Why I Love Khan Academy

I’m a bit of a geek.  Actually, I’m a total geek.  I once owned a device known as an Apple Newton - two of them as a matter of fact.  If you know what that is, you are probably laughing right now.  I am always interested in the latest technological “stuff”.

About five years ago, my son Wil told me about a website called Khan Academy.  Kids at his school were using it to help with their physics class and math classes.  At that point it was just videos.  He showed me one.  I thought it was pretty cool.  I could even understand what the guy was talking about.  My historical track record with both math and physics is not good.  I kept it in the back of my mind and started recommending it to my high school clients.  Seemed like a new way to do things.

Last year a young lady came to my office at school with a math worksheet.  She was in fourth grade at the time.  The worksheet was on subtracting mixed numbers.  She just needed some individual help to get going.  I started to show her how to do it the way I was taught.  She stopped me and said, “That’s the way my Dad does it, and it’s wrong.  My teacher does it a different way and now I’m all confused.”  Khan Academy (KA) to the rescue!  All of a sudden we had somebody explaining it “the right way.” 

While I was on the site, I noticed this time that you could do math exercises along with watching the videos.  I decided to spend time relearning math.  So I set up an account and started working.  I can tell you that’s it’s pretty cool.  When you log on for the first time, it does a quick evaluation to see where you are.  Then it presents you with appropriate exercises.  The results show your on-going level of mastery.

As someone with ADD and working memory issues, there are several things I like about the math skills module of this program.  I like the fact that you only have to answer five problems in a row correctly before you can move onto another exercise.  Every problem has instant feedback, and you can’t move to the next problem without putting in the right answer.  To find the right answer, you need to look at all the problem steps (called “hints”) one at a time.  If you don’t know how to do the problem, the hints and a video are right on the screen to help you out.  For every skill you attempt, you earn points and “badges.”  You can ignore those or use them as incentive.  So positive reinforcement is intermittent and frequent.

As a Montessorian, there are other things I also like about Khan Academy.  Yes, it’s computer based and it’s not truly didactic in the same way that the other math materials are.  It is self-correcting.  It is also tailored to the individual right off the bat, and can be further tailored to meet individual need and skill practice.  It is self-paced.  The interface is easy to use, so it promotes independent learning.  Children can explore skills that interest them as well as do those needed to meet standards. Planning a garden and need to know how to calculate area?  A child can learn that concept from scratch right here.  The program does offer extrinsic rewards in the form of points and badges. Instead of rewarding simple mastery of skills, it provides the biggest rewards for effort.  I like that.

As an educator, I like the program for the student data it provides.  Not only does the program show me which skills a child is practicing, it shows how well the child has mastered them.  Is a child struggling with a particular concept?  I can look at the answers they entered for each problem attempt and see how long it took them between attempts.  Often you can see if the child is guessing, or where they might be missing a piece of the concept.  The skills align grade level with Common Core standards, which can be handy.

Is this the only way or the best way to teach math?  No.  Technology is never going to replace the one-on-one relationship between a student and a teacher.  Is Khan Academy an important tool? Yes.  As a child who struggled with math, this tool would have made a great deal of difference for me.  It helps a lot of the children I work with.

I know that Sal Khan and Bill Gates have lately taken it in the teeth for the “corporatization” of education.  “With material online, they will be able to sell more computers.”  Yep, and with material printed in books, McGuffey sold a lot of readers.  So I’m not sure the criticism is entirely fair.  That is a whole other post.  I do hope that Khan Academy continues to be strong, adds a lot more interactive material, and is always used with mindfulness.

Teachers (and Parents) - This is Why Your ADHD Student Isn't Working - Part 2 of 4.

"It is less painful to be told that one is lazy than that one is incapable.  In short, laziness serves as a screen to hide the child's lack of faith in himself, prohibiting him from making attempts to cope with the problems confronting him."

 - Alfred Adler [1]

........."what distinguishes someone with ADHD from someone without it is that they appear to be less mature (are age inappropriate) in their ability to engage in self-regulation toward specific goals and the future more generally. If one is to help someone with ADHD, they must be helped to either overcome these delays or at least compensate for them (make accommodations to them) if they are to be more effective or successful in managing themselves, getting to their tasks and goals, and preparing for their future more generally. 

-       Dr. Russell Barkley [2]

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”

-       A. A. Milne      Here’s the second part of our four part series on why kids with ADHD don’t always work.  Last week we talked about not understanding or hearing directions, and some ways to help with that.  This week we are talking about “getting going.”

Problem #2 - They know what they are supposed to do, but don't know how get started, or get stuck and don’t know how to get started again.

      Lets say an assignment says the following:  “Writing Journal: Free Choice.  Write at least three paragraphs.”  A child in 3^rd or 4^th grade who is neurotypical and has average writing skills can say to themselves, “First I have to figure out what to write about.  Then I have to figure out my topic sentence.  Then I have to figure out what I’m going to put in each paragraph.  Then I have to write it.  Then I’m going to edit it.”  They may not complete all the steps correctly, but they remember what the steps are, and can use self-talk and planning to make it through from start to finish.  If they get stuck, they can re-start by thinking, “What am I supposed to do now?” and then appropriately answer that question. Following through on procedures and planning in the previous example requires three Executive Functions – working memory, appropriate internal self-talk, and decision-making.  

For this particular task, there’s a big obstacle right off the bat – deciding what to write about.  For ADHD children this decision can be difficult to make on their own.  First of all, there may be so many competing ideas it may be hard to narrow down the choices.  Secondly, there may be reluctance to make a decision because there is difficulty forecasting whether or not it’s a good decision.  i.e.:  “If I write about going with my dog to the park yesterday, will there be enough for three paragraphs?”  Children may react to this challenge in two different ways.  The first reaction might be to just try and start writing something without thinking anything through first.  The second might be to avoid starting the task altogether.  Either way, it could be a recipe for getting stuck.

Solutions:

•  Write Down Procedures  - There’s an organizational method that’s popular with a lot of ADHD adults called Getting Things Done, or GTD.  A man named David Allen developed it about ten years ago.  (Wiki - GTD)  One of the tenets of GTD is that anything with more than two steps is defined as a Project.  Project steps should be written down, so that focusing on what needs to be done is not hampered by recall – unless the recall has become automatic.  By this definition, a long division problem for a 4^th grader might be a Project.  Yes, I know the procedures for doing a long division problem are in the workbook or textbook.  But they might be in the middle of a block of text, may be overly complicated, or the steps may be interrupted by text.  The child who is stuck may need graphic procedures that are simple and no more than five steps.  One way to figure out what an individual child needs is to have them write their own procedure.  That way they can list the items they are most likely to forget, put things on the list that have the most meaning to them, and describe the procedure in the way that they like to remember it.  We can all describe how to do a load of laundry, but the method we use and how we describe it can vary from person to person.

• ·      Help Narrow Down Choice When Possible  - Children love free choice, don’t they?  Weellll yes, but sometimes for some of us it can get overwhelming.  If you offer free choice to your class, provide two or three suggestions.  So the instructions above might be modified to read: “Writing Journal: Free Choice.  You might want to write about how your family celebrates Martin Luther King Day or whether or not you think we should have to make up snow days, but you can write about anything you would like.  Write at least three paragraphs.” 

• ·      Focus on What’s Next – Getting stuck can sometimes lead to confusion and/or anxiety for an ADHD child.  One way to reduce confusion and anxiety is to focus on the Next Action.  This happens to be another tenet of GTD.  When a child is stuck, a helpful question might be, “What is the very next thing you need to do?”  For a large project, that next thing may need to be broken down into even smaller pieces.  For example, if the next part of the project is to create a poster, that activity may need to become a sub-project with an end date of it’s own.  After a procedure is written down for that part of the project, the very next thing might be “Get a sheet of poster board.”  When the child stalls, they can be brought back to the very Next Action.

• ·      Practice Appropriate Self-Talk  - Children and adults can learn how to practice appropriate self-talk.  It’s actually a part of something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT.  (CBT and ADHD) Adults can practice this individually with children, a small group, or the entire class.  “Let’s suppose you are doing your work and you get stuck.  An adult might not be able to help you for a little while.  What are some things you can say to yourself that will be helpful?”  Some children will come up with answers like, “I can move onto something else while I’m waiting”, or “I can ask another child”.  You can also offer alternatives such as, “What’s the very next thing I need to do?” or “If I try again I might be able to figure it out” or “If I need to ask for help it’s OK”.  In a group you might want to hand out index cards and ask children to write one or two of their favorite solutions so they can tape them on their desk or table.  Make sure you write the solutions somewhere so that children can copy them and don’t have to rely on memory or auditory skills.  This is also an activity that you might ask your school counselor to do with some or all of your children.  CBT is actually a good technique for children who are dealing with any type of negative self-talk whether it relates to depression, anxiety, or other issues. 

All three of these solutions will benefit other children in your classroom – not just those with ADHD.  For example, writing down new procedures and practicing positive self-talk are just good habits that help most people.  Once again you are engaged in Universal Design of Instruction.  

You can follow me on Twitter @pam327 or on Facebook at Pamela Mecca Seymour, LPC

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[1] Adler, Alfred, and Heinz Ludwig Ansbacher. The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler, a Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings. Ed. and Annotated by Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher. New York: Harper Torch, 1964. Print.

[2]  Barkley, Russell A., PhD. N.d. MS. The Important Role of Executive Functioning and Self - Regulation in ADHD. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. <http://www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/ADHD_EF_and_SR.pdf>.

Montessori, Maria. The Absorbent Mind. New York: Henry Holt, 1995. Print.

ADHD and Lying

This is a biggie, and a real problem for many parents when it comes to ADHD and schoolwork. 

“Have you done that science project?”

“Yep, and handed it in.”

“Have you finished your English paper?”

“Yep, and handed it in.”

Note from teacher (usually by the time it’s really too late to make them up) - I’m missing these assignments...........

Follow-up results in some more disassembling - “I put it right on the desk, she must have lost it.”  OR  “I emailed it, his email must not be working.”  All attempts at finding the missing work are unsuccessful.

ARGGHHHH!!!

Some of you may be laughing or crying right now, because you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

So why does this happen?  In short, it’s a mal-adaptive way of dealing with being overwhelmed, and it’s a phenomena that is created by all whole host of executive functions coming up short.  First of all, we have the personal disorganization that results in the assignment being forgotten, or the rubric being lost (which your child needs because they really didn’t hear the multi-step directions due to inability to attend), or not keeping up with the calendar (“what day is it, anyway?”) So the assignment doesn’t get done, completed, and/or handed in on the right day.  Now stuff is starting to back up, so poor sense of time and inability to manage emotion lead to feeling overwhelmed.  Personal disorganization comes up again with a lack of necessary skills to plan to “dig out”.  More work backs up and the cycle repeats.  In the meantime, parents and teachers are asking (nagging) about getting everything done.  Because your child values short-term gain over long term reward (which requires perseverance), the illogical conclusion is to just tell everyone what they want to hear and hope that somehow it all works out / the next assignment has a better grade to make up for the zero / they will really get organized tomorrow / they will study really hard for the next test and get a 100 / or other sorts of magical thinking. 

This can get to be habitual and really devastating, so it’s important to address in a really practical, consistent way.  Some suggestions:

1.   Don’t condone or excuse the lying, but don’t focus on it as a character flaw.  People who feel that they are inherently “bad” don’t see a reason to try and improve.  A better approach is talk about how you will work together to end the need for lying because it damages relationships.

2.  When your child volunteers that they have assignments that are missing or incomplete, thank them for telling you. You want to encourage this.  It’s yet another way they have to admit they messed up which is difficult for all of us.  People with ADHD need to learn how to ask for appropriate help when they need it, and you are reinforcing that skill.

3.  Assume that stuff is sometimes going to get lost and that not all assignments are likely to get turned in on time.  It’s your reality, and your child’s reality, especially in middle school and high school.  Work to mitigate the problem as much as possible rather than deny that it’s ever going to happen.

4. If nobody else is doing it, keep track of back assignments and calendar their completion in a public place.  Follow up with the teacher immediately on the day they are supposed to be turned in to make sure they got there.  This often needs to happen into high school, and despite hearing from teachers that your child needs to be independent, your child needs that extra accommodation and it’s fine. 

5.  If you have a copier or scanner, ask your child everyday if they have a rubric, form, directions, or a completed assignment that they would like to copy.  Put the copy in a designated location and give them back the original.  Sometimes those assignments really do get lost and it’s good habit to have a back-up.  Scan or copy all important documents.

6. Talk to your children about ways to repair relationships that have been damaged by lying including teachers, friends, and you.  Often an apology note to the teacher with some steps your child is taking to avoid the problem in the future can go a long way.  Emphasize that relationships can be repaired.

It takes time to learn new habits.  If your child has started lying about schoolwork, it’s not going to stop overnight.  Your continuing positive approach can help turn the habit around and teach you how to live with your child and teach your child how to live with themselves.

Follow me on Twitter @pam327 - FB at Pamela Mecca Seymour, LPC

Montessori and ADHD

 “The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy."

“To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom.”

Maria Montessori 

The relationship between ADHD and the Montessori classroom is a tricky one.  Montessori is neither a panacea for children with ADHD, nor an environment that they should avoid altogether.  ADHD is not caused nor cured by diet, the frenetic pace of our culture, television, or poor parenting.  (See my comment about the first article below, and the author's repsonse)  Those issues can certainly affect the severity of ADHD symptoms and a child's ability to develop coping mechanisms, but ADHD stems from structural differences in the brain, is highly heritable, and was first identified in this country before the Civil War.  I am sure that Dr. Montessori met and observed some children who might have been identified as "mentally defective," but may actually have been living with ADHD.

The traditional Montessori classroom, when properly designed and maintained, can be beneficial to a child with ADHD.  Particularly in Children's House, the environment is structured to develop control and concentration.  (I have used some traditional Montessori activities, such as "walking the line" with some of my younger non-Montessori ADHD clients to a good effect) The child has freedom within the structure of the classroom, and can spend a long period of time on activities of choice.  The child learns how to remember and apply multi-step directions when they choose a work, take it off the shelf and carry it to a work area, complete the work, pick it up, and put it away - all of which must be done in a specific fashion.  All of those skills are important for children with ADHD to learn and practice.  Some children with ADHD require years of practice before those skills are mastered.   Children with ADHD will be done a disservice in the classroom when the teacher does not recognize that the child may not be capable of fully implementing these skills without the help of the teacher or a classmate.  Likewise, it will not help the child if the requirements to operated within the defined behavioral parameters of the classroom are ignored.  For the ADHD child to be successful, both the teacher and the parents must be willing to ask the child to perform at the highest level of capability, while providing assistance so that the child will still be successful.  In some schools this balance may be difficult.  More on that in a minute.

Older children must also learn and practice the skills of moving from one work to another in a timely fashion so that they complete enough work each day to make adequate academic progress.  For children with the executive function issues around ADHD, that can be a daunting challenge.  Activation (starting a task - particularly one perceived as difficult), perserverance, and organization all take a hit in the ADHD brain.  Since children in Montessori school often see their worth in the amount of work they complete, continued failure in this area can lead to discouragement and even depression.  A child in a Montessori classroom who is either spending the day wandering around the room with no substantive tasks completed, or a child who is just sitting complacently without showing willingness to attempt anything independently are both illustrations of this problem.  A child who begins to exhibit behavior that seems angry or defiant may also have arrived at the same place.  Again, the teacher who understands how ADHD truly impacts issues around work completion will be able to identify a discouraged or anxious child and will modify the child's environment accordingly, without labeling the child as "lazy", "oppositional", or "unmotivated".  The parents will also need to do their part to listen to teacher concerns as soon as they are voiced, and provide their child with the appropriate assistance at home.  This assistance may need to go beyond medication to things such as creating a structured schedule to help continue the "Montessori Day" into the home, learning all that they can about ADHD and how it affects their child, and agreeing to participate in the extra help that might be offered at and outside of school.

The challenge for many Montessori schools at the present time - particularly public Montessori schools - involves the ability to accommodate children with ADHD within the parameters of shrinking staffs and increasing demands for children to meet benchmarks on a yearly basis.  Even with two adults, it is a challenge to meet the needs of 25+ children on a truly individual basis.  In addition, the degree to which the plan of work may be modified for a child when the school has target standards to meet is limited.  In a traditional Montessori environment, where learning takes place in a three year cycle, children can often take time to practice and master classroom skills that require growth of executive functions. I'm not speaking of skills doing math or writing a paragraph or answering comprehension questions; rather I'm speaking of the skills required to develop a plan of work, do the work completely and properly, ask for help when needed, and do it all in a timely fashion.  Often once they have developed some mastery of those executive functions, learning is accelerated in subsequent years. Children in many types of public schools no longer have the luxury of time to develop executive function skills according to their own developmental timetable, and teachers certainly do not have time to teach them.  Standards are expected to be met on a yearly basis.

So if your child has ADHD, or you suspect they do, you must consider the following things before enrolling your child in any particular Montessori school, whether it's public or private:

• How much bandwidth do you as a parent have for assisting your child at home?  Are you prepared to continue the "Montessori Day" with the appropriate amount of structure in your home to help your ADHD child?  Are you willing to use agencies and providers to help with ADHD outside of school if it becomes necessary?  
• Are you willing to adopt and support the philosophy and structure of the school, even when you child is not always successful meeting the school's expectations?
• Does your child become discouraged easily?  Learning how to behave independently can be difficult work for a Montessori child.  How much comfort do you have with your child trying and being unsuccessful?  Independence often results in "skinned knees."
• Does your child tend to misbehave or "shut down" in an environment with lots of choice and stimulation?
• How well to the teachers understand the Montessori theories of developing control and concentration and how do they apply those theories in their classrooms?
• How well does the staff at the school truly understand ADHD beyond a child's difficulty sitting still or paying attention?  Do they understand what executive functions are and how they impact a child in the classroom?  Do they know and use positive interventions for children with ADHD?
• What is the school's philosophy about grade-level benchmarks and testing?  What is your philosophy?  If your child shows a slow rate of gain academically in one particular year while they are developing skills for staying productively on task,  how will the school react?  How will you react?  
• Will there be continual pressure for your child to perform independently yet be "on grade level?"

If any of those things are concerns for you, your child might not thrive in that particular Montessori environment, or might not be a good fit for Montessori at all.  For two other perspectives, I offer the articles below.

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-flores-shaw/after-ritalin-whats-next_b_1271750.html

http://tracylynnconway.hubpages.com/hub/adhdandmontessori

My Education Wish List for 2014

If I had a magic wand, this is what I would want to conjure for my colleagues and students in all of the schools I know and love, and all others beside:

1.  I would create an app that would bounce all ugly emails sent by parents to teachers between the hours of 9:30 PM and 6:30 AM.  Shame on you if you've done this.  I do not care if you were frustrated with the homework assignment, or if your child reports a story of the teacher saying something mean or doing something unfair.  In my experience at the other end of your damage, as I'm listening and handing out Kleenex and trying to convince the recipient of their value as a teacher, you usually only have about 1/2 the story correct.  Even if the teacher committed an egregious error, your responsibility as a parent is to request a meeting with the teacher and the principal to get all of the facts and present your side of the story.  If it's not worth a meeting, it's not worth an ugly email.
2.  While were at it, lets talk about parents and students that threaten or hurt teachers and other school personnel.  Maybe there should be some specifically stiff penalties for coming into a school and "cussing up" a teacher.  Why should the verbal or physical assault of a teacher be considered the same type of crime as what happens in a bar?  I have spent a relatively short time in schools in comparison to some, but I have been threatened, sworn at, bitten, kicked, hit, watched a phone switchboard smashed by a parent's fist, and had rocks thrown at me.  This list doesn't include kids under 6.  I think some additional criminal or civil penalties need to be considered for people that choose not to exercise self-control in a school - especially older children and adults.
3.  I would make sure everyone who comes to school in the morning has a tummy full of decent food.  I really hope I don't have to explain this any further.  Really.
4.  I would give students two assessments - one for mastery and one for effort.  I think we sort of do this now, but it's really not clear for children or parents.  A 90 on a spelling test means you could spell 90% of the words.  A high mark for effort means you finished all of the work completely and on-time.  Maybe as homework migrates more to the digital realm, there will actually be a way to keep track of how long it takes a student to master a task.  Some children need to SEE the link between the amount of time they spend and the resulting mastery.  If it takes a child an extra hour of practice to get a 90 on that test, shouldn't that effort be acknowledged ?  Not rewarded, but acknowledged in a formal measurable way.
5.  Children who are no longer working or making effort in school because they are discouraged would have some type of early warning system.  I firmly believe that if we can do a better job of detecting and intervening in this circumstance, we would be able to make a big difference.  We are so wrapped up in getting everyone through a certain amount of curriculum that we are often very quick to label a child unmotivated.  This is just another word for lazy, and it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy - especially when we get nervous that the work isn't done, and we start chewing at the child to "get going".  For those of us who do not generally have problems with motivation and a good work ethic, understanding how discouragement can effect effort takes a leap of understanding.  "Why don't they just DO it?"  But that difference in mindset and response to feedback makes a huge difference.  A concrete example:  I work with several children in my school using a computer-based program called Cogmed.  It's a bit of a mental boot-camp for five weeks and it can be very difficult.  I had one child who would become discouraged very easily - he was plain old discouraged with himself in general.  Cogmed somewhat mitigates that effect by offering audio feedback on right and wrong responses, and encouraging statements to keep the child going when the response isn't right.  One day none of this was working for him.  He was not hearing the encouragement,  just the sound the computer makes when he responded incorrectly.  So I turned the sound off.  Completely.  No way to know whether the answer was right or wrong.  I just told him to concentrate and do his best.  Not only did he work a lot faster, he also improved his score.  This is not the picture of a lazy child.  It's a picture of a discouraged child.  Change the feedback stream and you get a different result.  There are many ways to take this principle and apply it in the classroom.  (Please feel free to contact me if you need some........)
6.  I would make everyone in the North Carolina General Assembly, on the State School Board and the Governor spend a day in a regular classroom at an average school.  Better yet, lets make it a week.  I'm not talking about a 30 minute read-to-the-handpicked-kids photo-op.  No GT classes with super performing kids at a flagship school.  I'm talking at the 50th percentile.  I'm talking about showing up to meet the teacher at 0 dark 30 and staying the entire day.  Doing all of the duties, maybe even trying to give a lesson.  Reading all of the directives from DPI.  Sitting in on meetings with parents.  Sitting while the teacher does all of the paperwork and answers all of the email.  Leaving with the teacher at the end of the day.  I guess at that point we'll take a picture.  Maybe the hair will be a bit messy, the tie or scarf askew, a bit of food from the cafeteria on the shirt or blouse.  The teacher will go home at that point and probably do some more work.  Hopefully the legislator will go back to Raleigh and draft a bill that gives teachers a raise, improves funding for professional development, and shakes some money loose for aides and another school counselor.

But I'm just wishing here..........