NY Times: Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Disorder?

I'm wondering how the concept of this new type of ADHD is moving ahead, or not?  In support of individuality,  June

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo -- Anyone Have an Opinion on This?

Mark Bade

Co-Publisher at 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

Top Contributor

Article in today's NY Times about adding another type of ADHD. nyti.ms/1qpmy9L

4/20/14

June Pecchia

Owner at Teaching UP: Unlimited Potential

What is the standard speed to which "Sluggish" is being compared? Our children deserve time to daydream, certainly. Wish we had better teacher-to-student ratios in public schools, to address individual pacing. A less expensive alternative would be professional classroom aides to also give individual attention, and to offer the teacher alternative insights about each child. Children are individuals; for best outcomes, we need to help them along with some tolerance of variance in pacing.
If you are the kind who worries about the public expense, won't you at least consider our children as our truest form of capital?

• Ellen D.
  
  Ellen D. Fiedler, Ph.D.
  Educational Consultant for Wings for Education, Inc.
  Good points. And, what about time for thoughtful reflection and contemplation? When do bright kids have opportunities for in-depth thinking? Too much of what goes on in schools prompts superficiality. 
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• Mark
  
  Mark Bade
  Co-Publisher at 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter
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  Lots of aspects of SCT vague at this point, at least to us. There are possibilities for misdiagnosis (my interpretation), as Ellen suggests. The lack of data, as June says. (Although it looks as if June's wishes would face lots of legislation and financial battles, good as they are.)
  I was daydreamy as a kid, and look at me now -- trying to adjudicate SCT, a losing proposition. Let me tell you about my favorite childhood books and my daydreams... :-) 
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Corin

Corin Barsily Goodwin
CEO & Executive Director, Gifted Homeschoolers Forum
My biggest concern is that there are few clearly determined boundaries for any of these things... diagnoses suggest a binary on/off, "you have it or you don't" switch. In reality, we're all operating on a spectrum of some kind - lots of gray - and a lot of professionals seem to misunderstand that "normal" (such as it is) is a moving & highly individual target. I'm not saying we shouldn't have diagnoses or labels or whatever - they are very useful tools for understanding - but I suspect that this one may be a good example of pathologizing perfectly OK behavior.

Day one?

Welcome to a spot where I'll share ideas and resources for helping children meet their own highest potential.

Are there concrete proposals you could make to improve the education system in your country?

My response to an NEA (National Education Association; a nationwide teachers' union) International survey that came to me via email:

6/21/14

What would you need to teach better lessons?

TIME to collaborate with colleagues and mentors.  ANOTHER ADULT, could be a professional aide but credentialed teacher is preferred, to spend time with my same cohort of students so together we could assess their needs and develop services.  SUMMER TRAINING and practice for using the latest technologies in the classrooom.  ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT for discipline; students acting out need a place to go other than a corner of the room or another teacher's classroom.  At that time, they also need a qualified adult to talk to them and problem-solve their issues whether they are personal or academic.

           

26. Are there concrete proposals you could make to improve the education system in your country?

1.    Teaching is a delicate and interpersonal art.  The unmeasureable aspects of success as a teacher matter as much as the measureable.  TIME must be available for teacher and student to know each other.  On Saturdays, the (PAID) teacher could set up appointments of 30 minutes or more to be with each student as an individual.  After the initial meeting, the students could rotate to meet with the teacher on subsequent Saturdays, so that the teacher would have at least one 30-minute one-to-one encounter with each student each month.

2.    ALL school administrators– up to and including the Superintendent and Board of Education – need to have taught a minimum of 3 years in the classroom before taking the step of managing teachers. In addition, this essential connection to the child in the classroom should continue to occur a minimum of 3 days during each school year.  Why not save the district a little money by having the credentialed administrative staff be the first choice to cover planned absences for teachers?  This could initiate many invaluable interactions between administrators and teachers, and between administrators and students.

3.    Students need more than one trusted adult – this is usually classroom teacher – to rely on at school.  Teachers need more than their own life experience and professional perspectives to see each child more completely and fairly, so team teaching should be the rule.

4.    To this end, classes of 15 or greater should have two teachers.  To make this more economically feasible, a ratio of two teachers to up to 36 students could work.  Team teachers should teach together, meeting the needs of groups or individuals, 50% or more of each day.  The remaining 50% the class size could be split in half, with each group spending time with with one team teacher or the other.  This would allow each one of the teachers to specialize and provide better service to the students.  With the level of curriculum we are teaching elementary schools in the 21^st century, it is unrealistic to expect that one teacher can be expert in all academic subjects. One teacher may excel and have the greatest inspirational energy for math, science, technology, for example.  The other could be the best to teach language arts, visual arts, and P.E., perhaps. With team teaching, students would get the level of expertise that is required even in the kindergarten class these days.

5.    A student must have a basic level of health in order to learn well. Any school where student access to professional health care providers in the community is difficult NEEDS an onsite school nurse R.N., who is also knowledgeable about that school's population, and preferably can speak at least the two dominant languages of the community.

6.    USA is based on a lovely salad of cultures and languages. Like any people, our students have a vast array of capabilities, proclivities, preferences, weaknesses, and needs.  To allow each child to continually become his or her own “personal best”, some degree of academic tracking is necessary.  A student with the highest innate intellectual and academic abilities is just as needy of specialized instruction – and grouping with peers who meet and challenge them – as a student at the opposite end of the special needs spectrum, and just as needy as the mythical “average” student.  Without “Gifted and Talented” programs, we allow our future pathfinders to languish and become lazy, last-minute producers of work that is the best in the class, yet woefully short of the work they could produce.  Every American school needs education specialists to help GATE students.

7.    For the English language in America to have some continuity and predictability, teachers who teach English should be native speakers of the language, or at least have acquired articulate native proficiency with spelling, conventions, and pronunciation.  Ideally, all teachers would be speech models of standard American English. (Understandable accents add flavor and are acceptable, but a teacher with a limited vocabulary and facility with English grammar cannot help students gain the proficiency they need.

8.    English as a Second Language learners need to learn basic academic English before and/or in conjunction with learning subject matter. NEA survey, June 2014

As I was updating teachingup.com today to announce the 2013 San Diego County Fair Oratorical Contest theme, I was glad to find the link to a blow-em-away speech given by Cameron Whitfield, a Speaking Up student in 2011.  His interpretation of one of my favorite poems by Jane Yolen, "Owl Moon" will transport you to a snowy forest, quietly looking for owls.  Take a break and enjoy his masterful speech now.  To my disappointment, Cameron did not place in the competition that year; can you believe it?  Still Cameron and his family celebrated his successful speech with full joy, as they well should.  Cameron gave his all and will keep that feeling of pride in his powerful performance always.

The SD Fair Theme this year is "Game On!", and refers to board games, video games, etc.

The speech contest theme is "It's All Fun and Games..."

Starting in April, I'll again offer classes to help children learn techniques for effective speech presentations. In addition to techniques, I assist each child in finding a text that will fit the theme and match his/her spirit. I've just posted the class dates & times on teachingup.com .  

At your request, classes can be added in locations that are convenient to children who live too far away to come to my location.

I'm also available for individual coaching.

Happy Spring to all!

June

P.S. I've noticed that fewer girls come to my classes than boys, and so fewer of them compete and/or claim their place on the podium for prizes.  While I love working with boys, I would really like to empower more girls in this arena.  I'd love to offer a class this year for girls-only, so please let me know if you have a group of 3-8 girls I could coach.

STEM vs. STEAM in education today

As a language arts specialist, I agree with Robert's assessment that we need to delineate more clearly all the elements teachers are striving for in "preparing for the students' future roles in college, career, and community after graduation."  
I believe each adult who cares for a child from toddler age and up needs to help the child learn the world in all these ways. 
Let's not let the arts be hidden again as 20% of an acronym.

STEM vs. STEAM

Time spent snuggling while reading aloud is a gift that grows within the child.

Time spent snuggling while reading aloud                                                                         is a gift that grows within the child. 

Consider less time holiday shopping                                                                                 and more time holiday nurturing.            

This linking of family love with love of learning                                            perpetuates for generations.

http://magellanmontessori.com/blog/85/little-more-art-reading-aloud

I wholeheartedly agree with this post from Magellan Montessori.  A young child who listens to fluent, heartfelt reading aloud imitates it.  That child is gaining an advantage that will serve a lifetime.  We all need others to listen to our ideas, feelings, dreams.  Yet if we deliver them without emotion or intention, they often fall on deaf ears.  Each of us who cares about children must make a personal effort to expose them to dramatic and persuasive reading, then encourage them to 'ham it up' themselves. They will have fun and build essential life skills.

ALL STAR! by Jane Yolen... great book about Honus Wagner

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275817159m/6656790.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star">All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5989.Jane_Yolen">Jane Yolen</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/301254783">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
In luminous artwork that plays so beautifully with shadows, illustrator Jim Burke manipulates perspective in interesting ways, such as one page that provoked my husband to look over and joke..."He's so big, what team was he on?  The Giants!"  Truly Wagner was a giant, and one of my favorite writers, Jane Yolen, gently reveals so many reasons for his status.
<br/>
<br/>If you love picture books, read it.
<br/>If you love picture book art, enjoy it.
<br/>If you love American history... sports... baseball... inspiring stories... Get it!
<br/><br/>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5888239-june-pecchia">View all my reviews</a>