganization is one of the hallmarks of the ADHD brain. We’ve already talked about the need for external structure to improve performance for ADHD’ers.
This is the first step in developing an internalized ability to organize. For a child with ADHD to learn to be a reasonably organized person, he or she must experience organization and [...]

Read the full article →

Training ADHD Brains–Structure

November 19, 2009

Chaos without reinforces chaos within.  ADHD Brains are different.
ADHD kids live with chronic chaos–in their brains. Their innner experience is frequently disorganized, unfocused  and not particularly goal oriented.
When scientists look at their brain functions, ADHD kids have underactive frontal lobes  and generate more of the brain waves associated with disorganized thinking.
They, more so than other [...]

Read the full article →

Training the ADHD Brain–Meditation

September 22, 2009

When I was a boy psychologist first learning about ADHD, I thought meditation, relaxation training and/or hypnosis  should be an effective treatment because it trains the mind to focus.
One of the attempts to define hypnosis even calls it a state of heightened focus. Additionally, my patients were reporting heightened abilities to concentrate after starting one [...]

Read the full article →

Training the ADHD Brain–Neurofeedback

September 8, 2009

Another drug-free approach to improving cognitive performance is neurofeedback.
It is a biofeedback methodology that gives the individual feedback about the kind of brainwaves being generated and trains the individual to produce the appropriate brain waves.
The brain waves associated with focused attention are called Beta. The brain waves associated with disorganized thinking are called Theta. With [...]

Read the full article →

Training the ADHD Brain-Computerized Cognitive Retraining

September 1, 2009

Training the ADHD brain to better control attentional processes is now possible and it doesn’t require medication. Your child or husband can learn to improve attention, consistency and behavior by exercising his or her brain with computerized cognitive retraining.
CCR has  two major features–1. it involves training based on neuroplasticity and 2. it is  not medication-based.
Neuroplasticity [...]

Read the full article →

Training the ADHD Brain

August 25, 2009

In the years since I was a boy psychologist,we have discovered that it is possible to train people’s brains to improve attention,memory, working memory and almost every other cognitive function. More recently we’ve discovered that it also works for ADHD!
Different training techniques improve different brain functions without medication. In some cases medication is discontinued, in [...]

Read the full article →

STRATEGIC PARENTING

July 25, 2009

As parents of attention-deficit-disorder (ADD) and/or learning-disabled (LD) children, we are so busy dealing with daily crises that we sometimes lose sight of what we’re trying to accomplish with our offspring. With all the hassles of getting up, getting off to school, getting books and homework assignments home and then getting them done, dealing temper [...]

Read the full article →